Title: Conflict resolution in supply chain security

Authors: Marco A. Lara Gracia, Shimon Y. Nof

Addresses: Engineering Department, University Southern Indiana, 8600 University Boulevard, Evansville, Indiana, 47712, USA. ' School of Industrial Engineering, Purdue University, 315 N. Grant Street, West Lafayette, Indiana, 47907, USA

Abstract: Right after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, the US government defined and implemented several security-oriented initiatives to prevent another terror attack. Two of the most known are the Container Security Initiative (CSI) and the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terror (C-TPAT). The World Customs Organization (WCO) and the United Nations (UN) have implemented collaborative, multination initiatives to promote security awareness worldwide and increase the resilience of supply chains to terror attacks. The results achieved to date in the international crusade against terrorism suggest that supply chain security is a global, multidisciplinary issue that must be addressed through collaboration and partnerships. Collaboration, however, involves conflict situations, which result naturally from the interaction of cooperating parties. These conflicts must be timely resolved through cost-effective and well-synchronised actions. This paper introduces a mathematical tool for conflict resolution based on conflict modelling and analysis.

Keywords: collaboration; partnerships; conflict situations; graph modelling; conflict resolution; value chain management; 9/11; September 11 attacks; CSI; Container Security Initiative; C-TPAT; Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terror; WCO; World Customs Organization; UN; United Nations; terrorism; security awareness; supply chain security; conflict resolution; conflict modelling; conflict analysis; supply chain management; SCM; mathematical modelling.

DOI: 10.1504/IJVCM.2009.026956

International Journal of Value Chain Management, 2009 Vol.3 No.2, pp.168 - 186

Published online: 09 Jul 2009 *

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