Yesterday, we pointed to an alarming new study identifying supply risk hotspots around the globe, including growing fears about instability in China. (Stock market performance this week suggests that The Street shares this concern.) Now Aberdeen Group is out to assess your competence for predicting and mitigating risks in your supply base.

In its latest research initiative, Aberdeen is benchmarking global Supplier Performance and Risk Management approaches, capabilities, and results. When I caught up with Vance Checketts, the head of Aberdeen’s Global Supply Management research squad, earlier this week, he said that “globalization and lean practices have simultaneously improved cost and performance and exposed enterprises to greater supply risks.”

Vance and his team will use Aberdeen’s benchmarking framework to examine the organizational structures, process methods, knowledge management, and technology approaches supply management organizations are using to manage supply risk. The Aberdeen survey also investigates the top key performance indicators (KPIs) supply teams are using in their risk management initiatives. Finally, Aberdeen aims to uncover industry best practices in the quickly emerging field of supply risk management.

I encourage Supply Excellence readers to participate in this important research event. You can take the survey here. Aberdeen will provide all respondents a complimentary copy of the findings report when the research is completed later this month. Like all Aberdeen reports, the results will provide a handy framework you can use to assess your supply risk competence, and strategies you can use to improve.