SUPPLY CHAIN STRUCTURE, PRODUCT RECALLS AND FIRM PERFORMANCE: INVESTIGATING RECALL DRIVERS AND RECALL FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE RELATIONSHIPS

This dissertation is a two-essay study on globalization, sourcing structure and product quality and firm performance in global supply chain management. In the first essay, using a unique archival dataset on firms and their suppliers, the role of supply chain strategies in contributing to product safety and quality, as assessed through product recalls are investigated. The second essay investigates the relationship between product recalls and firm performance. Moreover, the moderating effects on the recall-profitability relationship of supply chain as well as recall management strategies are investigated . Essay 1 investigates how a number of supply chain strategies contribute to product recalls. In particular, I examine how the make or buy decision (i.e., outsourcing), the decision to concentrate the supply base (i.e., use few vs. several suppliers), the use of foreign suppliers (i.e., offshoring), and the extent of global operations, contribute to product recalls. The subject area of product quality and safety failures leading to product recalls is important because product recalls can have a major, negative impact on firm performance. For example, in the event of a product recall, replacement orders may need to be shipped, new suppliers may need to be found and vetted, and marketing expenditures may need to be made to counter negative publicity from the recall. Applying key theories in operations and supply chain management, I find that firms vary greatly in recall propensity and that these variations are related to heterogeneity in outsourcing, offshoring, and supply base concentration. In the second essay, I revisit the recall-performance relationship. First, I investigate the relationship between product recalls and profitability. Firms may choose to try to avoid product recalls by increasing their expenditures on product quality and inspection services. Or, on the other hand, they may emphasize short term profitability by reducing production and inspection costs, thereby increasing the risk of incurring a product recall. Since firms are expected to balance production and quality inspection costs against the costs associated with product recalls in order to maximize profit performance, the recall-profitability relationship is not clear, a priori. I further investigate the moderating effect of global operations, supply base structure and recall strategies on the relationship between product recalls and profit margins. My theory-based research suggests a curvilinear recall-profit relationship and that this relationship depends on key global supply chain practices and recall management strategies

An Empirical Analysis to Control Product Counterfeiting in the Automotive Industry\u27s Supply Chains in Pakistan

The counterfeits pose significant health and safety threat to consumers. The quality image of firms is vulnerable to the damage caused by the expanding flow of counterfeit products in today’s global supply chains. The counterfeiting markets are swelling due to globalization and customers’ willingness to buy counterfeits, fueling illicit activities to explode further. Buyers look for the original parts are deceived by the false (deceptive) signals’ communication. The counterfeiting market has become a multi-billion industry but lacks detailed insights into the supply side of counterfeiting (deceptive side). The study aims to investigate and assess the relationship between the anti-counterfeiting strategies and improvement in the firm’s supply performance within the internal and external supply chain quality management context in the auto-parts industry’s supply chains in Pakistan

Solving Multi-objective Integer Programs using Convex Preference Cones

Esta encuesta tiene dos objetivos: en primer lugar, identificar a los individuos que fueron víctimas de algún tipo de delito y la manera en que ocurrió el mismo. En segundo lugar, medir la eficacia de las distintas autoridades competentes una vez que los individuos denunciaron el delito que sufrieron. Adicionalmente la ENVEI busca indagar las percepciones que los ciudadanos tienen sobre las instituciones de justicia y el estado de derecho en Méxic

How are issues of energy justice entangled in the adoption of off-grid solar home systems in Malawi?

The off-grid solar sector has experienced tremendous growth since 2010, serving approximately 420 million users in the Global South. The adoption of off-grid solar products for household-scale electricity has been particularly strong across Sub-Saharan Africa, catalysed by lowered manufacturing costs, the backing of international aid institutions, and market-friendly policy settings. In light of decades of slow grid expansion, the Malawian state, like those of several nations across the Sub-Saharan African region, is placing great reliance on the off-grid solar market as a means to address acute energy poverty. Specifically, the Malawian Renewable Energy Strategy expects 50% of Malawian households (2.8 million) to be using solar lanterns or solar household systems for basic energy services by 2030. This thesis examines how issues of energy justice are entangled in the adoption of off-grid solar home systems in Malawi. Through the use of multi-site ethnography (2019-2020), it examines insights from Malawian households, solar distributors, repair centres, the Solar Trade Association, and local energy experts. This thesis details how a two-tiered off-grid solar market generates a number of injustices for Malawi's energy-poor, this includes issues of consumer literacy, affordability, product quality, consumer protection, the right to repair, and solar e-waste. Through its analysis of these issues of energy injustice, this thesis demonstrates how market-based off-grid solar home systems tend to reproduce existing structural inequities (social, economic and spatial) in a Malawian setting. Thus, this thesis concludes that while market-based off-grid solar household systems have and continue to provide salient benefits to some Malawian households, they do not represent a just and sustainable solution to structural issues of energy poverty