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This paper seeks to investigate the fast‐growing problem of counterfeit prescription drugs and the steps being taken by both the private and public sectors to counteract it.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to investigate the fast‐growing problem of counterfeit prescription drugs and the steps being taken by both the private and public sectors to counteract it.
Design/methodology/approach
The author documents both the size and scope of the counterfeit pharmaceutical problem in the USA. The paper also looks at the steps being taken by pharmaceutical manufacturers and wholesalers, as well as legal efforts being undertaken by federal and state governments, to counteract the growing concerns over fake medicines being introduced into the pharmaceutical supply chain.
Findings
The paper builds the business case for radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to be employed to track pharmaceuticals in the supply chain and counter the growing threat of counterfeit drugs.
Research limitations/implications
The principal limitation of this research is that it is being conducted on both a rapidly evolving problem (counterfeit pharmaceuticals) and the use of a rapidly developing technology (RFID) to counteract it. Thus, in time, the parameters of both the counterfeit drug problem and the technological solutions to it may shift dramatically.
Practical implications
The paper demonstrates that RFID provides the only effective method of providing “track and trace” electronic pedigrees for prescription drugs.
Originality/value
The paper is a valuable overview of the problems associated with the vulnerability of the pharmaceutical supply chain in the USA and the potential cost‐effective, life‐saving use of RFID to better secure prescription drugs, both in transit and in inventory.
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Dominic Peltier-Rivest and Carl Pacini
This paper aims to analyze drug counterfeiting, explains its risk factors and operating and legal environments reviews recent legal cases and develops a multi-stakeholder…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyze drug counterfeiting, explains its risk factors and operating and legal environments reviews recent legal cases and develops a multi-stakeholder prevention strategy that includes forensic accounting methods.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a theoretical study based on legal case studies and the best forensic accounting strategies.
Findings
Pharmaceutical drug counterfeiting is a fast-growing fraud that so far has attracted little attention from forensic accountants. A recent estimate projects that criminals collect around $75bn annually in illicit sales from counterfeit drugs (Bairu, 2015). Pharmaceutical counterfeiting also leads to the loss of lives when criminals use lethal chemicals in the manufacturing of fake medicines (Liang, 2006a; Brown, 2005). Because the detection of drug counterfeiting is extremely difficult after fake medicines have been ingested by patients, the strategy developed in this paper is based on early discovery by using reliable tracking technologies and inventory management controls in the supply chain, conducting effective regulatory and legitimate customs inspections, and increasing consumer awareness of basic forensic accounting tools.
Research limitations/implications
This paper extends previous research by integrating various factors into a single multi-stakeholder prevention framework.
Practical implications
The paper presents a synthesized, comprehensive view of the drug fraud epidemic and analyzes concrete steps that can be taken to protect the pharmaceutical supply chain to reduce the loss of lives and monetary injuries.
Originality/value
No previous research has analyzed this issue from a multi-stakeholder point of view and used forensic accounting tools to complement a prevention strategy. The drug counterfeiting prevention strategy developed in this paper addresses the supply side, the regulatory enforcement side and the demand side.
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Peggy E. Chaudhry and Stephen A. Stumpf
The purpose of this paper is to guide marketing managers in their efforts to decrease consumer demand for counterfeits of their products by examining the consumer beliefs and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to guide marketing managers in their efforts to decrease consumer demand for counterfeits of their products by examining the consumer beliefs and attitudes that have been found to support consumer complicity across multiple products, in virtual and physical shopping environments, using several criteria of complicity for each product.
Design/methodology/approach
A web‐based survey of 254 students explored two ethical ideologies (idealism and relativism), collectivism, and two attitudes toward counterfeits (ethical concern and perceived quality) with respect to two counterfeit products (movies and pharmaceuticals) and reported respondents' complicity in both a virtual and physical marketplace for each good.
Findings
Consumer complicity – a consumer's willingness to obtain, share, or use counterfeit products – was predicted by the consumers' hedonic shopping experience and lack of ethical concern with two different counterfeit products. The effects of ethical ideologies and collectivism on consumer complicity were observed to operate indirectly through hedonic shopping and ethical concern with using counterfeits.
Research limitations/implications
The primary limitation is the use of a convenience sample of US college students and future research should take the scale items developed in this study and test in multiple country markets.
Originality/value
The paper extends previous research by examining several identified predictors of complicity with different products, across virtual and physical markets, and with multiple criteria incorporating both acquisition, intent to acquire, and willingness to share.
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Flávia Renata Pinho de Lima, Andrea Lago Da Silva, Moacir Godinho Filho and Eduardo Mario Dias
The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of resilience enablers in combating counterfeits in the medicine supply chain based on a Systematic…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to understand the role of resilience enablers in combating counterfeits in the medicine supply chain based on a Systematic Literature Review (SLR). The objective is also to help practitioners and scholars as the review revealed that little research has been conducted on selecting and implementing practices to improve resilience to counterfeiting.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on the literature review, a content analysis was performed for 84 selected papers to explore the potential relationship among resilience enablers and counterfeit anti-measures.
Findings
This paper contributes to Supply Chain Resilience (SCR) research by summarizing the highly fragmented literature concerning how to combat counterfeiting. The SLR indicated reengineering, collaboration, visibility, innovation, SCR culture and trust as six key enablers to combat counterfeit medicines and identified literature gaps. Moreover, the paper discusses other resilience enablers which have been less studied in the literature and shows new avenues of research.
Research limitations/implications
This paper is limited in that it is an exploratory literature review and focuses only on three databases over the past 15 years. Furthermore, counterfeit is a rapidly evolving issue and anti-measure studies require frequent surveillance concerning new discoveries.
Originality/value
The main contribution of this paper is to provide a better understanding of enablers most often associated with counterfeit anti-measures, which, therefore, might help to increase resilience to counterfeit medicines. Moreover, research gaps involving enablers less associated with anti-measures are presented.
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Mark Stevenson and Jerry Busby
The purpose of this paper is to identify strategies employed by product counterfeiters in their exploitation of legitimate supply chains; to develop a theoretical understanding of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify strategies employed by product counterfeiters in their exploitation of legitimate supply chains; to develop a theoretical understanding of counterfeiting and its impact on competitive resources; and, to propose counter-measures for increasing the resilience of supply chains to the counterfeiting threat.
Design/methodology/approach
An inductive, qualitative analysis of secondary case data obtained from three sources.
Findings
Initial searching and coding identified four sets of strategies: extraction strategies, for obtaining products or materials from the legitimate economy; production strategies, for manufacturing counterfeit goods; distribution strategies; and, infiltration strategies, for introducing counterfeits into the legitimate economy. Secondary, focused coding revealed that much of what the counterfeiting strategies set out to achieve involves the generation, suppression or exploitation of signals. A theoretical account of counterfeiting and its impact on competitive resources (quality, reputation and trademark) is then developed based on signalling theory and the resource-based view.
Research limitations/implications
A set of counter-measures for dealing with the counterfeiting threat are proposed. There is scope for much further work on counterfeit resilience, including on establishing the effectiveness of these counter-measures.
Practical implications
Counterfeiting is an increasingly significant supply chain problem. It provides a direct economic challenge to legitimate producers, undermines the value of trademarks and threatens consumer welfare. It affects many industries, including automotives, aerospace and pharmaceuticals, where counterfeits have sometimes proven fatal. The paper adds to the understanding of how this phenomenon takes place and how it might be tackled.
Originality/value
Although many OM studies refer to the risks of patent and copyright infringements that arise in supply chains, the problem of product counterfeiting has received only limited attention, leaving a clear gap in the understanding.
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Danladi Chiroma Husaini, Florita Bolon, Natasha Smith, Rhondine Reynolds, Shenille Humes and Verlene Cayetano
Increased outsourcing and importation of drugs from different parts of the world to the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region result in the proliferation of substandard and…
Abstract
Purpose
Increased outsourcing and importation of drugs from different parts of the world to the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region result in the proliferation of substandard and fake medicines, posing a threat to public health. The presence of substandard and fake medications in LAC regions is a source of public health concern and causes an economic burden to the governments in these regions. Whereas testing and detecting medication quality can easily be achieved in developed countries, the situation is different in developing countries such as LAC. This paper aims to examine the public health challenges faced by LAC regarding substandard, fake and counterfeit medicines and how the region can tackle these challenges.
Design/methodology/approach
Databases such as Scopus, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Embase, HINARI, EBSCOhost, Google Scholar, unpublished data, conference abstracts and papers from World Health Organization, Pan-American Health Organization and electronic newspapers were searched concerning medicine quality and in LAC.
Findings
Drug treatment improves the quality of life while decreasing morbidity and mortality among diseased populations. Absence of or inadequate testing laboratories, old and ineffective legislature, lack of enforcement or willpower and lack of effective surveillance are challenges in LAC for the proliferation of substandard and falsified medicines (SFMs).
Research limitations/implications
The most significant limitation of this study was the need for the reviewers to have used articles written in other languages besides English. The LAC region has a large population in non-English-speaking countries, and many articles are written using local languages. Hence, excluding those articles is a limitation worthy of note in this review. The articles accessed needed to provide adequate information on SFM markets and illegal pharmacies or hospitals but did not. Future reviews may focus on providing illegal substandard and falsified medicines markets in the region and how they can be minimized or eliminated.
Originality/value
This review highlights the challenges faced by LAC countries regarding substandard, fake and counterfeit medicines. The sources, prevalence and consequences of substandard and falsified drugs were identified to suggest the measures needed to curb the infiltration of low-quality medicines in LAC.
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Mauro Falasca, Scott Dellana, William J. Rowe and John F. Kros
This study develops and tests a model exploring the relationship between supply chain (SC) counterfeit risk management and performance in the healthcare supply chain (HCSC).
Abstract
Purpose
This study develops and tests a model exploring the relationship between supply chain (SC) counterfeit risk management and performance in the healthcare supply chain (HCSC).
Design/methodology/approach
In the proposed theoretical model, HCSC counterfeit risk management is characterized by HCSC counterfeit risk orientation (HCRO), HCSC counterfeit risk mitigation (HCRM) and HCSC risk management integration (HRMI), while performance is represented by healthcare logistics performance (HLP) and healthcare organization overall performance (HOP). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and survey data from 55 HCSC managers are used to test the research hypotheses.
Findings
HCRO has a significant positive effect on HCRM, while HCRM has a positive impact on HRMI. With respect to HLP, HCRM has a nonsignificant effect, while HRMI has a significant impact, thus confirming the important mediating role of HRMI. Finally, HLP has a significant positive effect on the overall performance of healthcare organizations.
Research limitations/implications
All study participants were from the United States, limiting the generalizability of the study findings to different countries or regions. The sample size employed in the study did not allow the authors to distinguish among the different types of healthcare organizations.
Originality/value
This study delineates between a healthcare organization's philosophy toward counterfeiting risks vs actions taken to eliminate or reduce the impact of counterfeiting on the HCSC. By offering firm-level guidance for managers, this study informs healthcare organizations about addressing the challenge of counterfeiting in the HCSC.
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Astha Sharma, Dinesh Kumar and Navneet Arora
The purpose of the present work is to improve the industry performance by identifying and quantifying the risks faced by the Indian pharmaceutical industry (IPI). The risk values…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the present work is to improve the industry performance by identifying and quantifying the risks faced by the Indian pharmaceutical industry (IPI). The risk values for the prominent risks and overall industry are determined based on the four risk parameters, which would help determine the most contributive risks for mitigation.
Design/methodology/approach
An extensive literature survey was done to identify the risks, which were also validated by industry experts. The finalized risks were then evaluated using the fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE) method, which is the most suitable approach for the risk assessment with parameters having a set of different risk levels.
Findings
The three most contributive sub-risks are counterfeit drugs, demand fluctuations and loss of customers due to partners' poor service performance, while the main risks obtained are demand, financial and logistics. Also, the overall risk value indicates that the industry faces medium to high risk.
Practical implications
The study identifies the critical risks which need to be mitigated for an efficient industry. The industry is most vulnerable to the demand risk category. Therefore, the managers should minimize this risk by mitigating its sub-risks, like demand fluctuations, bullwhip effect, etc. Another critical sub-risk, the counterfeit risk, should be managed by adopting advanced technologies like blockchain, artificial intelligence, etc.
Originality/value
There is insufficient literature focusing on risk quantification. Therefore, this work addresses this gap and obtains the industry's most critical risks. It also discusses suitable mitigation strategies for better industry performance.
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate how “manias” in global health governance lead to health inequalities even before, during and in the aftermath of acute health crises…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate how “manias” in global health governance lead to health inequalities even before, during and in the aftermath of acute health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. “Manias” as used here refer to obsessive ir/rational behaviors, misguided policy/strategic choices and the exercise of power that benefit the major global health actors at the expense of stakeholders.
Design/methodology/approach
From post-colonial and historical perspectives, this study delineates how the major global health actors influence outcomes in global health governance and international business when they interact at the national–global level using an illustration from an emerging economy.
Findings
Power asymmetry in global health governance is constructed around the centralization of economic influence, medico-techno-scientific innovation and the geopolitical hegemony of a conglomerate of super-rich/powerful actors. They cluster these powers and resources in the core region (industrialized economies) and use them to influence the periphery (developing economies) through international NGOs, hybrid organizations, MNCs and multilateral/bilateral agreements. The power of actors to maintain manias lies in not only how they influence the periphery but also the consequences of the periphery’s “passivity” and “voluntary” renunciation of sovereignty in medical innovations and global health policies/politics.
Social implications
As a quintessential feature of manias, power asymmetry makes it harder for weaker actors to actually change the institutional conditions that produce structural inequalities in global health.
Originality/value
This timely and multidisciplinary study calls for a novel architecture of global health governance. Thus, democratizing global health governance with sufficiently foresighted investments that prioritize equitable access by and the inclusiveness of vulnerable stakeholders will help dismantle institutionalized manias while decreasing health inequalities.
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Mark S. Rosenbaum, Mauricio Losada-Otalora and Germán Contreras-Ramirez
The purpose of this paper is to explore black market retailing, with a focus on Colombia’s San Andresitos.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore black market retailing, with a focus on Colombia’s San Andresitos.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use grounded theory methodology to develop a theoretical framework that explains how consumers rationalize their acceptance, rejection, or tolerance of black market retailing. The authors obtained qualitative data based on reader responses to newspaper articles on San Andresitos and used the responses as qualitative data in comparative analysis to derive a “strategy family” theoretical framework.
Findings
The framework advances rationalization techniques that consumers employ to accept, reject, or tolerate the San Andresitos.
Research limitations/implications
Colombians are divided on the legality of the San Andresitos. Although half the informants note the wrongfulness of the San Andresitos, the other half offer reasons to accept or tolerate them.
Practical implications
Legitimate (i.e. lawful) retailers operating in Colombia, or planning to enter, need to realize that local and national government officials support the San Andresitos. Colombia’s legitimate retailers must co-exist with the black market and dissuade consumers from patronizing unauthorized vendors or purchasing illicit goods.
Social implications
Colombia’s acceptance of its black markets results in consumers inadvertently supporting crime, terrorism, and even bodily harm via the San Andresitos. However, the San Andresitos enable lower-income consumers to gain access to otherwise unattainable merchandise and provide employment through lower-skilled labor.
Originality/value
This paper is one of the first to explore black markets. From a transformative service research perspective, this research reveals how consumers, retailers, and government officials participate in Colombia’s black market, and how their activities serve to harm consumer well-being.
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