Search form here
If you missed it in the news, there has been a serious cyber attack on Jaguar Land Rover (JLR). The result of the incident is a major disruption to their operations and, therefore, their supply chain, for several days. While JLR is the company in the headlines, the consequences of such an incident extend far beyond the manufacturer itself. The effects are often most acutely felt by suppliers, particularly those who rely heavily on one large customer. For many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), this type of disruption can jeopardise their very survival and increase the risk of insolvency.
There is a common issue with some supply chains that can result in a major financial problem. It happens when, for a number of different factors, specialist suppliers, and even businesses with a wider portfolio or stock profile, become dependent on a small pool of customers.
In some cases, particularly in highly specialised supply chains, this will often result in one dominant customer providing the main part of the revenue for a business. If that is interrupted for any reason, it can result in financial disaster. To make matters worse, in industries such as automotive, suppliers and manufacturers are also often required to invest heavily in machinery and processes specifically for one client. Often, that means an ongoing finance cost to facilitate the purchase of specialist stock and tooling.
While this kind of arrangement does have some apparent advantages, for example, it brings stability in good times and leads to clear forecasts for demand, it is also one of the most financially dangerous positions to be in. Sole, or significant single customer reliance, creates an extreme level of vulnerability. If, for any reason, a manufacturer halts production, the supplier’s income can be interrupted and even vanish overnight.
Right now, I expect a number of suppliers to JLR to be in danger of facing a real financial issue as the problem drags on. Even assuming it resolves as expected and the production resumes soon, though, the damage done could still be waiting to emerge later.
Key Point: Relying on one large customer increases the risk of financial instability, so diversification is essential for protecting against supply chain disruption.
The financial effects of losing orders are usually immediate, but you still need to cover wages, rent, energy bills and so on. This is compounded by the fact that, sometimes, just to obtain the business in the first place, there was a requirement for capital investment. That means also loan repayments when the cash flow is drying up quickly.
On top of all these issues, dealing with the larger corporate customers will sometimes mean competing on price and therefore surviving on lower margins. The net result is more reliance on a steady cashflow to maintain your financial stability. Even if you get by in the short term, that cashflow hit from the lost orders is coming, and unless you have a lot of investment in resilience, it is going to cause issues.
For SMEs, this can quickly escalate into:
Cash flow shortages that are making it hard to pay staff or creditors.
Mounting debt, we tend to see a lot of businesses become insolvent after being forced to borrow to stay afloat.
Reduced confidence is a surprisingly potent factor in later insolvency. Investment dries up, and borrowing costs more.
The bottom line is that supply chain disruption is a major cause of business failures in the UK, particularly where SMEs rely heavily on a single customer.
Key Point: Suppliers who are dependent on one manufacturer may face insolvency if cash flow is cut off suddenly. If you think that is a possibility, speak to us as soon as possible. The time between recognising the problem and finding a solution is vital. The faster we speak, the more options we may have to avoid insolvency.
There are two overarching lessons to be learned from this situation.
Wherever possible, as a supplier, you should always look to:
Diversify your customer base. Every diversification, no matter how small, spreads the risk and reduces exposure to single client issues. A series of higher margin, smaller clients will at least keep the cashflow moving if your bigger client fails.
Plan for resilience. Nobody likes to look at the worst-case scenario, but you need to ask the question, ‘Could we survive financially if our biggest customer halted orders for several weeks?’ Then run scenarios so you know what that impact would be and how you could respond.
Basically, as a business, you need to fully understand how vulnerable you really are.
Key Point: A single issue at a major customer can expose hidden vulnerabilities. So run a series of realistic scenarios and see how vulnerable you really are. Once you know where you stand, make a priority of resilience planning.
The second lesson from the JLR incident is a little closer to home. Research tells us that half of all small businesses and nearly three-quarters of medium-sized businesses reported experiencing a cyber breach or attack in the past year. That means UK businesses are facing thousands of attempted cyber attacks daily. Phishing emails, ransomware, and malware are the most common methods used, but the increasing sophistication provided by artificial intelligence and the constantly changing digital landscape create an ever-moving problem.
If JLR is predicting days to resolve the issue, sending staff home, and halting production, it is clear that the effect of an attack is devastating for anyone. While it may seem unlikely that a cyber criminal would be interested in an SME, that couldn’t be further from the truth. A small business is successfully hacked every 19 seconds, which equates to more than 4,500 attacks per day across the SME sector in the UK.
Which raises the question:
Could you cope if you were the victim of an attack?
Key Point: Cyber attacks are not just a vague threat or an IT issue; they are a business continuity problem. Resilience planning could well be the difference between surviving financially and insolvency because of the cost of an attack.
The JLR situation is a timely reminder of how much an issue in a major part of a supply chain can ripple through the rest of it. Regardless of the cause and through no fault of their own, suppliers can face some difficult, and sadly often insurmountable, financial issues when a major buyer suddenly stops buying. The time between a shortfall in your income and a potential insolvency is deceptively quick. So, it is vital to be prepared and resilient where you can…and where you can’t, be ready to take professional advice as soon as there is an issue.