Risk Identification map for a Fashion Retail Supply Chain

Abstract: In today’s global markets, characterized by extremely fast changes in technology and customer’s demand, and by product life cycle getting shorter and shorter, a single firm has not the ability to be competitive if it is not included in a network that, operating as a single entity, is able to react to demand dynamism and volatility. Therefore, existing supply chains, structured in a global sourcing view, are highly vulnerable to perturbations resulting from a strong dependence on other network’s players, such as suppliers or logistics providers. Consequently, the need for communication and cooperation is always increasing. In this complex and competitive context, properly assessing and managing risks connected to the different stages of the value chain, as well as external and not directly controllable risks, means being able to ensure continuity in supply. This paper focuses on the particular field of the fashion retail industry since its highly unpredictable demand and extremely short life cycle make it very important to analyse risks connected to the supply chain. This work defines the objectives of the supply chain and identifies risk factors related to each working phase of a fashion company that manages an extended network of wholesalers, direct-operated and franchising mono-brand stores. Although it just represents a preliminary study, final purpose of our research project is to define a decision support system for the prioritization and management of all the identified risk factors.