Proactive Product, Supply and Demand
Strategies for Constructing Robust Supply Chains
Christopher S. Tang1
Email: ctang@anderson.ucla.edu
Tel: (310)
825-4203
Web: www.anderson.ucla.edu/x980.xml
When
major disruptions strike, many supply chains tend to break and take a long time
to recover. However, not only can some
supply chains continue to function smoothly; they continue to satisfy their
customers during and after a major disruption strikes. Some key differentiators of these “robust”
supply chains are some specific cost-effective and time-efficient proactive
strategies. In this paper, we present
various proactive strategies and the associated contingency plans that will
enable a supply chain to become more resilient in the face of unpredictable
disruptions. We also propose an approach
for selecting the most effective proactive strategy. While there are costs for implementing these
proactive strategies, they provide additional selling points for acquiring and
retaining apprehensive customers.
1We would like to thank Mr. Richard Paegelow
for his helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper.