Security seems to be the next big topic in supply chain management research. Or rather, a range of topics, from intellectual property rights (read counterfeit) to health and safety questions (read unwanted additives like led in toys, melamine in milk…), to technology to increase flow visibility (read RFID to locate your goods), piracy and theft. Even the EU’s 7th Framework Programme has a security focus, prompting an own Wikipedia entry on supply chain security. Yet apart from projects on biosecurity, the interest in SCM research has not been overwhelming. Articles on the topic are particularly rare. So this is to welcome one of a kind, Daniel Ekwall‘s article on “the displacement effect of cargo theft“. The sad news is that theft patterns just change over time…
Gyöngyi
Daniel Ekwall’s is well worth a read, and not only the one article referenced, but his whole PhD dissertation, which in essence and over-simplified comes down to: If you want to secure your supply chain, you have to start thinking like a criminal and analyze where he would be most likely to attack your supply chain. Ekwall does a perfect job at that, and I for one found his dissertation very fruitful for my own research.