Regulatory concerns top the catalog of supply chain risks confronting executives in Latin America—unlike executives in other regions, where labor issues are the paramount supply chain risks. Further, executives in Latin America are more likely than their counterparts elsewhere to worry about foreign-exchange rates and fluctuations in commodity prices—fears that probably reflect the prominence of cyclical, export-driven industries in the region’s economic growth. Still, few executives in Latin America or other parts of the world express confidence in the ability of their companies to manage these and other supply chain risks successfully.

These are among the findings of a 2006 survey examining the risks that make it more difficult for companies to supply their customers with goods and services cost effectively, as well as the way companies manage these risks. The 201 executives in Latin America who were polled during this effort (out of a global panel of 3,172 executives) represent a mix of privately and publicly held businesses across a range of industries in Brazil (82 respondents) and the rest of the region (119 respondents).¹

Respondents in Brazil were far...