Case

Meat processing outbreaks in 2020

By late April 2020, workforce outbreaks had closed over 30 United States meat processing plants. Canadian beef slaughter capacity is concentrated: three plants account for 85% of it, and capacity fell by over 60% at the end of April and start of May 2020. A simulation study found a less concentrated sector would not necessarily have done much better.

Industry
Meat processing and food retail, Canada and the United States
Frameworks applied
Efficiency versus resilience lens
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Frameworks applied

This case is read through the frameworks below.

  • Efficiency versus resilience lensWhen redesigning a supply chain after a disruption, should an operations manager favour a concentrated, low-cost chain or a dispersed, local one that withstands shocks better?

Sources

References

Listed A–Z by author surname, Harvard style. A source with a DOI links to https://doi.org/…; one without links to its page or says plainly that it has no DOI.

  1. Hobbs, J.E. (2021) ‘Food supply chain resilience and the COVID-19 pandemic: what have we learned?’, Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics, 69(2), pp. 189–196.doi:10.1111/cjag.12279Source page