Hello everyone
The Transportation Journal would like to announce the following call for papers. Please feel free to contact any of the guest co-editors if you have questions. Also, attached is the PDF document.
Dave Cantor, Iowa State University (dcantor@iastate.edu)
Rob Overstreet, Iowa State University (reo1@iastate.edu)
Jing Dai, University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China (Jing.Dai@nottingham.edu.cn)
Managing Global Supply Chains, Logistics and Transportation Under Conflict
The past 40 years have seen the rise of a complex and interconnected global supply chain in which freight and information flowed across increasingly long distance at ever-accelerating speeds. Coinciding with this rapid development was also a relatively stable and peaceful global geopolitical environment other than some conflicts largely isolated to lesser developed regions of the world. As a result, supply chain managers-particularly those in large developed economies-have largely made decisions without having to worry about widespread conflict.
In recent years, this environment characterized by peace and stability has come under increasing strain. Perhaps the most widely-discussed global conflict is the current ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. Almost overnight, multinational companies came under pressure to not only divest their holdings and discontinue their relationships in Russia, some had to permanently alter their supply chains and freight flows due to sanctions that effectively removed Russia from carrying out global trade through the SWIFT financial system. If companies did not have holdings to divest or move, they have surely been impacted by the fuel shortages and high prices.
Beyond the active conflict, managers are equally worried about potentially cold conflicts marked by the deteriorating US-China relationship. As the largest exporter of consumer goods in the world, China is an intricate link in the global supply chain. Its technological advancement in recent years have further embedded itself as a key provider of technology in industries ranging from telecommunications to integrated circuitry. Yet, as the world's top two economies continue to escalate their conflict in rhetoric without establishing guardrails, supply chain managers are having to grapple with the possibility that their most reliable supply base might suddenly come under sanction.
Beyond the national level, possibilities of such sanctions are also becoming ever present in specific industries. Indeed, the seeming weaponization of supply chains, presciently coined as "supply chain interdiction" (Bell, Autry, and Griffis 2015), have resulted in the creation of The Entity List by the Bureau of Industry and Security in the United States, and the Unreliable Entity List by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce. When placed on these lists, specific companies-usually in technology-are banned from having certain types of commercial relationships to further complicate supply chain decisions.
Given the current active and potentially cold global conflict, which has thus far been largely considered under the broader supply chain risk literature as geopolitical risk, we believe it is important for scholars to explore potential supply chain outcomes and mitigation strategies for extreme geopolitical stress. Thus, this special issue aims to bring scholars interested in global supply chain management, supply chain risk and resilience, as well as political economics to submit research under, but not limited to the following example topic areas:
- Examine nuances of supply chain integration, collaboration, and performance outcomes under geopolitical uncertainty.
- Assess aspects of supply chain security and data integrity evolving in the present changing environment.
- Explore the value of a modular supply chain design versus integration under potential sanctions.
- Map and evaluate the contagion effect of sanctions on supply chains.
- Identify the extent to which supply base diversification is necessary as opposed to what is capable.
- Examine how to delivery humanitarian logistics and aid in conflict zones.
- Assess the extent to which civilian supply chain and logistics systems can be quickly adapted to support defense and military objectives, and vice versa.
- Elaborate the specific roles of technology in supply chain and logistics coordination in an uncertain geopolitical environment.
- Identify ways to uphold the safety of supply chain workers, assets, and equipment under duress.
- Explore and measure the cascading impact of commodities volatility on manufacturing, distribution, customer satisfaction, and costs to consumers.
- Map and gauge the interaction of supply chain policies with fiscal and monetary policies on outcomes such as economic growth and inflation.
- Evaluate strategic implications of firm-focused sanctions on supply chain management (e.g., coopetition; diversification).
Submission deadline: March 31st, 2024