Supply chains in the modern era have become more complex than before, as they are more globalized and interconnected. For this to happen, advancements in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector played a crucial role as they are the ones that allowed this complex system to work. With the help of ICT, businesses established longer and better supply chains that involved more countries and more suppliers.
Supply Chain Risks in SMEs
Nevertheless, with the help of ICT, these newly established supply chains came with their own disadvantages. ICT may have helped companies maximize their economic efficiency, but on the other hand, they are sacrificing the transparency and the resilience of their supply chains. Some of the severe problems that arise with using ICT are the exposure of critical business insights through shared data, the risk of becoming the target of a cyber-attack, and the overall disruption of the supply chain due to its complexity.
Supply chains risks are a reality even for large enterprises, and they can impact the operations of a business tremendously. Large enterprises are equally vulnerable with Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) to supply chain risks, but the SMEs are more unprepared to deal with them. The small size, low capital, and low technological integration of SMEs contribute to SMEs’ unpreparedness.
SMEs: BePrepared for Supply Chain Risks Project
Having that in mind and understanding the need to develop supply chain risk management mechanisms in SMEs, BePrepared Project wants to develop VET training to better prepare SMEs to handle supply chain risks. The project focuses on SMEs as they are a vital component of the EU economy and at the same time critically vulnerable to supply chain risks. BePrepared wants to train young professionals and prepare them to deal with supply chain risks in SMEs.
The BePrepared Survey for SMEs
In preparing the VET training, the project partnership of BePrepared created a survey for SMEs to understand better the supply chain risks they are facing. A deeper understanding of SMEs’ supply chain risk management will allow the partnership to evaluate the current situation better and create tailored training to the needs of European SMEs. This training will have an analysis of the current supply chain risks as well as ways to deal with them.
This survey will be distributed to SMEs in six European countries (Austria, Greece, Estonia, Germany, Italy and Portugal), which are the participating organisations’ countries to this project consortium.
If you are an SME from one of the countries above, please fill in the survey to help us identify SMEs’ needs in dealing with supply chain risks.