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1. Towards ethical and resilient agricultural supply chains: interdicting labor trafficking and mitigating disruptions

   https://doi.org/10.17760/D20705224  

   Jafari, Arezoo (December 2024, Northeastern University Digital Repository Service)

   The food and agriculture industries are critical to the U.S. economy, ensuring the daily food supply while facing significant challenges. These issues include ethical concerns related to labor exploitation and the need to improve resilience against disruptions. Addressing these issues offers an opportunity to create supply chains that are both more ethical and more resilient. This dissertation focuses on two interconnected aspects of agricultural supply chains. The first examines strategies for disrupting exploitative labor practices and ensuring better protection for farm workers. The second explores methods to enhance the resilience of ethical supply chains against various disruptions, including natural disasters and labor shortages. Together, these aspects aim to contribute to the development of agricultural supply chains that are both ethically sound and resilient to disruptions. Although farm workers play an essential role in the success of these industries, they are vulnerable to labor exploitation and trafficking. Labor violations affecting these workers often go undetected due to limited government resources for inspection. Furthermore, many farm workers face barriers to disclosing their poor working conditions due to their immigration status and mistrust of law enforcement, making them even more susceptible to exploitation. To address this issue, we conducted research to provide strategies for government agencies involved in the H-2A visa program and the screening of H-2A employers to prioritize workplaces for inspection. In the first study, we employed multilevel zero-inflated negative binomial regression analysis to extract patterns and identify factors correlated with detecting H-2A labor violations. We provide suggestions for improving inspection strategies based on our research results. This involved identifying high-risk locations and labor-intensive worksites with a greater likelihood of labor violations and emphasizing the importance of allocating sufficient task force funding and resources to prioritize inspections in these areas. Labor trafficking networks in U.S. agricultural supply chains exploit vulnerable workers, including migrants and unauthorized laborers, while evading detection through complex structures, making them difficult to disrupt. In the second study, we developed a comprehensive labor trafficking network model that maps the intricate connections and operations of these networks. Using a bi-level integer programming approach, we optimized intervention strategies to disrupt trafficking operations, balancing resource constraints with the need for maximum impact. By employing K-means clustering, we classified interventions based on their effectiveness, providing clear, data-driven guidance for anti-trafficking agencies to prioritize efforts and allocate resources efficiently. This approach offers a powerful tool for enhancing detection and improving the overall effectiveness of anti-trafficking initiatives in limited resource environments. The importance of food and agricultural supply chains in our daily lives cannot be emphasized enough. While the prior two studies sought to disrupt exploitative work conditions in agricultural supply chains, this dissertation also seeks to help supply chains that are operating ethically do so in an effective manner. Any disruption in these chains can lead to severe consequences, from food shortages to economic instability. Therefore, it is critical to develop effective strategies to mitigate the impact of disruptions in these non-exploitative supply chains. In the third study, we developed a scenario-based two-stage stochastic model to mitigate the impact of multiple disruptions in agricultural supply chains. This approach enables a detailed evaluation of strategies such as multi-sourcing and the use of backup facilities to reduce disruption impacts. The model incorporates flexibility to handle both partial and full facility disruptions, while accounting for disruptions affecting both primary and backup facilities to provide a comprehensive analysis of supply chain vulnerability and recovery. By employing a multi-period time horizon, the model evaluates supply chain performance over time, considering random disruption start times and the possibility of simultaneous disruptions across multiple echelons with varying severity. The analysis highlights the challenges posed by multiple sources of uncertainty in supply chain decision-making and emphasizes the need for further research to develop actionable strategies for improving resilience in agricultural supply chains. 

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2. On the Analysis of Illicit Supply Networks Using Variable State Resolution-Markov Chains

   https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-50146-4_38  

   González Ordiano, Jorge Ángel; Finn, Lisa; Winterlich, Anthony; Moloney, Gary; Simske, Steven (April 2020, International Conference on Information Processing and Management of Uncertainty in Knowledge-Based Systems)

   The trade in illicit items, such as counterfeits, not only leads to the loss of large sums of private and public revenue, but also poses a danger to individuals, undermines governments, and--in the most extreme cases--fi nances criminal organizations. It is estimated that in 2013 trade in illicit items accounted for 2.5% of the global commerce. To combat illicit trade, it is necessary to understand its illicit supply networks. Therefore, we present in this article an approach that is able to find an optimal description of an illicit supply network using a series of Variable State Resolution-Markov Chains. The new method is applied to a real-world dataset stemming from the Global Product Authentication Service of Micro Focus International. The results show how an illicit supply network might be analyzed with the help of this method. 

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3. Emerging research themes in global value chains --- Global Value Chains, International Trade, and Markets: The Role of Emerging Economies

   Arora, Anshu S.; Hartley, N. (January 2020, International journal of emerging markets)

   null (Ed.)

   Global supply chains are continually evolving and transforming the way emerging world economies do business with their developed counterparts. Developing nations are joining forces with developed nations through these rapidly transforming global value chains (GVCs) without investing in building their own; thus saving time, money and gaining access to technological innovations. Today, developing countries are exerting greater influence globally, economically and politically, given the power of GVCs. Through international organizations, such as the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, the International Labor Organization, and the US Agency for International Development, GVCs lead the way for shaping international trade, governance, production, employment, growth, development and competitiveness. Global economy is entering a “major inflection point,” whereby GVCs are becoming increasingly predominant in both emerging and industrialized countries, and emerging economies have become a major engine of growth for global businesses and international trade. 

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4. Advertising with Anonymity and Impunity: The Harmful Consequences of Counterfeit PPE Supply Chains

   https://doi.org/10.38126/JSPG220304  

   Hashemi, Layla M (September 2023, Journal of Science Policy & Governance)

   The rapid growth of illicit supply chains during and after the Covid-19 pandemic reveals a need for effectively combating and preventing the cross-border movement of contraband, including but not limited to counterfeit goods. A proactive approach by companies along with public stakeholders, such as government agencies and individual consumers, toward disrupting illicit supply chains operating across borders is especially important during moments of global crisis when consumers are more susceptible to unknowingly purchasing substandard counterfeit products such as respirators. While marketplaces, platforms, and other legitimate businesses have worked to prevent movement of counterfeits and illicit goods through their services, the high adaptability and sophistication of counterfeiters requires more preventative and multistakeholder approaches. This article outlines a multidisciplinary and multilayered approach to detecting and disrupting illicit supply chains of counterfeit personal protective equipment (PPE) with a focus on respirators. It utilizes research conducted for a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant on Covid-19 related crime, including the advertising and sale of counterfeit respirators. One layer examines online content as seen by the end user and the activity of vendors or sellers used to advertise and sell counterfeit products. The research is also informed by data on the information, financial, and physical flows of counterfeit respirators obtained through a public-private partnership with George Mason University’s Terrorism, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC-GMU) and 3M, one of the largest manufacturers of respirators in the world. The article examines an important and relatively recent trend - how emerging technological shifts in the marketplace are affecting global security. Research from the TraCCC-GMU and 3M partnership, including a data sharing agreement, revealed that counterfeiters constantly change their modus operandi to continue selling illicit goods with impunity, facilitating illicit activity with the use and abuse of legitimate companies such as ecommerce marketplaces and social media. The article presents an overview of the current state of counterfeit supply chains and provides concrete policy recommendations on how legitimate companies can move beyond just removing listings but must also actively prevent these transnational crimes through innovative multidisciplinary approaches, advanced data analytics, and public awareness campaigns. The research also seeks to connect the dots to broader policy implications in terms of the legitimate economy and environmental sustainability. 

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5. Materials scarcity during the clean energy transition: Myths, challenges, and opportunities

   https://doi.org/10.1557/s43581-023-00077-9  

   Ku, Anthony Y.; Kocs, Elizabeth A.; Fujita, Yoshiko; Haddad, Andrew Z.; Gray, IV, Robert W. (January 2024, MRS Energy & Sustainability)

   AbstractEfforts to reach net zero targets by the second half of the century will have profound materials supply implications. The anticipated scale and speed of the energy transition in both transportation and energy storage raises the question of whether we risk running out of the essential critical materials needed to enable this transition. Early projections suggest that disruptions are likely to occur in the short term for select critical materials, but at the same time these shortages provide a powerful incentive for the market to respond in a variety of ways before supply-level stress becomes dire. In April 2023, the MRSFocus on Sustainability subcommitteesponsored a panel discussion on the role of innovation in materials science and engineering in supporting supply chains for clean energy technologies. Drawing on examples from the panel discussion, this perspective examines the myth of materials scarcity, explains the compelling need for innovation in materials in helping supply chains dynamically adapt over time, and illustrates how the Materials Research Society is facilitating engagement with industry to support materials innovation, now and in the future. Graphical Abstract HighlightsIn this commentary, we examine the myth of materials scarcity, explain the compelling need for innovation in materials in helping supply chains dynamically adapt over time, and show how the materials research community can effectively engage with industry, policymakers, and funding agencies to drive the needed innovation in critical areas. DiscussionDemand for certain materials used in clean energy technologies is forecasted to increase by multiples of current production over the next decades. This has drawn attention to supply chain risks and has created a myth that we will “run out” out of certain materials during the energy transition. The reality is that markets have multiple mechanisms to adapt over the long-term, and near-term shortages or expectations of shortages provide a powerful incentive for action. In this commentary, we highlight different ways materials innovation can help solve these issues in the near term and long term, and how the materials research community can effectively engage with industry and policymakers. 

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