Key areas, causes and contingency planning of corporate vulnerability in supply chains

The article examines companies' perception of corporate vulnerability in supply chains. The areas, the causes and the contingency planning of corporate vulnerability in upstream and downstream supply chains are examined. The study is based on qualitative data, and it differs from other studies on the vulnerability construct in supply chains in that most have been quantitative. An insight of the research is that sub‐contractors in the automotive industry tend to be limited to myopic and vertical views of the key areas, and to the causes and contingency planning of corporate vulnerability in the upstream and downstream supply chains.