Challenges and risks in global distribution networks

The globalized economy is increasingly affecting also manufacturing SMEs. As markets and growth are moving outside Europe, SMEs need to find new global customers and build their distribution networks to remote locations which often have different cultures, regulations and practices. This paper discusses the risks and challenges related to this transformation, based on the observations from case companies of a Finnish national research project TARVO. The main theoretical framework is taken from supply chain risk management and research on collaborative networked organizations. Applying these approaches the paper presents a categorization and discussion of the risks identified in case SMEs.