thoughtleaders
In his new book, The Power
of Resilience, MIT professor
Yossi Sheffi looks at how
businesses can anticipate,
prepare for, and respond to
disruptive events.
HOW VULNERABLE IS YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN? WHAT CAN YOU
do to protect it from disruptions, especially those you cannot anticipate? These questions take on more and more urgency in an age of
complex global supply chains, where events in one region can disrupt
the operations of businesses and their customers on the other side of
the world.
In his new book, The Power of Resilience: How the Best Companies
Manage the Unexpected, Yossi Sheffi examines what many companies
have done—and are doing—to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to
disruptions that can range from earthquakes to hurricanes to cyberat-tacks to issues with sourcing that could harm business reputations.
The book is Sheffi’s second on the topic of resilience. His first, The
Resilient Enterprise, was published in 2005 in response to the 9/11
attacks. In the intervening decade, much has changed in both the
landscape of supply chain risks and the implementation of corporate
resiliency programs, Sheffi says. The new book looks at what companies
have learned since that time and at new threats that have arisen.
Sheffi, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) and director of the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics,
discussed the new book and supply chain resilience with DCV Editorial
Director Peter Bradley. This is an edited and condensed version of the
interview.
QWhat led you to decide it was time for a second book on the topic of resilience?
AThe first book was motivated by 9/11, looking at what companies were doing to prepare for disruption. When I started work on that
book, I figured I’d begin by seeing what had already been written about
this topic and I found nothing on logistics, supply chain, and transportation—in academic writing, at least. Since I didn’t have any literature
to draw from, I did research. I talked to well over a hundred companies.
That research, which took four years and involved 30 people, led to the
first book.
Then, when I was out talking to companies a few years back, more
BY PETER BRADLEY, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
THE DC VELOCITY Q&A
Building resilience
into the supply chain
INTERVIEW WITH YOSSI SHEFFI
