Research from the British Standards Institute (BSI) has found that global supply chains gained a combined $56bn in extra costs last year, incurred by crime, extreme weather, terrorist threats and the migrant crisis that swept across Europe.

Most of us take the weather report with a grain of salt. How many times has the meteorologist on the evening news told us that rain is coming later in the week, yet we find ourselves soaked to the skin by the time we get home from work the next day?

Analyst Insight: Top leadership involvement in governing IT risk strategies and identifying the right practices to manage those risks is a requirement for any organization looking to have effective supply chain security. Today's IT landscape requires an accelerated level of knowledge sharing of IT risk practices and solutions, both with suppliers and within the enterprise. Leaders have to change how information is communicated and shared throughout the organization. - Andrea Stroud, research program manager, APQC

Back in 2013, Flextronics, a $30bn manufacturer and services organization, talked about its slant towards supply chain risk through constant improvement in supply chain visibility, agility and control. Flextronics defined visibility as "the ability of all members of a chain to see from one end of the pipeline to another" and control as "the ability to respond to disturbances in a timely manner with effective actions." - Gregory L. Schlegel CPIM, CSP, Jonah, Founder, The Supply Chain Risk Management Consortium, Executive in Residence and Adjunct Professor, Supply Chain Risk Management, Lehigh University

The global business community should be aware that the impact on supply chain operations worldwide - from the two massive explosions that occurred Aug. 12 at the Ruihai International Logistics warehouse in Tianjin, China - will be far worse than suggested by news analysts and Chinese officials, says Resilinc CEO Bindiya Vakil.