ABSTRACT
Paper aims: This paper presents the literature findings of the Covid-19 vaccines supply chain, its main challenges and best practices, which are compared and verified empirically. Originality: The questionnaire developed in this study provides new empirical data about the Covid-19 vaccines supply chain, especially regarding the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in the chain, as these events are still recent. Research method: A questionnaire was sent by e-mail to specialists working with the Covid-19 vaccine supply chain in South America. Each response was compared to the literature findings. Main findings: Despite the challenges faced by vaccination programs, some countries have achieved good results due to strategies adopted at the beginning of their immunization campaigns. The empirical research confirmed that literature findings match business reality, although some empirical results vary depending on the scenario of the country regarding the impacts of the pandemic. Implications for theory and practice: This paper summarizes the Covid-19 vaccine supply chain and its challenges, best practices of the most successful countries regarding the immunization process, providing a better understanding of the pandemic scenario. Some empirical data corroborate the literature, and some discrepancies allow the formulation of suppositions that may be tested in future studies © This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
ABSTRACT
Disasters can severely impact supply chains (SCs), including all stakeholders involved. This study aims to identify the impacts of major disasters on SCs and countermeasure strategies. Based on a systematic literature review, we analyse 160 documents to propose a taxonomy, research agenda, and framework. The taxonomy encompasses a list of impacts categorised into resource constraints, SC instability, outflow disruption, financial constraints, and consumption patterns. Strategies are divided into proactive (preventive SC collaboration, resources maintenance, digitalisation or automation, local SC, and human capabilities) and reactive (responsive SC collaboration, resources maintenance, information system, virtual marketplaces, and business continuity plans). The research agenda provides opportunities for future research based on the literature analysis. Finally, the framework presents the study findings using an integrated and holistic approach. The study expands the theoretical view related to the impacts of disasters on SCs and highlights the need to implement strategies to ensure the functioning of SCs during disasters.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected Food Supply Chains (FSCs), causing impacts that interfere with the normal flow of operations. This paper analyzes the COVID-19 impacts on FSCs and the main strategies to minimize their adverse effects. The research adopts a scoping review to identify impacts and strategies and an empirical study consisting of a survey with professionals operating in Brazilian SCs to discuss and validate the results. Impacts are categorized into final consumer, internal environment, and external environment. The policies are also divided into COVID-19 prevention policies and FSCs operational policies. The survey presents 45 complete responses to identify the major impacts and implementation of mitigation policies in FSCs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The main impacts are increased demand, increased operating costs, and price instability. The main mitigation policies are isolation of employees with suspicious cases (COVID-19 prevention) and strong and focused leadership (Operational policy). The results provide a first validation of the research, and the authors suggest as future research the development of studies deepening other types of supply chains. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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Purpose: This paper proposes a maturity model (MM) for assessing disaster operations and identifying strategies for organisations to evolve their maturity stages. Design/methodology/approach: This study applies a systematic literature review to identify state-of-the-art work related to maturity models for disaster operations. In addition, the study develops a case study to validate the proposed maturity model in a generic scenario and two real-life scenarios. Findings: The analysis of 158 papers in the literature resulted in identifying 8 maturity models for disaster operations. Based on their structure, the authors proposed a new model with five maturity stages suitable for any of the four phases of the disaster life cycle (i.e. mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery). In addition, the research identified and presents 24 strategies for improving disaster operations according to each maturity stage transition. Finally, the research presents a case study that evaluates the disaster response operations from a Civil Defense organisation considering a response scenario disaster in general, a flood scenario, and the COVID-19 pandemic scenario. Originality/value: This study provides the following three main contributions useful for academics and practitioners in the disaster operations area: a new maturity model for assessing disaster operations, a strategy guide for improving disaster operations based on a maturity evolution and an empirical study exploring the approximation between academia and professionals involved in real-life disaster operations management. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.
ABSTRACT
The epidemics and pandemics can severely affect food supply chains, including producers, retailers, wholesalers, and customers. To minimize their impacts, it is fundamental to implement effective policies that ensure continuity in the provision, affordability, and distribution of basic food items. This research identifies the main impacts of pandemics and epidemics on food supply chains and policies that can minimize these impacts. Based on a systematic literature review (SLR), 173 documents are analysed to propose a taxonomy of impacts on four supply chain links: demand-side, supply-side, logistics and infrastructure, and management and operation. The taxonomy presents the main impacts and respective mitigation policies. In addition, the literature review leads to the development of a comprehensive causal loop diagram (CLD) with the identification of main variables and their relationship with food supply chains. Finally, a specific research agenda is proposed by identifying the main research gaps. These findings provide a structured method for evaluating policies that ensure the functioning of food supply chains, particularly in disruptions such as epidemics and pandemics. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.