Toward a Taxonomy of Food Supply Chain Security Practices

Abstract

Supply chain security (SCS) breaches in the food supply chains are distressing respective firms across the globe. They also have the potential of inflicting pain on the society at large. Despite the abundance of practices that have been advocated to cope with SCS breaches, the literature lacks a conceptual taxonomy to organize them. Classifying practices into respective taxa can advance theory building and stimulate the testing of substantive hypotheses. Toward this end, we develop a taxonomy which conceptually rests on the human immune system and its attempts to protect the human body from pathogens. We deploy a metaphorical transfer process and postulate that SCS practices can be classified into four classes based on their intent: prevention, detection, reaction, and restoration. We then discuss the implications of the taxonomy and assert that our taxonomy can be exploited to a variety of domains in the realm of risk management.

Keywords:

• classification
• food safety
• food supply chain
• practices
• risk
• risk management
• supply chain security
• taxonomy

Notes

1 For additional information see http://www.fda.gov/Food/RecallsOutbreaksEmergencies/Outbreaks/ucm470410.htm

2 We reviewed Decision Sciences, Journal of Operations Management, Management Science, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, and Production and Operations Management.

3 For example, in April 2016 Chinese authorities arrested several criminals (China Daily, 2016) that sold tens of thousands of cans of fake infant formula in several Chinese provinces. This is reminiscent of the 2008 melamine infant formula scandal in China that left six children dead and over 54,000 hospitalized. Consequently, both systems need to react in a timely manner.