Enhancing Supply Chain Resilience Using Strategic Inventories and Partial Vertical Integration

自2019年12月中国武汉爆发新冠肺炎疫情以来，许多国家的工厂关闭和其他遏制措施扰乱了加拿大公司和其他组织的运营和供应链。例如，冠状病毒测试需要尼龙和泡沫鼻拭子，而不是更常见的棉签。然而，这些必需的拭子的两个主要供应商（位于意大利的Copan诊断公司和美国的清教医疗产品公司）受到大流行的严重影响。此外，在汽车行业，许多制造商停止生产和关闭工厂在北美，包括加拿大，部分原因是零部件短缺。不幸的是，在当今全球和动荡的环境中，重大的供应链中断并不罕见。最近的主要例子包括9/11恐怖袭击、2011年日本地震和海啸、2013-2016年埃博拉病毒的爆发以及当前的COVID-19全球大流行。因此，供应链弹性至关重要，它被定义为供应链准备和处理供应和/或需求中断以及及时响应和恢复的能力。对于依赖进出口供应链实现经济增长的开放经济体加拿大来说尤其如此。在本研究计划中，我们将首先建立和分析模型来研究两种增强供应链弹性的潜在策略：战略库存和部分垂直整合。战略库存的存在首先由Anand et al.（2008）提出，并在随后的几项研究中得到证实。一家公司现在可以持有战略库存，以迫使其供应商在未来降低批发价格。在本提案中，首先，我们将研究企业是否以及如何使用战略库存来同时提高其议价能力和供应链弹性。其次，我们将研究部分垂直整合，即一家公司在其供应链中拥有另一家公司的一部分，是否以及如何增强供应链弹性。虽然提倡更紧密的供应链合作以增强供应链弹性，但尚未对部分垂直整合的使用进行调查。基于我们的分析模型和结果，我们将设计决策支持工具，以提高加拿大公司和其他组织的供应链弹性。此外，本研究的重点之一是通过考虑供应竞争、生产和过程灵活性以及多周期供应链动态来开发更现实的决策支持工具。我们计划使用anyLogistix和JaamSim等软件进行仿真研究，以补充我们的分析模型。

From the start of the COVID-19 outbreak in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, factory closures and other containment measures in many countries have disrupted the operations and supply chains of Canadian firms and other organizations. For example, coronavirus tests require nylon and foam nasal swabs, as opposed to more commonly available cotton swabs. However, the two major suppliers (Copan Diagnostics located in Italy and Puritan Medical Products in the U.S.) of these required swabs have been severely disrupted by the pandemic. Also, In the automotive industry, many manufacturers stopped production and closed factories in North America, including Canada, partly due to parts shortage. Unfortunately, in today's global and turbulent environments, major supply chain disruptions are not uncommon. More recent major examples include the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Japan Earthquake & Tsunami of 2011, the outbreak of the Ebola virus in 2013-2016, and the current COVID-19 global pandemic. Therefore, supply chain resilience, which is defined as a supply chain' capacity to prepare and deal with supply and/or demand disruptions, and respond and recover in a timely manner, is crucial. This is especially true for Canada, an open economy depending on import and export supply chains for economic growth. In this research proposal, we will be the first to build and analyze models to study two potential strategies to enhance supply chain resilience: strategic inventory and partial vertical integration. The existence of strategic inventory was first shown in Anand et al. (2008) and then confirmed in several following studies. A firm can hold strategic inventory now to force its suppliers to lower their wholesale prices in the future. In this proposal, first, we will study if and how a firm can use strategic inventory to simultaneously enhance its bargaining power as well as supply chain resilience. Second, we will study if and how partial vertical integration, i.e., a firm owning a part of another firm in its supply chain, can enhance supply chain resilience. Although closer supply chain collaboration has been advocated to enhance supply chain resilience, the use of partial vertical integration has not been investigated. Based on our analytic models and results, we will design decision support tools to improve supply chain resilience for Canadian firms and other organizations. Furthermore, one emphasis of this research is to develop more realistic decision support tools by considering supply competition, production and process flexibility, and multi-period supply chain dynamics. We plan to complement our analytic models with simulation studies using software like anyLogistix and JaamSim.