The Behavioural Effects of Extreme Events in Global Supply Chains

Abstract

Extreme events and disasters have always been part of our lives, however as the world has become increasingly globalized over the past few decades in an attempt to reduce production costs and access new markets, these events are more likely than ever to affect businesses. It is therefore important for business to understand how these events affect their supply chains. This paper identifies behavioural patterns of manufacturing supply chains under the effects of extreme events such as financial crises and big earthquakes. A simulation model is then used to expose the underlying structure of each behavioural pattern. © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2014.