Execs say more supply chain risk management investment is ahead

More than three-quarters of senior executives from large global companies taking part in a recent Accenture survey consider operations risk management important or very important to tackling supply-chain risks.

Accenture’s research found more than half of the respondents are increasing investments in risk management by up to 20 percent and about 25 percent said they plan to increase spending in this area by more than 20 percent.

Still, only 7 percent of respondents report a return on this investment of more than 100 percent. A majority–about 39 percent–said ROI was more in the 1 percent to 25 percent range. One third (33 percent) report and ROI of 26-50 percent.

Accenture focused on the leaders–the 7 percent–and found they achieve outsized returns due to three factors:

* They make supply chain risk management a priority. Sixty-one percent “consider supply chain risk management very important,” said Accenture.

* They centralize responsibility for the risk management function. A C-level or vice president-level executive leads the central risk management function in 43 percent of leaders.

* They invest aggressively in operations risk management. Accenture said leaders are three times more likely to significantly increase investments in supply chain risk management.

The 25 percent who said they do not consider operations risk management important or very important think events that could affect supply chain are either out of their control and therefore not worth the investment, or they have limited external dependency.