By Steve Lohr, New York Times Business, May 29/30, 2011

Maybe Japan is not as crucial to the global supply chain as those first weeks after the earthquake made it seem.....

“The global supply chain has been able to weather the storm,” said Hau Lee, a professor at Stanford University’s graduate school of business. Barring further unexpected shocks, Mr. Lee said, “This has not been as bad as most people initially worried it might be.”

The resiliency of global supply networks and quick action by companies are part of the reason. But another explanation was provided by a study published last week, led by Mr. Lee and Kevin O’Marah, a supply chain specialist at Gartner, an information technology research and advisory company.

Their report used data from a survey of 750 supply chain managers across a spectrum of industries worldwide,....