Home - Board Leadership -Supply Chain

Board Leadership

Guardians of resilience

Risk is not just a technical issue, it's a test of strategic leadership. As a board member, you safeguard trust, reputation and long-term value – ensuring resilience across cyber security, supply chains, liquidity, and regulation. We help you cut through complexity, linking governance to performance through clear accountability, informed challenge, and forward-looking decisions that turn resilience into a hallmark of effective leadership.

Explore the priorities shaping boardroom resilience below:

Cyber

Supply chain

Regulatory

Working Capital

Supply Chain When resilience drives performance

Supply chains have become a mirror of the world’s volatility. Conflict, regulation, inflation and extreme weather can impact every link, and when one part breaks, the shock is felt across the business.

The challenge for you as a board member isn’t to predict every disruption, but to ensure your organisation can withstand them while protecting your customers, employees and long-term value.

We'll help you move from reactive oversight to confident, informed governance, embedding supply chain resilience into your enterprise risk, strategy and reporting frameworks. That shift matters because resilience is now a marker of governance quality, investor confidence and long-term performance.

Why it matters

Investors, regulators and customers now expect boards to have a clear view of how resilient their supply networks are and the risks hidden within them. That means understanding exposure, defining risk appetite and ensuring that management decisions on sourcing, sustainability and spend reflect those boundaries. Supply chain oversight is an essential part of responsible governance.

Pressures and priorities

  • Are our supply chains designed to flex and recover or are we still exposed to single points of failure?
  • Do we truly understand our supplier dependencies beyond tier one?
  • Are we balancing cost efficiency with resilience and ethical sourcing?
  • Can management demonstrate we’re prepared for disruption — from shortages to cyber incidents?
  • Are we confident that supply chain practices align with our ESG and governance commitments?
  • Do we have clear sight of how supply risk could impact cash flow, customer promises and brand trust?

Resilience is a competitive strength. Boards that champion transparency, agility and ethical supply create organisations that can respond faster to disruption, earn stakeholder trust and unlock long-term value. The next decade will see continued geopolitical uncertainty, stricter ESG reporting and increasing digital integration and those who plan for resilience today will be better placed to grow tomorrow.

Leadership in control

Supply chain resilience should be a standing board agenda item, integrated into risk appetite, strategic investment and ESG discussions. The board can clearly explain how its supply network supports growth, agility and trust.

Risk-based visibility

The board demands real-time, decision-useful insight that links supplier and logistics risks directly to impact on customers and broader performance as opposed to data overload.

Balanced investment

Capital and attention are directed where they deliver resilience that matters: diversified sourcing, visibility technology, supplier assurance and crisis readiness. Each investment supports both cost efficiency and business continuity.

Network by design

Supply chains are structured for agility and optionality. Multi-sourcing, near-shoring and logistics diversification reduce dependency on single suppliers and regions while supporting ESG goals.

Culture and accountability

Resilience is part of how people think and act, not just a policy. It needs to be weaved into the culture and strategy of the organisation. Protecting customers, colleagues and reputation is everyone’s job.

Assured ecosystem

Critical suppliers and partners are mapped, monitored and assured through structured frameworks that test performance, compliance and recovery capability. Findings are reviewed at board level.

Continuous improvement

Independent reviews benchmark supply-chain resilience against peers and emerging regulation. Progress is tracked with concise, outcome-focused metrics that demonstrate improvement over time.

External foresight

Boards make use of expert insight on upcoming trends, from AI-enabled planning to tightening sustainability legislation, to anticipate change and steer long-term resilience strategy.

Building supply chain visibility and governance to drive sustainable performance

Procurement and supply chain transformation – global aerospace and defence manufacturer

“We worked closely with the client board to bring real clarity and control, turning the supply chain from something opaque and reactive into a system they can see, trust and steer with confidence and insight.” Mark Crawford, Consulting Director

Explore our success story

We help boards bring clarity and control to complexity:

  • Define risk appetite and align it to strategic and ESG priorities.
  • Build decision-ready dashboards that make risk visible and actionable.
  • Facilitate board simulations and governance reviews to build confidence in response.
  • Challenge and strengthen supplier and sustainability strategies to support long-term growth.

Resilient supply chains don’t just withstand disruption, they inspire confidence. For boards, it’s about steering through uncertainty with a steady hand and ensuring that every decision supports the people, partners and purpose behind the business.

Start a conversation about building resilience that lasts. Talk to our experienced advisors who have developed experience over hundreds of engagements and who have done this at scale. Together, we can turn risk awareness into strategic foresight and help your board lead with clarity and conviction.

Mark Crawford

Consulting Director – Supply Chain

Contact Mark

Rich Hall

Consulting Partner – Head of Sustainability and ESG services

Contact Rich

Risk and Governance