When you’re dependent on someone you’d better know what they are doing. We have the classic case of principal-agent incentives not covering everything, and as a result, something unexpected goes wrong.
Another important trend in supply chains is as they go global and get bigger and more far reaching, events in places remote from one another become linked.
I tried to buy a Prius and none of the dealers had anything close to a color I wanted; also, the model I wanted was just plain not available in California. I had to buy a lower end model. I did get the color I wnated, and the back-up camera and nav system without which I would not be able to go anywhere, or avoid hitting something. Couldn’t get the radar speed control or the lane-keeper, though. C’est la vie.
Layers of supply chain risk « The Operations Room
Supply Chain and Logistics 