Supply chains: Danger ahead!

Poor Chipotle! No company wants CNN, Forbes, MSNBC or other news services reporting on its latest corporate debacle. An E. coli outbreak in the food industry is a company’s worst nightmare, and can tank a company’s reputation (and stock price!). Businessweek’s barfing-burrito cover is an image that will live in advertising history and, unfortunately, customers’ memories. While I hope Chipotle will not back away from its commitment to small, local farmers supplying hormone- and antibiotic-free meat, the outbreak highlights the difficulty of managing a complex supply chain with a large number of suppliers.

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