A Supply Chain (SC) may be defined as a network of organizations that are involved in
a set of linkages, either upstream or downstream, in different processes and activities with
the primary aim of providing value to the end customer (Chen et al., 2013). In this context,
SC Management (SCM) is the management of material, information and funds through
this network of organizations, which includes suppliers, manufacturers, wholesalers,
distributors, etc., thereby providing the required value to the consumer (Blos et al., 2009).
Every SC is prone to risks. The only difference is that different SCs are exposed to
different magnitudes and types of risks. Generally, risk may be defined as any event that
has a negative effect on the achievement of one or more objectives (Tuncel and Alpan,
2010). In the field of SCs, SC risk is defined as the extent to which SC outcomes are
variable or are susceptible to disruption thus being detrimental to the SCs (Speier et al.,
2011). Some examples of risks include natural disasters, supplier insolvency, supplier
quality problem, labor strikes, demand volatility, etc. Since risks are inevitable in an SC,
it is of utmost importance that the risks are managed to avoid any significant negative
impact on the operation of an SC. Therefore, Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM)
assumes growing significance in SCs. Simply put, SCRM is the management of risks in the
SC through efficient coordination or collaboration among various members of the SC so
that profitability and continuous operation can be ensured (Blos et al., 2009). Readers are
encouraged to refer to articles on SCRM for a more detailed treatment on the concept of
risks in the SC and its management. SCRM increases the resilience of the SC which is
the characteristic of the SC to respond to and recover from unexpected events, thereby
maintaining continuity of operations at the highest level of performance (Ponomarov and
Holcomb, 2009). It also greatly improves the agility and robustness of an SC (Wieland and
Wallenburg, 2012). Being a growing field, SCRM finds importance in many industries
across different sectors, which include the Indian textile and steel industry (Samvedi
et al., 2012); FMCG industry (Rossi and Pero, 2012); consumer packaged goods industry
(Schmitt and Singh, 2012); construction industry (Aloini et al., 2012); TFT-LCD industry
(Lee, 2009); German automotive industry (Thun and Hoenig, 2011); and a HDD
manufacturing company (Takata and Yamanaka, 2013). Risks come in a variety of different
types, but they can be classified according to the source from where the risk originates,
namely, supply risks, process risks and demand risks (Tang and Tomlin, 2008; Lee, 2009;
Oke and Gopalakrishnan, 2009; Sarkar and Mohapatra, 2009; Cigolini and Rossi, 2010;
Colicchia et al., 2010; Kumar et al., 2010; Wagner and Neshat, 2010; Christopher et al.,
2011; Pfohl et al., 2011; Yang, 2011; Gurnani et al., 2012; Lei et al., 2012; Samvedi et al.,
2012; Xanthopoulos et al., 2012; and Chen et al., 2013). There are some risks which belong
to other categories like environmental risks (Wagner et al., 2012), financial risks (Blome
and Schoenherr, 2011; and Juttner and Maklan, 2011), etc. Each risk type has
corresponding risk factors; for example, for supply risks type, risk factors may be supplier
quality problems, supplier financial position, etc., and these risk factors are SC-specific.
These SC-specific risk factors greatly depend on the characteristics of the SC. Therefore,
in this paper, an effort has been made to specify the different risk factors which may be
relevant to Apparel Supply Chains (ASCs) by studying the various characteristics of the
ASCs. The rest of the paper is organized as follows: First, the paper identifies the various
characteristics of ASC, and a brief overview of each characteristic is provided; then it
presents the various risk factors for each particular characteristic of the ASC; and finally
the paper ends with conclusion.
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