Research On Food Supply Chain Risk Management

With the arrival of the era of knowledge-based economy, the cooperating relations between the enterprises is being reinforced increasingly to adapt to the rapid changes in the market. It has been an inevitable choice for the enterprises in supply chain to join supply chain network associates with the properties of high flexibility, fast response, low cost.Modern supply chain is a complex dynamical system in which several logistics lines go parallel in the process of information flow, permitting that the correct products can be transported to the correct station with the right time and quality. However, because of the complexity, dynamicity and integrity of supply chain, supply chain is having been more and more subject to affect by all kinds of risks. Recently, along with some great negative events happened one after another food industry has suffered some impacts. So give rise domestic and foreign experts and scholars change attentions to food supply chain risk. From these events,enterprises in the supply chain are mutually dependent and influence. Any link of it having problem will set off a chain reaction and lead to badly results. Therefore, fully considering all kinds of adverse factors and getting prepared in advance are vital issues to ensure the reliability and safe operation of the food supply chain.Compared with general industrial products, food has the characteristics of perishability, and susceptible to living natural environment such as seasons, regions, creatures and climates. At the same time, the quality of food directly relates to people's lives and health. Therefore, food supply chain have special facet of its own for the complicated environment and the risk which faces with all the time. However, the same as the general supply chain, the enterprises in the same food supply chain rely on and restrict each other, and then combine a complicated dynamic system. Under such an environment, all the risk factors the enterprises facing not only have their own characteristics and expressions but also related with each other. The characteristics of the risk factors bring challenges to the risk management. It is rather easy to neglect the mutual influences between the risk factors and attend to one thing and lost another.Based on existing research and theory, this paper analysis on the characteristics of food supply chain, focus on the systemicness, the significance, the objectivity of risk factors, and the interactions between them, by blend the theory of Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation and the System Dynamics, puts forward a series of methods on food supply chain risk management.The main results achieved in this paper can be summarized as below:1. According to the situation of study, comprehensive understanding the relevant background knowledge of food supply chain risk management. By the way, grasping the level, focus and development trends of domestic and international research in this area, and then it can be regarded as the theoretical basis of this paper, help to introduce research issues and determine the research content.2. Introducing the definitions and the characteristics of supply chain, supply chain management and food supply chain. On that basis, author combined with risk management theory to analysis objectivity and necessity of the food supply chain risk. Finally, go into the details about connotation of food supply chain risk management, and it can make framework for the food supply chain risk management.3. Under the guidance of risk identification principle, the author classifies these food supply chain risks, and analyses of the causes and manifestations of each form of risks.4. Based on risk distinguish and analysis,establishes fuzzy comprehensive evaluation model in view of defining weight of every risk factors, and then using System Dynamics method to analyze causal relationship between risk factors. In order to achieve dynamically defining weigh and get the order of influence of risk factors, we based on the causal relationship build a new food supply chain risk evaluation model. This is a core part of this paper.5. We can distinguish the most influential key risk factor easily from risk assessment above. Finally, by using the theory of System Dynamics, the paper makes an analysis on the other risk factors how to affect the key risk factor remarkably, and realize dynamic risk monitoring.