Risks existed in most business activities and they might damage or disrupt them, Prof Thai Van Vinh of Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University said.

There are many sources of known-unknown as well as controllable-uncontrollable risks that firms might face in providing logistics and supply chain services, he said, citing among them natural disasters, political risks, epidemics, terrorist attacks, market changes and fluctuations in fuel prices and currency exchange rates.

“Risk management is identifying, measuring and controlling them to minimize their adverse effects, Vinh said. The most important element of risk management is development and implementation of a suitable process,” Vinh said.

Creating an adaptive supply chain community was an urgent requirement but also a difficult task since it requires all supply-chain partners to share the same culture and work towards same objectives and benefits, he added.

Other experts said that with the logistics becoming an increasingly important industry and firms should review their logistics network and evaluate potential risks to have proper measures to manage risks effectively.

The event was organised by the MGC Institute of Logistics.