Look beyond purchase price
A low-cost component can create outsized exposure when it is custom-made, difficult to qualify, and available from only one supplier. Conversely, an expensive part with many substitutes may create little continuity risk. Unit price cannot explain that difference.
Single sourcing and lean inventory can improve economics, but they depend on assumptions about availability, transport, and recovery. Make those assumptions visible before a disruption tests them.
Invest where resilience matters
Assess revenue exposure, replacement lead time, recovery costs, and customer commitments. Compare an eight-week interruption with a two-week recovery supported by qualified alternatives or targeted inventory. Scenario planning makes those tradeoffs tangible without pretending to predict every event.
Procurement can evaluate suppliers, but executives must decide how much exposure the company will accept. Apply redundancy selectively to critical products and hard-to-replace inputs, and document why the resulting risk is acceptable.