
photo credit: ELEVATE / Pexels
Key Takeaways
- SMEs can strengthen supply chain resilience by avoiding excessive dependence on a single supplier for critical goods or materials.
- Working with suppliers that maintain genuine local stock can reduce exposure to long lead times and upstream disruptions.
- Understanding suppliers’ own supply chains gives SMEs greater visibility into risks that may otherwise remain hidden.
- Maintaining deliberate inventory buffers and building disruption costs into pricing can help businesses protect operations and margins.
- Negotiating payment terms and building strong supplier relationships before a crisis can improve an SME’s ability to withstand supply shocks.










