Supply chain resilience is an elusive quality, one of those "I know it when I see it" type of capabilities. Thanks to efforts from companies like FM Global, however, it's now possible to quantify to some extent exactly how resilient one country might be versus another.
The data-driven 2015 FM Global Resilience Index gauges resilience (the flipside of risk) along nine dimensions. The Index compiles vetted data from sources such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Economic Forum and FM Global’s database of more than 100,000 client locations. Countries and territories examined are ranked from most (# 1 Norway) to least resilient (# 130 Venezuela).
“Business leaders who don’t evaluate countries and supply chain resilience can suffer long-term consequences,” says Bret Ahnell, executive vice president, operations, FM Global. “If your supply chain fails, it can be difficult or impossible to get your market share, revenue and reputation back.”
The following slideshow looks at the 10 countries deemed most resilient to supply chain disruptions, with a couple caveats. The United States and China are each segmented into three separate regions because the geographic spread of these countries produces significantly disparate exposures to natural hazards. Thus, only Region 3 of the U.S., which includes most of the central part of the country, made it into the top 10. Region 1, encompassing much of the East Coast, ranks 16th and Region 2, primarily the West Coast, ranks 21st.
Meanwhile, China’s three regions rank 63rd (Region 3), 64th (Region 1), and 69th (Region 2). Beyond natural disaster risk, China’s other challenges range from “poor accountability and transparency, high levels of perceived corruption and growing security concerns to problems in its financial sector, especially with regard to the fragile position of its banks,” according to the Index's annual report.