A Schulich School of Business professor in the Master of Supply Chain Management program has been recognized for co-authoring one of the top papers in the 50-year history of the Decision Sciences Journal (DSJ). “The severity of supply chain disruptions: Design characteristics and mitigation capabilities,” co-authored by Professor Johnny Rungtusanatham, ranks as the No. 10 most cited paper.
Johnny Rungtusanatham
The article, which was published in 2007, makes the following points:
- Stop planning to prevent all supply chain disruptions because it is not feasible to identify all contingencies. Instead, plan to avoid being severely affected when supply chain disruptions occur.
- Supply chain density – firms with dense supply chains are more likely to experience severe disruptions and should move away from geographically-concentrated sourcing.
- Supply chain complexity – firms with complex supply chains are more likely to experience severe disruptions and should reduce the length of their global supply chains and the number of players within each supply chain.
- Supply chain node criticality – firms whose supply chains have many critical nodes are more likely to experience severe disruptions and should reduce the number of “important” suppliers within their supply chains.
- Warning capability – firms with warning capability are less likely to experience severe disruptions and should use emerging technologies to make supply chains more visible and transparent.
- Recovery capability – firms with recovery capability are less likely to experience severe disruptions and should invest in systems, processes, and people that can be come online immediately at the onset of supply disruptions.
“It is gratifying to know that our research is so relevant today, especially with supply disruptions triggered by COVID-19,” said Rungtusanatham, the Canada Research Chair in Supply Chain Management. I have shared the managerial advice from this research with supply chain managers and leaders through Supply Chain Canada.”