Situations · Crisis
When a supplier fails without warning, count days of inventory and which customers are hit first, then decide whether to secure stock, switch sources, or reschedule deliveries.
On the first day of a supply failure, the priority is not holding the supplier accountable. It is computing one number: with current stock and goods in transit, how many days each product line can still ship.
The order of judgement is: which customers and orders are hit first, how long an alternative source takes to deliver, and who carries the gap in between.
In most cases the right move is three things at once: protect deliveries to the most profitable and closest customers, start an alternative source, and tell affected customers the new delivery dates before they discover the delay.
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Spending the first two days fighting over the contract instead of counting stock and finding alternatives. Liability can be pursued later; a missed delivery window cannot.
It looks fair and leaves your most important customer and your least important one short at the same time.
When customers discover the delay themselves, you lose trust, not just one order.
Accepting an unverified alternative to get goods now, and following a supply incident with a quality incident.
Per product line, count stock on hand, goods in transit, and semi-finished goods you can redirect, and turn that into days of delivery.
Which contracts carry penalties for non-delivery, which customers have an alternative supplier ready, and which customers cannot replace you.
Quotation, sampling, qualification, volume delivery: how many days each step takes. Do not treat a supplier's verbal promise as a delivery date.
The Art of War, chapter 7, Manoeuvring
An army without its supply train is lost; without provisions it is lost.
Sun Tzu ranks supply alongside troops: without it, the strongest army never reaches the field. A supplier failure is a cut supply line. The first response is not to keep attacking but to reconnect the line, or pull the front back to where supply can reach.
Negotiate a specific recovery date and priority allocation in writing, and bridge the gap with stock and rescheduled deliveries. Do not rush to replace them, but insist on written confirmation.
Start an alternative source immediately and compress qualification: small verified batches first, then volume. Speak candidly with your most important customers and ask them to accept a one-time delivery adjustment.
This is a negotiation, not a supply failure. Compute your switching time and their loss first, then decide whether to accept short-term terms to buy time or switch and let them lose a steady customer.
Give the strategist your days of stock, the affected customers, and what you know about the supplier. Rough numbers are fine.
The strategist separates three lines of work, protecting deliveries, sourcing alternatives, and talking to customers, and lists this week's actions and owners for each.
You leave with an action card: the one thing to do today, and the signal that escalates you to switching sources.
This page covers the order of judgement. Your own situation, opponent, and resources are worked through with the strategist in the app.
Get the app and run your situationDo both, but count days of stock before either. Knowing how long you can last lets you give customers a concrete new date instead of a shrug.
It depends on whether the failure is temporary or structural. For a temporary problem, switching often costs more than waiting; for a structural one, every week of delay adds loss. The test is whether they can give a written, verifiable recovery date.
Keep at least one qualified second source for critical materials, even if it only gets a small share in normal times. Its value is that qualification is already done, so volume can be moved when needed.
Check the force majeure and delivery clauses first, then talk remedy before talking liability. Most customers care more about when they get the goods than about compensation.
Crisis · When a complaint spreads online, stop the spread and unify the facts and the voice first, then choose how to respond. Three conclusions, common mistakes, three checks, three plays.
Crisis · When a negative story runs, sort it into true, partly true, and false, appoint one spokesperson, then choose between acknowledging, correcting, or staying silent.
Crisis · When a serious product defect surfaces, judge safety first, then scope and whether the batch can be isolated, before choosing a stop-sale, recall, or targeted fix.
Crisis · When your largest customer says they are leaving, find the real reason and their timetable, size the cash and capacity gap, then choose retention, a managed exit, or both.
This page covers the order of judgement and is not legal or supply-chain advice. Contract breaches, claims, and force majeure clauses need qualified professionals. Alternative sources for food, pharmaceutical, or safety-related materials must meet the relevant regulatory requirements.