Supply chain risk management strategies in normal and abnormal times: policymakers' role in reducing generic medicine shortages
International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management
ISSN: 0960-0035
Article publication date: 28 September 2022
Issue publication date: 22 March 2023
Abstract
Purpose
This paper links supply chain risk management to medicine supply chains to explore the role of policymakers in employing supply chain risk management strategies (SCRMS) to reduce generic medicine shortages.
Design/methodology/approach
Using secondary data supplemented with primary data, the authors map and compare seven countries' SCRMS for handling shortage risks in their paracetamol supply chains before and during the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Findings
Consistent with recent research, the study finds that policymakers had implemented few SCRMS specifically for responding to disruptions caused by COVID-19. However, shortages were largely avoided since multiple strategies for coping with business-as-usual disruptions had been implemented prior to the pandemic. The authors did find that SCRMS implemented during COVID-19 were not always aligned with those implemented pre-pandemic. The authors also found that policymakers played both direct and indirect roles.
Research limitations/implications
Combining longitudinal secondary data with interviews sheds light on how, regardless of the level of preparedness during normal times, SCRMS can be leveraged to avert shortages in abnormal times. However, the problem is highly complex, which warrants further research.
Practical implications
Supply chain professionals and policymakers in the healthcare sector can use the findings when developing preparedness and response plans.
Social implications
The insights developed can help policymakers improve the availability of high-volume generic medicines in (ab)normal times.
Originality/value
The authors contribute to prior SCRM research in two ways. First, the authors operationalize SCRMS in the medicine supply chain context in (ab)normal times, thereby opening avenues for future research on SCRM in this context. Second, the authors develop insights on the role policymakers play and how they directly implement and indirectly influence the adoption of SCRMS. Based on the study findings, the authors develop a framework that captures the diverse roles of policymakers in SCRM.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper forms part of a special section “NOFOMA 2021 Conference special issue”, guest edited by Bente Flygansvær, Sini Laari and Ceren Altuntas Vural.
Funding: This research was funded by GLOBVAC and HELSEVEL, The Research Council of Norway (RCN). More information about this research project can be found at https://www.bi. edu/research/centres-groups-and-other-initiatives/mia/. The authors are grateful to the editor and the anonymous referees, whose comments and suggestions have considerably improved the paper.
Citation
Ahlqvist, V., Dube, N., Jahre, M., Lee, J.S., Melaku, T., Moe, A.F., Olivier, M., Selviaridis, K., Viana, J. and Aardal, C. (2023), "Supply chain risk management strategies in normal and abnormal times: policymakers' role in reducing generic medicine shortages", International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 53 No. 2, pp. 206-230. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPDLM-12-2021-0511
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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