1. Introduction

Supply chains make up an essential network for every business. Every product and service that a business provides is available to its customers through the supply chain, which itself consists of a diverse range of activities. In the present globalised and turbulent business world, supply chain risks have become a vital issue and many academic and industry specialists have continuously stressed the significance of studying supply chain risks for enhancing organisational performance. Although supply chain management literature has recognized the critical importance of supply chain risk and how it can affect organisational performance, there has been scanty research in the UK manufacturing sector that examines this relationship – which is somewhat surprising given the fact that the UK is the world’s tenth biggest manufacturing nation in terms of output, employing 2.7 million people and delivering 44% of exports. Thus, understanding the importance of supply chain risk and how to incorporate risk management aspects of supply chains into the organisational operation strategies, particularly in the UK manufacturing sector, is critical not only to foster the sustainable performance of the UK manufacturing sector but also to maintain its competitiveness in the global market. This study therefore seeks to investigate how supply chain risk influences organisational performance in the UK manufacturing sector. It is anticipated that the research findings will contribute to a theoretical understanding of the factors that mediate between supply chain risk and organisational performance. Also, the findings will provide practical assistance to organisations in the manufacturing sector in the UK, especially to help them recognise different types of supply chain risks, assess the consequences and the likelihood of risk occurrence, and develop adequate resources, processes, and routines for operationalising supply chain risk management – which in the end could create resilient and sustainable organisational performance.

1.1. Background

The UK manufacturing sector is the ninth largest in the world and contributes to 11% of GVA. It represents a diverse range of industries from car manufacturing and steel production to the manufacture of aircraft and pharmaceuticals. Almost 2.7 million people work in manufacturing, accounting for 8% of all employment. However, this is a sector under constant change. Many businesses have overhauled their traditional methods of production in recent years to embrace new technology and new ways of working. This move towards more innovative and flexible manufacturing processes is sometimes referred to as the fourth industrial revolution – or ‘industry 4.0’. The UK manufacturing sector is increasingly part of a globalised market place. It buys goods and services from the global market, it sells to the global market and it faces increasing competition from companies in other countries. This is all made easier thanks to advances in technology and communication, and removal of international barriers to trade such as tariffs and taxes. However, commissioning new research and dealing with international companies can require large investment over long periods of time, and manufacturing companies are often vulnerable to changes in the global marketplace. The supply chain is the network of businesses and processes that provides goods to the consumer. Well-designed and managed supply chains are critical to the success of many businesses and to the economy as a whole, and supply chains rely heavily on the use of information with every stage having the potential to be a source of competitive advantage. Organisational performance is made up of three components: financial performance, operational performance and market performance. These can be measured in a variety of ways such as profit, return on investment, product quality, or customer satisfaction. However, recent political and economic events such as the global financial crisis and Brexit have led to a greater level of uncertainty and risk in the business environment in the UK and globally. This uncertainty and risk can have an adverse effect on the supply chain and consequently on organisational performance. This study aims to improve our knowledge and understanding of how supply chain risk can impact on organisational performance in the UK manufacturing sector. It may identify specific risks and their consequences for different areas of organisational performance and so lead to more effective and targeted risk management strategies. Also, it could help to identify which types of risk might be most important for each area of organisational performance and in this way contribute to a better understanding of the links between supply chain risk and organisational performance. Finally, it’s important that we have models and methods that allow us to predict how changes in the business environment or in the supply chain management processes of a company might impact its performance. This could give managers the tools and knowledge to pre-empt and prevent their performance being compromised by supply chain risks, and so managers could feel greater confidence to try and innovate or change their supply chain management processes. The essay begins with an introduction to supply chain risk and…

1.2. Research Objectives

The main aim of this research is to identify and assess the impact of supply chain risks on the operational and financial performance of firms in the UK manufacturing sector. I will seek to achieve this broad aim through a number of specific objectives, which I will list below. Firstly, I aim to understand how supply chain risks are identified and managed in the UK manufacturing sector. This objective is aligned with the supply chain risk literature, which suggests that different types of risk demand different mitigation strategies and that, to be effective, risk management should be focused on risk exposures that threaten supply chain systems. Secondly, I plan to investigate the different types of supply chain risk that manufacturing firms are exposed to and the potential impact of these risks on organizational performance. This objective is particularly important in the context of the UK manufacturing sector, where previous years have seen unprecedented levels of political and economic uncertainty. My third objective is to identify supply chain risk levels across different industries within the UK manufacturing sector and to investigate if these risks are having an adverse effect on performance. This anticipates the fact that previous research suggests a firm-level perspective on supply chain risk may not always be sufficient; if there is high system connectivity between organizations in the same industry, breakthrough risk into the supply chain system may have a severe impact and vice versa. Well-defined objectives should help to improve the quality of research by ensuring that all activities are focused on the planned output. This should make the most of researcher time and effort and should also help improve the quality of the research and its outputs in terms of novelty and contribution to knowledge.

1.3. Research Questions

The research questions stem from the research objectives. They are defined in order to test the hypotheses set to address the research problem. Moreover, the alignment between the research objectives and research questions is proven because addressing the research questions will in turn address the research objectives. The research questions are meant to be written before the expectation of results which are in the “hypotheses” section. However, the research questions have to glean from the literature at the beginning of the research. First of all, the research questions should indicate the variables the study will be analyzing. Secondly, the research questions should employ a “connective logic” which means that the research questions have to build on each other. This is a good indication that the study is clearly building its chapter of new knowledge in the field. The research questions can be further developed and refined once the number and type of variables are known. Also, once all the research questions are finalized, it is a good practice to numerically order them. As a general rule, for a dissertation the research questions have to be more of some to very long. However, for a questionnaire it is best to keep the research questions as succinct as possible. These can be a mix of shorter closed questions and the longer open-ended questions.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Supply Chain Management

2.2. Risk Management in Supply Chains

2.3. Organisational Performance

3. Methodology

3.1. Research Design

3.2. Data Collection

3.3. Data Analysis

4. Findings

4.1. Overview of the UK Manufacturing Sector

4.2. Identification of Supply Chain Risks

4.3. Impact of Supply Chain Risks on Organisational Performance

5. Discussion

5.1. Interpretation of Findings

5.2. Comparison with Existing Literature

5.3. Implications for Practice

6. Conclusion

6.1. Summary of Findings

6.2. Contributions to Knowledge

6.3. Recommendations for Future Research

Supply Chain Risk and Organisational Performance: A Study of the UK Manufacturing Sector

^{"Place your order now for a similar assignment and have exceptional work written by our team of experts, guaranteeing you "A" results."}