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Supply Chain Management

International Diplomacy
blog
China and Russia, Wages and Insurance, Refugees and Technology : RAND Weekly Recap
Oct 15, 2021
This weekly recap focuses on China-Russia ties, considerations when raising the minimum wage, how refugees use digital devices, and more.
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Visual Arts
blog
RAND Art + Data, 'Gray Market Care,' Supply Chains and Cyberattacks: RAND Weekly Recap
Jun 25, 2021
This weekly recap focuses on RAND's new artist residency program, Art + Data; the prevalence of "gray market care" in the United States; supply chains' cyber problem; and more.
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Cybersecurity
commentary
Supply Chains Have a Cyber Problem
Jonathan Welburn @jwwelburn
Jun 22, 2021
The RAND Blog
We are entering a world in which cyber disruptions easily become supply chain disruptions, and where supply chains for hardware and software create new cyber risks. Managing these will demand digital-era solutions, including updating tools, regulations, and reporting requirements.
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Supply Chain Management
commentary
Military and Defense-Related Supply Chains
Bradley Martin
Jun 22, 2021
The RAND Blog
After the Cold War, U.S. logistics planners moved away from a focus on effectiveness to a focus on efficiency in the sense that little is left idle for significant periods and that commodities are delivered at minimum cost. The ability of the system to support the joint force in the event of major conflict is at best untested and could be problematic.
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Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy
commentary
Thinking Through Rapid and Scalable Rollout of Healthcare Innovations for Public Health Challenges
Robert J. Romanelli, Michael Whitmore, Sonja Marjanovic @SonjaCambs
Jun 14, 2021
The RAND Blog
The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that rapid innovation in the face of public health emergencies is possible. In only 15 months, 15 vaccines have been approved or authorized for use in various parts of the world. What thinking is required to support uniform rapid rollout for future public health emergencies?
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Vaccination
commentary
The Pivotal Role of Remote Working in the Journey to Jab the Nation
Michael Whitmore
May 13, 2021
Workplace Insight
Pulling the UK COVID-19 vaccination program together was an immense logistical and technical effort. Had it not been for the working practices mandated by the lockdown, it would have been even more difficult. What changed over the pandemic to allow this to happen?
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Supply Chain Management
commentary
Supply Chains and National Security—the Lessons of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Bradley Martin
May 11, 2021
The RAND Blog
The many pandemic-related shortages that occurred in the United States and elsewhere provide a clear warning. Serious supply-chain vulnerabilities exist. We need to learn much more about this potential threat to national security.
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Supply Chain Management
commentary
Unconventional Supply Network Operations: A New Frontier in Global Competition
Daniel Egel, Jan K. Gleiman
Apr 19, 2021
RealClearDefense
The technological advances of recent decades that have made supply networks drastically more efficient, valuable, and essential to every element of our daily lives have also created a highly interdependent, largely unsecured portfolio of potential attack surfaces.
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Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
blog
COVID-19 Demographic Trends, Vaccinating 'High-Contact' People, the Iran Threat Network: RAND Weekly Recap
Apr 16, 2021
This weekly recap focuses on how the pandemic is shaping demographic trends, targeting vaccines to "high-contact" people, the Iran Threat Network, and more.
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Supply Chain Management
commentary
Supply Chains and National Security
Bradley Martin
Apr 12, 2021
The RAND Blog
Lessons from the pandemic will be sorted through for years. But one thing seems very clear: The United States is not ready in a policy or infrastructure or even physical-capacity sense to respond to major shocks to its supply chains.
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Vaccination
commentary
Target Vaccine to 'High-Contact' People
Timothy R. Gulden
Apr 9, 2021
The Detroit News
Actively seeking out people with lots of contacts for vaccination could bring the epidemic under control much more quickly than vaccinating people at random. Vaccinating just 15% of the population would be enough to crush the epidemic—so long as it was the right 15%.
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Game Theory
commentary
How Game Theory Could Solve the COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout Puzzle
Luke Muggy
Mar 11, 2021
Fortune
The health systems behind the vaccine rollout are attempting to create order from chaos, sometimes with mixed results. Rather than relying on on-the-fly decisionmaking, state authorities should consider turning to game theory as a tool that could be the key to more efficient, faster vaccine distribution.
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Logistics Management
commentary
Keep the Vaccine Moving to Save the Most Lives
Carter C. Price @CarterCPrice, John F. Raffensperger
Jan 19, 2021
The RAND Blog
The United States is waiting to be vaccinated against COVID-19 and millions of doses wait for arms. Policymakers at the national, state, and local levels have been stockpiling the shots for many reasons. While supply ramps up, policymakers could push to deliver vaccine to people instead of freezers.
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Vaccination
commentary
Getting COVID-19 Vaccines to Pennsylvania Residents
Adam C. Resnick
Jan 19, 2021
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pennsylvania state and county health departments have a number of options that could speed the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines to make sure Pennsylvania residents at high risk for severe COVID-19 outcomes are vaccinated as soon as possible.
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Public Health Preparedness
commentary
COVID-19 Options for 2021
Rafiq Dossani
Jan 12, 2021
The RAND Blog
The disorganized public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States helped ensure that the nation led the world in infections nearly from the beginning of the pandemic. With vaccines now becoming available, are we over the problem? Not necessarily.
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Vaccination
blog
As the Vaccines Arrive, So Do the Questions
Jan 11, 2021
The RAND Blog
As the first COVID-19 vaccines are being administered across the United States, countless questions have arisen about what comes next. Is one vaccine better than another? Can the United States both speed up inoculation and overcome some people's hesitance to get the shot? RAND experts offer insights into the historic vaccine rollout.
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Logistics Management
commentary
COVID-19 Vaccination: Expect the Unexpected
Paul Brenner, Shoshana R. Shelton, Richard H. Donohue
Dec 15, 2020
The RAND Blog
With emergency use authorization for the first COVID-19 vaccine now in place, states and localities have turned their focus to the logistics of dispensing it as quickly as feasible. Still, uncertainties abound. It is essential to build a process of learning into the plan.
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Critical Infrastructure Protection
commentary
The Coronavirus Puts a Spotlight on a National Security Supply Crisis
Stijn Hoorens @StijnHoorens
Jul 27, 2020
The National Interest
During emergencies, it can be crucial for governments to maintain an uninterrupted supply of essential goods and services. As the world faces an unprecedented demand for supplies and services to tackle the pandemic, it may be important for governments to take stock of the national security risks that could accompany their choice of vendor.
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Health Care Services Capacity
commentary
Don't Waste This Crisis: How America Can Begin Building a System of Health
Tim McDonald, Christopher Nelson, Laurie T. Martin, Anita Chandra
May 4, 2020
The RAND Blog
COVID-19 is shining a harsh spotlight on long-recognized but under-addressed gaps in the U.S. health system. There may never have been a more pressing time to think differently, broadening from health care services to a health-producing System of Health.
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Pharmaceutical Drugs
commentary
The Unintended Consequences of a Proposed Cure for COVID-19
Samantha McBirney, Sangita M. Baxi @sangitabaxi, Krishna B. Kumar @kbkumar_, Todd A. Richmond
Apr 29, 2020
The Hill
The very discussion of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as therapeutic options against COVID-19 has decreased their availability for proven treatments, exacerbated global shortages, fueled a rampant counterfeit drug market in Africa, and worsened trade tensions. What can be done to deal with these unintended consequences?
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Supply Chain Management
commentary
Supply Chain Disruptions Due to COVID-19 and Social Distancing
Aaron Strong, Jonathan Welburn @jwwelburn
Apr 28, 2020
The RAND Blog
There are significant epidemiological and economic risks and uncertainties with physical distancing policies put into effect in the United States to reduce the growth of COVID-19. We have estimated the economy-wide impacts of a set of these policies to provide a sense of their likely economic toll.
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Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
blog
Medical Supply Shortfalls, Parenting Through the Pandemic, North Korea: RAND Weekly Recap
Apr 17, 2020
This weekly recap focuses on reducing medical supply shortfalls, understanding who's in charge during a pandemic, North Korea's nuclear blackmail, and more.
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Occupational Health and Safety
commentary
Forgotten on the Frontlines of the Food Supply Chain
Susan L. Marquis @susanlmarquis
Apr 3, 2020
The RAND Blog
The working and living conditions of farmworkers make practicing social distancing, self-isolation, or quarantine impossible. In the food supply, farmworkers are the first responders who keep the supply chains going. FEMA, the CDC, and state governments should include farmworkers and agricultural communities in their emergency response plans.
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commentary
Examining the Weak Spots in Tech's Supply Chain Armor
Lillian Ablon
Oct 16, 2018
WorldPost (The Washington Post)
When an attack on the supply chain occurs, manufacturers and purchasers should be better positioned to respond and recover. Even the simplest devices can rely on parts from multiple suppliers, which may have their own suppliers and so on. But every supplier, no matter how small, represents a potential weak link in the chain.
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Wages and Compensation
q&a
Justice for Florida Farmworkers: Q&A with Susan Marquis
Dec 15, 2017
In her new book, Susan Marquis takes readers inside the fight in Florida tomato fields. She traces the history and victories of a grassroots group of farmworkers and community leaders who wrested better wages and working conditions from major tomato growers and their corporate buyers.
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commentary
Campaign for Fair Food Makes a Real Difference
Susan L. Marquis @susanlmarquis
Aug 25, 2017
Tampa Bay Times
The Fair Food Program protects farmworkers while providing corporations with transparency in their supply chains and tremendous brand protection. It has been widely recognized for improving agricultural working conditions and for changing the culture of America's farm fields.
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commentary
'Product of Mexico': Why Have Corporate/Social Responsibility Programs Failed?
Susan L. Marquis @susanlmarquis
Dec 12, 2014
Newsweek
The Fair Food Program has been a leader in using cooperation, visibility, and accountability to meet the needs of workers, growers, and buyers. Can it be a model for addressing these critical issues in Mexico as well?
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commentary
Should the U.S. Rely on Russian Rocket Engines?
Jul 16, 2014
The RAND Blog
One of the two launch vehicles that lift U.S. satellites into orbit depends on a rocket engine made by a company located in Russia. Russia's recent clashes with Ukraine and its claims on the Crimean peninsula have caused friction with the United States and thereby raised questions among U.S. policymakers about the potential for an interruption in the supply of the engines.
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commentary
Wal-Mart Chooses Fairness, Giving Farmworkers a Boost
Susan L. Marquis @susanlmarquis
Feb 7, 2014
Orlando Sentinel
The recent commitment by Wal-Mart Stores to the Fair Food Program is a transformational moment in the decades-long struggle for fair treatment of agricultural workers in America but the decision is hardly the last human-rights battle to be won on behalf of this long-oppressed work force.
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commentary
Drawing Right Lessons from the Olympic Security Debacle
James Gilbert
Jul 25, 2012
The RAND Blog
The way forward is not for the government to say no to outsourcing of sensitive functions, but to think carefully about which efficiency savings are real and which are, instead, a result of introducing a far greater degree of risk, writes James Gilbert.
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commentary
Revisiting 100% Inspection
Henry H. Willis @HenryHWillis
Jul 6, 2012
The RAND Blog
It is good that the congressmen have asked the Obama administration to revisit supply chain security. However, precipitous changes to how the global supply chain operates do not seem warranted, may not in fact improve security, and could have costly unintended consequences, writes Henry Willis.
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commentary
Securing U.S. Supply Chain
David S. Ortiz, Henry H. Willis @HenryHWillis
Aug 29, 2005
United Press International
Published commentary by RAND staff:Securing U.S. Supply Chain appearing in United Press International.
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