Testing at the Source: Analytics-Enabled Risk-Based Sampling of Food Supply Chains in China

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cangyu Jin ◽  
Retsef Levi ◽  
Qiao Liang ◽  
Nicholas Renegar ◽  
Stacy Springs ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Safety ◽  
Operations Management ◽  
Important Application ◽  
Structured Data ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Food Supply Chains ◽  
Aquatic Products ◽  
Current Test ◽  
Operational Decision Making ◽  
The Impact

This paper illustrates how supply chain (SC) analytics could provide strategic and operational insights to evaluate the risk-based allocation of regulatory resources in food SCs, for management of food safety and adulteration risks. This paper leverages data on 89,970 tests of aquatic products extracted from a self-constructed data set of 2.6 million food safety tests conducted by the China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) organizations. The integrated and structured data set is used to conduct innovative analysis that identifies the sources of adulteration risks in China’s food SCs and contrasts them with the current test resource allocations of the CFDA. The analysis highlights multiple strategic insights. Particularly, it suggests potential gaps in the current CFDA testing allocation by SC location, which is heavily focused on retail and supermarkets. Instead, the analysis indicates that high-risk parts of the SC, such as wholesale and wet markets, are undersampled. Additionally, the paper highlights the impact that SC analytics could have on policy-level operational decision making to regulate food SCs and manage food safety. The hope is that the paper will stimulate the interest of academics with expertise in these areas to conduct more work in this important application domain. This paper was accepted by Charles Corbett, operations management.

Does Water Scarcity Affect Environmental Performance? Evidence from Manufacturing Facilities in Texas

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suresh Muthulingam ◽  
Suvrat Dhanorkar ◽  
Charles J. Corbett
Keyword(s):  
Water Scarcity ◽  
Operations Management ◽  
Environmental Performance ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Full Sample ◽  
Toxic Releases ◽  
Manufacturing Operations ◽  
Toxic Emissions ◽  
Manufacturing Facilities ◽  
The Impact

It is well known that manufacturing operations can affect the environment, but hardly any research explores whether the natural environment shapes manufacturing operations. Specifically, we investigate whether water scarcity, which results from environmental conditions, influences manufacturing firms to lower their toxic releases to the environment. We created a data set that spans 2000–2016 and includes details on the toxic emissions of 3,092 manufacturing facilities in Texas. Additionally, our data set includes measures of the water scarcity experienced by these facilities. Our econometric analysis shows that manufacturing facilities reduce their toxic releases into the environment when they have experienced drought conditions in the previous year. We examine facilities that release toxics to water as well as facilities with no toxic releases to water. We find that the reduction in total releases (to all media) is driven mainly by those facilities that release toxic chemicals to water. Further investigation at a more granular level indicates that water scarcity compels manufacturing facilities to lower their toxic releases into media other than water (i.e., land or air). The impact of water scarcity on toxic releases to water is more nuanced. A full-sample analysis fails to link water scarcity to lower toxic releases to water, but a further breakdown shows that manufacturing facilities in counties with a higher incidence of drought do lower their toxic releases to water. We also find that facilities that release toxics to water undertake more technical and input modifications to their manufacturing processes when they face water scarcity. This paper was accepted by David Simchi-Levi, operations management.

How Price Dispersion Changes When Upgrades Are Introduced: Theory and Empirical Evidence from the Airline Industry

2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (8) ◽  
pp. 3835-3852 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yao Cui ◽  
A. Yeşim Orhun ◽  
Izak Duenyas
Keyword(s):  
Operations Management ◽  
Airline Industry ◽  
Price Dispersion ◽  
Consumer Welfare ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Differentiation Strategy ◽  
Valuation Effect ◽  
Price Distribution ◽  
The One ◽  
The Impact

This paper studies the effect of introducing a new vertical differentiation strategy, paying for an upgrade to a premium product after purchasing the base product, on the price dispersion of the base product arising from existing price discrimination strategies. In particular, we examine how a major U.S. airline’s price dispersion in the coach cabin changes after introducing the option to upgrade to a new type of premium economy seating within the coach cabin. We first provide a theoretical analysis that highlights two competing pressures that the new premium economy seating upgrades created on coach class prices. On the one hand, the airline benefits from lowering its prices because by allowing more customers to purchase in the first place, it increases the probability of selling upgrades (admission effect). On the other hand, for some customers, the value of flying with the airline increases because of the upgrade availability, therefore the airline may find it optimal to increase its prices (valuation effect). In the second part of the paper, we conduct an empirical investigation of the impact of upgrade introduction on coach class prices, based on a proprietary transaction-level data set from a major U.S. airline company. The empirical analysis tests the main predictions of our theoretical model and examines further nuances. The results show that the introduction of the premium economy seating upgrades is associated with an increase in the price dispersion and revenues in the coach class, the admission effect is stronger than the valuation effect on the low end of the price distribution, and the opposite is true on the high end of the price distribution. Finally, we discuss implications of our results for firm revenues and consumer welfare. This paper was accepted by Serguei Netessine, operations management.

The Bullwhip Effect in Supply Networks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikolay Osadchiy ◽  
William Schmidt ◽  
Jing Wu
Keyword(s):  
Operations Management ◽  
Aggregate Demand ◽  
Bullwhip Effect ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Supplier Relationships ◽  
Supply Networks ◽  
Customer Base ◽  
Base Management ◽  
Demand Variability ◽  
The Impact

We offer a new network perspective on one of the central topics in operations management—the bullwhip effect (BWE). The topic has both practical and scholarly implications. We start with an observation: the variability of orders placed to suppliers is larger than the variability of sales to customers for most firms, yet the aggregate demand variability felt by suppliers upstream does not amplify commensurably. We hypothesize that changes to the supplier’s customer base can smooth out its aggregate demand. We test the hypothesis with a data set that tracks the evolution of supply relationships over time. We show that the effect of customer base management extends beyond the statistical benefits of aggregation. In particular, both the formation and the dissolution of customer-supplier relationships are associated with the smoothing of the aggregate demand experienced by suppliers. This provides fresh insight into how firms may leverage their customer-supplier relationships to mitigate the impact of the BWE. This paper was accepted by Jay Swaminathan, operations management.

Young consumers' perception of food safety and their trust in official food control agencies

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Justyna Franc-Dąbrowska ◽  
Irena Ozimek ◽  
Iwona Pomianek ◽  
Joanna Rakowska
Keyword(s):  
Food Safety ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Food Control ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Food Supply Chains ◽  
Young Consumers ◽  
Chi Square Test ◽  
Spearman’S Correlation

PurposeThe purpose of the research was to investigate how young consumers perceive food safety and if they trust that official food control agencies or other actors of food supply chains ensure a proper level of safety of food in Poland. The purpose of the paper was also to find out if young consumers are currently concerned that a proper level of food safety is not ensured.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis was based on a data set from 650 questionnaires collected in an online survey carried out in October 2020 and addressed to the group of young consumers, students of Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland. The analysis was carried out using standard methods of qualitative data analysis (QDA), descriptive statistics, Spearman’s correlation coefficient and Pearson’s chi-square test.FindingsLess than a half of Polish young consumers consider food to be safe and many other do not have an opinion about this matter. Young consumers do not perceive official agencies in charge of food control as the most responsible for food safety, and they either do not trust these institutions or have no opinion about it. Young consumers declare that food producers and food processing businesses are the most responsible for food safety while retailers and consumers are the least responsible ones. The majority of young consumers are not concerned about ensuring proper food safety.Originality/valueUp-to-date young consumers' perception of the role and trust in official food control agencies and food safety in Poland have not been investigated, which makes this study a novelty. The findings can be valuable to official agencies in charge of food control and consumer education, to improve their functioning. They can also be important as a basis for further studies, as young consumers’ attitudes and trust in official food control agencies can change.

The Impact of Workload on Operational Risk: Evidence from a Commercial Bank

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuqian Xu ◽  
Tom Fangyun Tan ◽  
Serguei Netessine
Keyword(s):  
Commercial Bank ◽  
Error Rate ◽  
Operations Management ◽  
Financial Services ◽  
Operational Risk ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Risk Event ◽  
Significant Performance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Empirical Analysis

Operational risk has been among the three most significant types of risks in the financial services industry, and its management is mandated by Basel II regulations. To inform better labor decisions, this paper studies how workload affects banks’ operational risk event occurrence. To achieve this goal, we use a unique data set from a commercial bank in China that contains 1,441 operational risk events over 16 months. We find that workload has a U-shaped impact on operational risk error rate. More specifically, the error rate of operational risk events decreases first, as workload increases, and then increases. Furthermore, when workload is low, employees tend to make performance-seeking risks; however, when workload is high, employees tend to exhibit quality degradation due to cognitive multitasking. Based on the causal relationship between workload and operational risk events from the empirical analysis, we discuss staffing policies among branches aimed at reducing operational risk losses. We find that employing a flexible staffing rule can significantly reduce the number of operational risk events by 3.2%–10% under different scenarios. In addition, this significant performance improvement can be achieved by adding even a little bit of flexibility to the process by allowing employees to either switch their business lines in the same branch or switch branches within the same business lines on a quarterly basis. This paper was accepted by Vishal Gaur, operations management.

scholarly journals Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 on Sustainable Food Supply Chains

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 143
Author(s):  
Yigit Kazancoglu ◽  
Melisa Ozbiltekin-Pala ◽  
Muruvvet Deniz Sezer ◽  
Banu Y. Ekren ◽  
Vikas Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Food Safety ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Information Sharing ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Risk Mitigation ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Know How ◽  
Food Supply Chains ◽  
Increasing Demand ◽  
The Impact

Recently, it has become an important issue to ensure sustainability, especially in food supply chains, against the rapidly growing population, increasing demand, and sudden disruptions caused by uncertain times such as that caused by COVID-19. Since food supply chains has vulnerable products and processes, it is critical to understand the sustainability factors of food supply chains especially in uncertain times such during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aims to determine sustainability factors of food supply chains. An Interpretive Structural Modelling method is used to state the relations between sustainability factors of food supply chains. As a result of the study, Information Sharing and Managerial Approaches are classified as driving factors; Food Safety and Security, Know-How Transfer, Logistics Networking, Risk Mitigation, Employee Commitment, Innovation, Traceability and Responsiveness are categorized as linkage factors. This article will be beneficial for managers in helping them develop sustainable food supply chains during uncertain times by focusing on traceability, information sharing, know-how transfer, food safety and security.

scholarly journals IMPACT OF CORONAVIRUS COVID-19 ON THE FOOD SYSTEM

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 121-129
Author(s):  
Eulalia Skawińska ◽  
Romuald Zalewski
Keyword(s):  
Food Security ◽  
Food Safety ◽  
Food System ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Research Problem ◽  
Global Food Security ◽  
Food Supply Chains ◽  
Food Market ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Global Food

The article contributes to the theory of sustainability. It aims to analyse the impact of COVID-19 on global food security and its role in changing food supply chains, with a particular focus on international chains. The research is presented in several sections. The analytical portion discusses the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 epidemiological crisis on the global food market. The state of food safety is then presented, taking into account the quantitative and qualitative aspects. Next, the aspect of the economic availability of food is examined, as well as the important role that international food chains play in shaping food safety. All sections include the results of an analysis of international secondary data on food security under the influence of an ongoing pandemic. The stated objective of the work was achieved and the questions that formulate the research problem were answered. Finally, the need for further normative studies was identified.

When You Work with a Superman, Will You Also Fly? An Empirical Study of the Impact of Coworkers on Performance

2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (8) ◽  
pp. 3495-3517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Fangyun Tan ◽  
Serguei Netessine
Keyword(s):  
Operations Management ◽  
Peer Effects ◽  
Sales Performance ◽  
Sales Managers ◽  
Ability Level ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Ability Levels ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Total Sales ◽  
Operational Data

We examine a large operational data set in a casual restaurant setting to study how coworkers’ sales ability level affects other workers’ sales performance. We find that waiters react nonlinearly to their coworkers’ ability. In particular, when coworkers’ overall sales ability is low, increasing this ability may prompt waiters to redouble both upselling and cross-selling efforts. When overall coworkers’ ability is high, however, further increasing their ability may trigger waiters to reduce sales efforts. Our empirical findings imply that, to maximize sales, managers should mix waiters with heterogeneous ability levels during the same shift. Through a counterfactual analysis, we find that considering the inverted U-shaped peer effects when optimizing current waiters’ schedules without changing their utilization may increase total sales by approximately 2.48% at no extra cost. This paper was accepted by Vishal Gaur, operations management.

Food Safety Security: A new Concept for Enhancing Food Safety Measures

2012 ◽  
Vol 82 (3) ◽  
pp. 216-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Venkatesh Iyengar ◽  
Ibrahim Elmadfa
Keyword(s):  
Food Safety ◽  
Hazard Analysis ◽  
Warning System ◽  
Shared Responsibility ◽  
Fine Tuning ◽  
Strategic Action ◽  
Surveillance Network ◽  
Measurement Systems ◽  
Critical Control Points ◽  
The Impact

The food safety security (FSS) concept is perceived as an early warning system for minimizing food safety (FS) breaches, and it functions in conjunction with existing FS measures. Essentially, the function of FS and FSS measures can be visualized in two parts: (i) the FS preventive measures as actions taken at the stem level, and (ii) the FSS interventions as actions taken at the root level, to enhance the impact of the implemented safety steps. In practice, along with FS, FSS also draws its support from (i) legislative directives and regulatory measures for enforcing verifiable, timely, and effective compliance; (ii) measurement systems in place for sustained quality assurance; and (iii) shared responsibility to ensure cohesion among all the stakeholders namely, policy makers, regulators, food producers, processors and distributors, and consumers. However, the functional framework of FSS differs from that of FS by way of: (i) retooling the vulnerable segments of the preventive features of existing FS measures; (ii) fine-tuning response systems to efficiently preempt the FS breaches; (iii) building a long-term nutrient and toxicant surveillance network based on validated measurement systems functioning in real time; (iv) focusing on crisp, clear, and correct communication that resonates among all the stakeholders; and (v) developing inter-disciplinary human resources to meet ever-increasing FS challenges. Important determinants of FSS include: (i) strengthening international dialogue for refining regulatory reforms and addressing emerging risks; (ii) developing innovative and strategic action points for intervention {in addition to Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) procedures]; and (iii) introducing additional science-based tools such as metrology-based measurement systems.

Age at Exposure to Parental Suicide and the Subsequent Risk of Suicide in Young People

Crisis ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kuan-Ying Lee ◽  
Chung-Yi Li ◽  
Kun-Chia Chang ◽  
Tsung-Hsueh Lu ◽  
Ying-Yeh Chen
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Proportional Hazards ◽  
Proportional Hazards Model ◽  
Cox Proportional Hazards ◽  
Cox Proportional Hazards Model ◽  
Birth Registry ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Parental Suicide ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Age At Exposure

Abstract. Background: We investigated the age at exposure to parental suicide and the risk of subsequent suicide completion in young people. The impact of parental and offspring sex was also examined. Method: Using a cohort study design, we linked Taiwan's Birth Registry (1978–1997) with Taiwan's Death Registry (1985–2009) and identified 40,249 children who had experienced maternal suicide (n = 14,431), paternal suicide (n = 26,887), or the suicide of both parents (n = 281). Each exposed child was matched to 10 children of the same sex and birth year whose parents were still alive. This yielded a total of 398,081 children for our non-exposed cohort. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to compare the suicide risk of the exposed and non-exposed groups. Results: Compared with the non-exposed group, offspring who were exposed to parental suicide were 3.91 times (95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.10–4.92 more likely to die by suicide after adjusting for baseline characteristics. The risk of suicide seemed to be lower in older male offspring (HR = 3.94, 95% CI = 2.57–6.06), but higher in older female offspring (HR = 5.30, 95% CI = 3.05–9.22). Stratified analyses based on parental sex revealed similar patterns as the combined analysis. Limitations: As only register-­based data were used, we were not able to explore the impact of variables not contained in the data set, such as the role of mental illness. Conclusion: Our findings suggest a prominent elevation in the risk of suicide among offspring who lost their parents to suicide. The risk elevation differed according to the sex of the afflicted offspring as well as to their age at exposure.

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