OR/MS models for supply chain disruptions: a review

ABSTRACT

We review the Operations Research/Management Science (OR/MS) literature on supply chain disruptions in order to take stock of the research to date and to provide an overview of the research questions that have been addressed. We first place disruptions in the context of other forms of supply uncertainty and discuss common modeling approaches. We then discuss 180 scholarly works on the topic, organized into six categories: evaluating supply disruptions; strategic decisions; sourcing decisions; contracts and incentives; inventory; and facility location. We conclude with a discussion of future research directions.

Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge Christine Smith and Tolga Seyhan, whose research assistance aided us in compiling the papers discussed in this article.

Funding

This research of Lawrence V. Snyder was supported in part by the National Science Foundation, grants DMI-0522725 and CMMI-0726822. The research of Ying Rong was partially sponsored by the National Science Foundation of China (Grants 71202068, 71522009, 71421002). This support is gratefully acknowledged.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lawrence V. Snyder

Larry Snyder is an Associate Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. He received his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences from Northwestern University. His research interests include modeling and solving problems in supply chain management and electricity systems, particularly when the problem exhibits significant amounts of uncertainty. He is a co-author of the textbook Fundamentals of Supply Chain Theory, published in 2011 by Wiley, which won the IIE/Joint Publishers Book-of-the-Year Award in 2012. He is a founding member of Lehigh's Integrated Networks for Electricity (INE) research cluster and serves on the Editorial Boards for IIE Transactions, OMEGA, CSCMP Supply Chain Quarterly, and the Wiley Series on Operations Research and Management Science. He is the author of a suite of freeware educational software packages including VRP Solver and BaseStockSim. For more information, visit coral.ie.lehigh.edu/∼larry.

Zümbül Atan

Zümbül Atan is an Assistant Professor of Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences Department at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. She received her Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Lehigh University, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She holds a B.Sc. in Industrial Engineering and an M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from Middle East Technical University (METU) and Bilkent University, respectively. She performs research on multi-echelon supply chains, revenue management and retailing in collaboration with multiple international universities and companies such as ASML, Dow Chemicals, P&G, and Logitech.

Peng Peng

Peng Peng is a Senior Project Manager at China Merchants Holdings International in Hong Kong. He received a Ph.D. in Operations Research at City University of Hong Kong in 2012 and an M.S. in Management Sciences from Lehigh University in 2009.

Ying Rong

Ying Rong is an Associate Professor of Operations Management at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China. He received his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University. His research interests include supply chain management, operation in emerging business models, service operation, and data-driven optimization. He won the INFORMS Energy, Natural Resources & Environment Young Researcher Prize in 2014, third place of the best paper award of the Chinese Scholars Association for Management Science and Engineering (CSAMSE) Conference in 2012, finalist in the M&SOM Student Paper Competition in 2009, and second place in the IIE Pritsker Doctoral Dissertation Award in 2009. For more information, visit www.acem.sjtu.edu.cn/en/faculty/rongying.html.

Amanda J. Schmitt

Amanda Schmitt is the Global Risk Learning Manager at McKinsey & Company, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she designs and runs training programs for risk consultants and clients around the world. Before that she was an Engagement Manager at McKinsey, primarily focused on capability building for clients undergoing major operations transformations. Prior to joining McKinsey, she was a Postdoctoral Associate at the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics, where her research focused on managing supply chain risk. She received her Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University in 2008.

Burcu Sinsoysal

Burcu Sinsoysal is a Strategic Financial Planning Senior Specialist at Turkcell in Istanbul, Turkey. Prior to Turkcell, she worked as an Analyst at Ernst and Young. She received an M.S. in Industrial and Systems Engineering at Lehigh University and a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Bogazici University.