A potential challenge regarding the use of the assessment model is the need for a detailed review of data furnished by suppliers. Such reviews can be costly and time consuming, and therefore are usuallylimited to the firm’s strategic suppliers. However, well-designed, qualitativeself-reporting can be verycost effective. As in the case of this study, each supplier was required to answer an online multiple choice survey that takes less than 30 minutes to complete. In addition, given the large number of suppliers in many supply chains, the buyers or category managers often do not know every detail about each supplier, thus making self-reporting by suppliers a necessity. With these qualitative indicators, it is also feasible and affordable to assess several tiers in the supply network, consequently making the network risk profile broad and deep.