Ürün çeşitliliğinin artması, küreselleşme, verimlilik artışı konusundaki baskılar ve tedarikçi bağımlılığının artması gibi nedenlerden dolayı işletmelerin risklere karşı hassasiyetleri artmaktadır. Bu nedenle risk yönetimi uygulamalarına gittikçe daha fazla oranda ilgi göstermektedirler. Özellikle otomotiv tedarik zincirinin büyük ve karmaşık olması bu sektördeki risk azaltma stratejileri uygulamalarını daha da önemli kılmaktadır. Ancak bu çalışma için yapılan bir literatür taraması otomotiv sektöründe yeterli sayıda çalışma olmadığını ortaya koymaktadır. Bu çalışmayla, literatürdeki bu boşluk giderilmeye çalışılmıştır. Bu doğrultuda 14 işletmeden toplamda 20 tedarik zinciri yöneticisiyle yarı yapılandırılmış derinlemesine mülakatlar gerçekleştirilmiştir. Bu araştırmanın birkaç önemli bulgusu bulunmaktadır. Birincisi, otomotiv sektöründe en yaygın görülen risklerin ve bu riskleri azaltma stratejilerinin belirlenmiş olmasıdır. İkincisi, risk azaltma stratejilerinin uygulanması nedeniyle katlanılacak maliyetlerin kabul edilebilir seviyede olması gerektiğidir. Üçüncüsü ise yöneticilerin işletmelerin olumsuz olaylara ve değişimlere mümkün olduğunca hızlı bir şekilde cevap verebilmeleri için tedarik zinciri yapısını düzenleyebilme becerisine sahip olmaları gerekliliğidir.
1. LITERATURE Increasing uncertainties around supply chains and increasingly complex relationships among chain members lead to the potential emergence of more sources of risk (Thun & Hoenig, 2011, p. 5512). Factors such as the globalizing market, shortened product lifetimes, complex international networks of industrial partners, and unpredictable demand increase the vulnerabilities of businesses and the risks they face (Lavastre et al., 2012, p. 828). Understanding how firms can manage supply chain risks has become an important issue for both academics and practitioners (Ambulkar et al., 2015, p. 111). Supply chain risk management is the implementation of strategies to manage daily and unusual risks encountered throughout the supply chain based on risk assessment studies (Wieland & Marcus Wallenburg, 2012, p. 890). However, many managers are having difficulties in adapting some highcost strategies against risks (Kilubi, 2016, p. 604). There are also some limitations during the implementation of the strategies. For this reason, it is extremely important to identify the risks that would threaten the supply chains and to implement the right strategies to reduce these risks or their effects. 1.1. RESEARCH SUBJECT This study was focused on the supply chain risk mitigation strategies of the automotive main industry companies in Turkey. Due to the high complexity and close collaboration between its members, the automotive supply chain is suitable for risk management (Thun & Hoenig, 2011, p. 245). Also, although there are various studies on supply chain risk management in the literature, empirical studies in the automotive sector are still in their infancy (Ceryno et al., 2015, p. 1146; Thun & Hoenig, 2011, p. 243). 1.2. RESEARCH PURPOSE AND IMPORTANCE The study was aimed to identify risk mitigation strategies and their effects on companies in the automotive supply chain. A literature review for this study revelead that this study is the first one to evaluate the implementation of supply chain risk mitigation strategies with in-depth interviews with experts. In addition, practitioners and academics will benefit from the first-hand experience of the expert participants as they provide plenty of examples of real events about risks and risk mitigation strategies. 1.3. CONTRIBUTION of the ARTICLE to the LITERATURE No experimental study was found during the literature review on the identification and effects of risk mitigation strategies. With this study, this gap in the literature is intended to be filled and it is thought that the findings will make serious contribution to the supply chain risk management literature. Providing information supported by real cases, especially regarding the advantages and disadvantages of risk mitigation strategies, can help practitioners to develop strategies that are appropriate for their businesses. 2. DESIGN AND METHOD 2.1. RESEARCH TYPE Qualitative research design was adopted for this study. Accordingly, semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with experts in automative main industry companies. 2.2. RESEARCH PROBLEMS In this study, the authors tried to find answers for two research problems: (1) What risk reduction strategies are used in the automotive supply chain?; (2) What are the effects of risk reduction strategies? 2.3. DATA COLLECTION METHOD The population of the study consisted of experts in the automative main industries in Turkey. Intentional sampling, which is not based on probability, was used in the study. Accordingly, semistructured in-depth interviews were conducted with a total of 20 supply chain managers from 14 automative main industry companies. Each interview took more than an hour. Expert opinions were either written down or recorded upon the permission of them. 2.4. QUANTITATIVE / QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS In the study, a qualitative analysis of data was undertaken. With the qualitative analysis, the opinions, understandings, and perceptions of experts about the risk mitigation strategies and their impacts were examined and reported. In addition, NNIVO 12 program, a qualitative data analysis software, was used to identify the main themes about the risk mitigation strategies. 3. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Flexible supply chain practice “changing order quantities among suppliers” (Tang & Tomlin, 2008, p. 15), is a preventive strategy against demand variability, inventory risk (insufficiency
