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Supply Chain Management

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A supply chain is the network of organizations—be they military, government, or private sector—involved in creating and delivering a product or service to a customer or consumer. RAND research on the management of supply chains has focused on both the efficiency and the security of civilian and military supply chains, with reports covering freight modernization, rail capacity and security, fuel taxes, and container inspection at ports.

Commentary
The Middle Corridor: A Renaissance in Global Commerce
The Middle Corridor's journey toward becoming a viable alternative to existing trade routes will be met with tough challenges. But with renewed international investment and cooperation, it could emerge as a cornerstone of 21st-century trade connectivity.
Mar 12, 2024
Commentary
Build a Strong Public-Private Supply Chain Nexus
For a public-private partnership to work, the individual interests of the private sector must be brought into alignment with the requirements of the collective good perspective and policy goals of the public sector. Both partners have useful tools and working examples to make this vision happen.
Mar 8, 2024

Explore Supply Chain Management

Report
Toward Defense Supply Chain Disruption Management: A Research Agenda for Defense Supply Chain Resilience
The authors developed a research agenda to understand how defense supply chains can better withstand unanticipated and highly impactful disruptions whose probability and impact cannot be readily calculated or quantified.
Mar 20, 2024
Report
Exploring Options to Improve Supply Chain Operations: A Review of Current Approaches and New Opportunities in Demand Forecasting, Robotic Process Automation, and Cyber Integrity
RAND Project Air Force researchers identified technology and investment options related to spare part forecasting, cybersecurity, and robotic process automation that could mitigate supply chain degradation.
Mar 14, 2024
Q&A
Tech, National Security, and China: Q&A with Jason Matheny
Jason Matheny is one of the nation's leading experts on the interplay between technology and national security. In this Q&A, he discusses semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and the future of foreign investment in the United States.
Mar 8, 2024
Report
Naval Logistics in Contested Environments: Examination of Stockpiles and Industrial Base Issues
To support distributed maritime operations in the Western Pacific, the U.S. Navy needs new approaches to logistics and the resupply and sustainment of distributed units. The authors identify challenges and recommend strategies to address them.
Mar 6, 2024
Commentary
Middle East–China Trade Prospects Remain Robust Despite Red Sea Crisis
Disruptions to shipping through the Red Sea and Suez Canal are likely to have only modest effects on Chinese goods trade with most of the Middle East but could lead to significant costs for China's global trade.
Feb 9, 2024
Commentary
The Search for a High Seas Solution
While Western military action against the Houthis has increased, the Red Sea crisis is sailing through opaque waters. Short-term military action might help with the immediate crisis, but shipping routes will remain vulnerable unless the world recognizes its exposure to threats and cooperates to defend them.
Jan 17, 2024
Commentary
Critical Minerals Can Pave the Road to More Robust International Development
In the developing world, mineral extraction and processing has historically caused not just environmental contamination but also corruption and displacement of local livelihoods. There are opportunities to improve the way companies from the Global North approach critical mineral projects there.
Jan 12, 2024
Report
Cybersecurity and Supply Chain Risk Management Are Not Simply Additive: Implications for Directions in Risk Assessment, Risk Mitigation, and Research to Secure the Supply of Defense Industrial Products
This report presents an examination of how cyber-related risks compare with other risks to defense-industrial supply chains and the implications of the differences in risks for directions in risk assessment and mitigation and for research.
Dec 19, 2023
Journal Article
Written Evidence Submitted by RAND Europe: MIN0040 Critical Minerals
This document provides RAND Europe’s submission of evidence in relation to the UK House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee’s Call for Evidence on Critical Minerals and draws upon previous RAND research on critical minerals and supply chains.
Nov 22, 2023
Commentary
China Ponders Russia's Logistical Challenges in the Ukraine War
Any attempt by China to use military force to seize Taiwan would be an immense logistical undertaking requiring moving large quantities of troops and materiel across the Taiwan Strait. What then, are Chinese observers learning from the logistical realm of the war in Ukraine?
Aug 28, 2023
Commentary
Do Generals Dream of Electric Tanks?
Members of the House Armed Services Committee have expressed concerns over the electrification of Army combat vehicles. Though such concerns have some merit, there is also a larger issue motivating research and development efforts—the growing demand for energy on the battlefield.
Aug 8, 2023
Commentary
The Problem of Surge Capacity
The vulnerability of supply chains to routine disruptions has been widely discussed and documented, but meeting such challenges can be even more difficult during unexpected surges in demand caused by wars, public health crises, or other emergencies. The creation of option contracts that would kick in during surges is one promising solution.
Jul 10, 2023
Commentary
So Many Questions, So Little Time for Pacific Logistics
The United States has been struggling to “pivot to the Pacific” for over a decade, and one of the major missing pieces is logistics. It is critical that the logistics underpinning a credible military deterrent be figured out now.
Jun 23, 2023
Multimedia
Ukraine Is Running Out of Ammo. The West Doesn't Have Enough
Bradley Martin, director of the RAND National Security Supply Chain Institute, is among the experts interviewed in a Semafor documentary about the challenge of supplying Ukraine with ammunition.
May 23, 2023
Blog
Violence in Sudan, Alcohol Use, North Korea: RAND Weekly Recap
This weekly recap focuses on the violence in Sudan, preventing alcohol-related deaths, the North Korean nuclear threat, and more.
Apr 28, 2023
Commentary
Do Car Companies Know Where Their Critical Minerals Come From?
The initial slate of electric vehicles qualifying for a new federal tax credit was announced in April. Key to eligibility is the source of critical minerals used in their batteries. While the list of acceptable nations of origin is still being worked out, there's an important practical question the IRS should ask: Do carmakers really know where their critical minerals come from?
Apr 28, 2023
Commentary
Militaries, Metals, and Mining
Securing access to supply, increasing global and domestic capacity, and diversifying supply chains for critical minerals should be at the top of the agenda for both nations and private industry. Failure could jeopardize climate mitigation strategies and U.S. military readiness.
Apr 18, 2023
Commentary
Can China's Green Energy Acceleration Put at Risk the West's Hydrogen Plans?
Hydrogen (H2) plays a key role in the decarbonization plans of the European Union and the United States. Both have launched aggressive hydrogen strategies to increase the generation of H2 and deployment of related technologies. But these bold ambitions may face headwinds due to the acceleration of China's energy transition.
Apr 3, 2023

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Research conducted by

Researcher Spotlight

Jason Matheny

President and Chief Executive Officer, RAND

Jason Matheny is president and chief executive officer of RAND, a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis.
Patricia A. Stapleton

Associate Director, Infrastructure, Immigration, and Security Operations Program, RAND Homeland Security Research Division

Patricia Stapleton is an associate director of the Infrastructure, Immigration, and Security Operations (IISO) Program, part of the RAND Homeland Security Research Division (HSRD), a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation, and a professor of policy analysis at the Pardee RAND…

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