Kogan Page; koganpage.com; 264 pages; $65.

This comprehensive, complex, and interesting book easily delivers on its promise to help the reader understand global supply chains. Starting with a review of the concept of risk at a general level and quickly moving into supply chain risk in particular, Supply Chain Risk: Understanding Emerging Threats to Global Supply Chains explains both internal and external risk categories, as well as the concept of supply chain resilience. Supply chain threats to specific sectors, including automotive, technology, consumer goods, and pharmaceuticals, are also explored.

The rest of the book focuses on a variety of risks including economic, societal, terrorism, corruption and cargo crime, and piracy. There is some fascinating material dealing with areas as far ranging as cigarette smuggling, food shortages in developing countries, customs corruption, and industrial unrest. �

At its core, Supply Chain Risk is about the world economy. While it may not cover all areas of the economic supply chain, the information can be easily transferable to other areas of supply chain risk. Concise and focused, the material is laid out in an easy-to-follow format with plenty of tables and figures that illuminate the detailed text.

Author John Manners-Bell has strong credentials, which are evident throughout. He uses many real-life examples and he is to be congratulated on that approach. This book is highly recommended to both the general reader wanting to gain a better understanding of the world economy and the professional wishing to learn more about supply chain threats, especially those in the fields of risk management, emergency response planning, business continuity, and security. There is one warning here: the decisions necessary to protect supply chains will be made at the apex of each organization. �

Reviewer: Glen Kitteringham, M.S., CPP, has worked in the security industry since 1990. He is president of Kitteringham Security Group Inc. He sits on the ASIS Research Council and Commission on Standards and Guidelines. Kitteringham is working toward a doctorate in security risk management at the University of Portsmouth.