The epidemics and pandemics can severely affect food supply chains, including producers, retailers, wholesalers, and customers. To minimize their impacts, it is fundamental to implement effective policies that ensure continuity in the provision, affordability, and distribution of basic food items. This research identifies the main impacts of pandemics and epidemics on food supply chains and policies that can minimize these impacts. Based on a systematic literature review (SLR), 173 documents are analysed to propose a taxonomy of impacts on four supply chain links: demand-side, supply-side, logistics and infrastructure, and management and operation. The taxonomy presents the main impacts and respective mitigation policies. In addition, the literature review leads to the development of a comprehensive causal loop diagram (CLD) with the identification of main variables and their relationship with food supply chains. Finally, a specific research agenda is proposed by identifying the main research gaps. These findings provide a structured method for evaluating policies that ensure the functioning of food supply chains, particularly in disruptions such as epidemics and pandemics.
The governments' isolation measures to contain the transmission of COVID-19 imposed a dilemma for the people at the bottom of the pyramid. Since these people have very unreliable sources of income, a dilemma arises: they must either work under risky conditions or refrain from work and suffer from income cuts. Emergency donations of food and cleaning supplies in a pandemic context might be overlooked by government and civil society actors. This paper aims to model the effects of donations on mitigating the negative effects of COVID-19 on vulnerable communities. Applying the system dynamics method, we simulated the behaviour of the pandemic in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) communities and the impacts that donations of food and cleaning supplies have in these settings. We administered surveys to the beneficiaries and local organisations responsible for the final distribution of donations to gather information from the field operations. The results show that increasing access to cleaning supplies in communities through donations can significantly reduce coronavirus transmission, particularly in high-density and low-resource areas, such as slums in urban settings. In addition, we also show that food donations can increase the vulnerable population’s ability to afford necessities, alleviating the stress caused by the pandemic on this portion of the population. Therefore, this work helps decision-makers (such as government and non-governmental organisations) understand the impacts of donations on controlling outbreaks, especially under COVID-19 conditions, in a low-resource environment and, thus, aid these hard-to-reach populations in a pandemic setting.
The risk management inherent in the supply chain of a company has become a decisive driver for its growth, thus being a competitive advantage. The literature on risk management is diverse; however, little about the social risks in which the supply chain of a company may be involved has been studied. The present study is based initially on a systematic literature review to identify social risks present in the supply chains of a company, the consequences that these can generate for the focal company and the stakeholders involved in this process. From the sample of 43 documents resulting from the systematic literature review, the 24 social risks found and the 13 consequences that these risks can generate for the company, a framework is presented to assist academics and organizations in managing social risks. Subsequently, a case study with a Brazilian Cosmetics company is proposed with the purpose of verifying the relationship of the variables identified in the literature with the organizational reality. It was verified that 11 of the 24 social risks arising from the review stage are not observed by the company studied and, among the consequences, the most cited ones are related to the reputation of the company, risk of operational stops and individual claims or collective action. From the case study, it was possible to complement the existing academic studies and to suggest a model capable of being used as a basis in organizations with respect to social risks in their supply chains.
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