Supply Chain Challenges in Westeros

With another season of Game of Thrones set to premier this week, it seemed interesting for us as supply chain specialists to think about what kinds of supply chain challenges the Iron Throne is facing at this point in the story and how it is similar to the real world. In our work, we see so many systemic problems that are created by the complexity of supply chain operations, and when it comes to the problems in Westeros, we see many similarities. 

Westeros clearly has some management issues, what with the high turnover in various important positions, and they seem to be racking up debt at an incredible pace in order to keep fighting wars on multiple fronts and (attempt to) keep everyone happy in King' Landing.  At some point, the throne needs to stop hemorrhaging gold and start managing the kingdom properly!

The root of the problem is that the throne cannot get food into King's Landing because the main farmlands in Westeros are torn asunder by war. With multiple armies expecting to march through the riverlands - the most fertile ground in the kingdom - the crown knew that supplies would be getting thin, but they seem to keep diverting all resources to fighting and none to securing supplies from other sources. This should have been expected and planned better by putting resources in action to mitigate the shortfalls.

Back in the real world, we are constantly seeing situations where sole-sourced goods are a major challenge for our clients.  Further, any natural or man-made disaster only serves to exacerbate the issue.  In many of these cases, we seek to find alternate sources of goods, whether going to other suppliers or finding sources in-house, but there are always situations where there are simply no other options, so we have to seek alternate strategies to manage the issue.  Additional inventory is the simplest answer, and sometimes the right call despite the cost, but alternate transportation methods and routing can also help alleviate supply issues...