It only hit me when I could not find my Economist magazine in its usual place behind the front door this Friday. The Royal mail is on strike! Now, on the upside I also didn’t receive any bills whilst I still can go to the shop to get my magazine, assuming that the news agents have received their deliveries today. Have they?
Unfortunately a disruption can impact people differently; ask the many businesses that rely on the Royal mail for their outbound delivery to the customer. Some businesses would have made arrangements with alternative delivery services providers, most haven’t. It shows that a disruption can have different impact on different people and organisations based on the alternatives which are at its disposal and how well prepared they are.
It reminds me of the infamous story of the Philips factory in Albuque, Albequer.. Ablaquerque….. well, somewhere in New Mexico, USA, when it got hit by lighting and caused severe damage to the chip production hall in the factory. This factory being one of the few providers of a type of chip used in both Nokia and Ericson mobile phones; it was interesting to see the different impacts that this single event had on these competitors.
Nokia had a contingency plan in place which ensured that; the impact and extent of the disruption was recognized, and alternative sources were quickly identified and secured. Ericson was less responsive; it hadn’t recognized the extent of the problem when Nokia already had monopolized the consumption of the chip in question for several months to come. Ericson had no Supply Chain Risk contingency plan and no access to alternative sources.
And that is, dear readers, why I am now using a Nokia and not an Ericson, to ring my local news agent to see if he has any copies of the Economist left.
All the best
Richard van der Meulen
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