Freight News, Logistics


Too many cooks spoil the supply chain

[ December 5, 2025   //   ]

It’s a miracle that  takeaways actually reach customers, say researchers at Cranfield University.

Boffins have been investigating the complex supply chain for British favourite, chicken tikka masala, and have found that it involves sourcing over 20 ingredients and packaging materials with origins that can be traced back to 36 different countries, an intricate supply chain with multiple potential points of failure.

These include extreme weather, cyber-attacks, tariffs, and geopolitical instability.

The study’s lead author, PhD student Kate Jones, says: “The last 12 months have shown the increasing threats to global supply chains, and as a result, more businesses are showing an increased focus on resilience. While most people understand that the biggest companies will have supply chains that are global, in many cases it’s the small and medium-sized businesses that make up most of those supply chains and can be the first to suffer when things go wrong if they’re a small part of the supplier’s overall business.”

SMEs can have limited buying power, especially when they’re dealing with far larger suppliers and, when things get disrupted, are often disadvantaged, as large suppliers tend to favour their largest customers.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2976-601X/ae16aa/pdf

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