Does Social Media Accelerate Product Recalls? Evidence from the Pharmaceutical Industry

Social media has become a vital platform for voicing product-related experiences that may not only reveal product defects, but also impose pressure on firms to act more promptly than before. This study scrutinizes the rarely studied relationship between these voices and the speed of product recalls in the context of the pharmaceutical industry in which social media pharmacovigilance is becoming increasingly important for the detection of drug safety signals. Using Federal Drug Administration drug enforcement reports and social media data crawled from online forums and Twitter, we investigate whether social media can accelerate the product recall process in the context of drug recalls. Results based on discrete-time survival analyses suggest that more adverse drug reaction discussions on social media lead to a higher hazard rate of the drug being recalled and, thus, a shorter time to recall. To better understand the underlying mechanism, we propose the information effect, which captures how extracting information from social media helps detect more signals and mine signals faster to accelerate product recalls, and the publicity effect, which captures how firms and government agencies are pressured by public concerns to initiate speedy recalls. Estimation results from two mechanism tests support the existence of these conceptualized channels underlying the acceleration hypothesis of social media. This study offers new insights for firms and policymakers concerning the power of social media and its influence on product recalls.

Is Organic Food Becoming Less Safe? A Longitudinal Analysis of Conventional and Organic Product Recalls

Organic products are often portrayed as a healthy alternative—grown in a sustainable way, often locally and subject to external certification scrutiny. However, recent high-profile cases of contaminated organic food have raised questions about the risks associated with organic produce: is organic produce becoming less safe and more risky? The context for this investigation is in the realm of food product recalls. Based on 2010–2017 panel data from the US on food product recalls (with 2721 observations), this paper compares the volume of recalls (adjusted for the growth of sales) between conventional and organic food. This paper further addresses two food-related risks: design risk (a risk that is present in the development of food; such as the use of unapproved ingredients or the omission of some ingredients on the food label) and process risk (a risk within the supply chain, such as the contamination of food products with salmonella or E. coli). Further comparison is drawn based on food product type (here the paper distinguishes between processed and unprocessed food). The paper demonstrates that organic products are becoming less safe and that organic products are recalled at a higher rate. In comparison to conventional produce, organic produce is more prone to process risk and far less to design risk. Similar conclusions are reached even when the organic produce is analysed from a product type perspective.

The role of formal and informal institutional pressures in local gatekeepers' responses to international product recalls.

<p>Product recalls are omnipresent and unavoidable in the global marketplace. Despite the financial losses, brand equity damage, and the hazard to consumer health they impose there is little multidisciplinary international research on the phenomenon. A growing number of studies are investigating the impacts of product harm crises and the recalls and providing valuable implications, but little has been done to address the determinants of organisational behaviour and decision making during the product recall. The purpose of this thesis is to conduct an investigation into the role of local New Zealand gatekeepers and their interaction with international brands during an international product recall. I also investigate the institutional environment in which these firms operate in, and the influence it subjects to their product recall strategies and processes. Because of the lack of empirical research on international product recalls in the extant literature, a qualitative interpretative methodology based on semi-structured interviews is employed. Findings suggest that in the event of a potential product harm crisis leading to product recall in New Zealand, home country regulatory institutions take a collaborative approach with focal firms involved in the recall process. The gatekeeper orientation towards the customer, environmental institutional pressures (coercive and normative), and gatekeeper risk avoidance influence the gatekeeper to initiate preventative recalls. Furthermore, in face of a potential product harm crises, where the local gatekeeper is the dominant organisation, coercive institutional pressure to initiate a preventative recall is exerted towards the partnering international brand. In a severe international product harm crisis leading to product recall, normative institutional pressures encourage the local gatekeeper to initiate preventative product recalls and alongside the international brand, undertake proactive recall strategies. Whereas in ambiguous recall situations, mimetic institutional pressures encourage the local gatekeeper to initiate preventative product recalls and alongside the international brand undertake proactive recall strategies. I propose that in environments of weak formal institutions, informal institutional pressures play a greater role on gatekeeper and international brand recall strategies and processes. Traceability and supply chain knowledge are found to be vital in effective international product recalls.</p>

The role of technology in crisis management and product recall in food supply chains

This chapter considers food governance and how it frames crisis management and product recalls in food supply chains. Effective food recalls following a food safety or legality related incident are supported by traceability systems ranging from paper based to those that apply the newest technology. This chapter is considers the value of Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) for improvements in food supply chain governance structures that are especially tested during product recalls. The focus is on identifying advantages of Blockchain systems within public-private partnerships (PPPs) for food governance. There is great potential to reduce information asymmetry, a key barrier to supply chain development, innovation and efficiency, and effective crisis management and product recalls with the use of DLTs including Blockchain. PPPs for supply chain governance deliver value at the supply chain and wider stakeholder level including developing Blockchain consortia to improve overall efficiency and integrity in data collection, storage and sharing.

The role of formal and informal institutional pressures in local gatekeepers' responses to international product recalls.

<p>Product recalls are omnipresent and unavoidable in the global marketplace. Despite the financial losses, brand equity damage, and the hazard to consumer health they impose there is little multidisciplinary international research on the phenomenon. A growing number of studies are investigating the impacts of product harm crises and the recalls and providing valuable implications, but little has been done to address the determinants of organisational behaviour and decision making during the product recall. The purpose of this thesis is to conduct an investigation into the role of local New Zealand gatekeepers and their interaction with international brands during an international product recall. I also investigate the institutional environment in which these firms operate in, and the influence it subjects to their product recall strategies and processes. Because of the lack of empirical research on international product recalls in the extant literature, a qualitative interpretative methodology based on semi-structured interviews is employed. Findings suggest that in the event of a potential product harm crisis leading to product recall in New Zealand, home country regulatory institutions take a collaborative approach with focal firms involved in the recall process. The gatekeeper orientation towards the customer, environmental institutional pressures (coercive and normative), and gatekeeper risk avoidance influence the gatekeeper to initiate preventative recalls. Furthermore, in face of a potential product harm crises, where the local gatekeeper is the dominant organisation, coercive institutional pressure to initiate a preventative recall is exerted towards the partnering international brand. In a severe international product harm crisis leading to product recall, normative institutional pressures encourage the local gatekeeper to initiate preventative product recalls and alongside the international brand, undertake proactive recall strategies. Whereas in ambiguous recall situations, mimetic institutional pressures encourage the local gatekeeper to initiate preventative product recalls and alongside the international brand undertake proactive recall strategies. I propose that in environments of weak formal institutions, informal institutional pressures play a greater role on gatekeeper and international brand recall strategies and processes. Traceability and supply chain knowledge are found to be vital in effective international product recalls.</p>

Before It’s Too Late: Product Recall Delays and Policy Design

Problem definition: We examine a firm’s investigation and recall decisions when a defect occurs and provide policy implications on how to deter long delayed recalls. Practical relevance: When a safety defect occurs, manufacturers often use product recalls to mitigate potential consequences. Although consumers expect on-time recalls for product defects, anecdotal examples suggest that firms may be passive in investigating potential defects and/or severely delay their recall decisions. Understanding how firms make their recall timing decisions has important business and social implications. Methodology: We study decisions on investigation efforts and recall timings for a profit-maximizing manufacturer by incorporating a Bass diffusion model to capture sales patterns for products with long life cycles. We then test our implications using data from the automobile industry and find supporting evidence. Results: We first find that a firm will consider a delayed recall when the defect is noticed early, when sales suffer more negative impacts from (external) media exposure on a recall, and when the product has a relatively high margin-to-recall-cost ratio. Second, a firm that will consider a delayed recall exerts a smaller investigation effort, and it will further reduce the effort when the defect is more likely to lead to a recall. When we consider the case in which a firm’s learning effect and information updating occur in an investigation and recall process, our results remain consistent. Managerial implications: Our model not only helps us understand how firms make their decisions when defects occur but also offers governments and regulatory bodies new instruments (e.g., investigation efforts, penalty design, information disclosure, firm supervision) to help firms be proactive should a defect occur, thereby reducing potential casualties associated with delays in a recall progress.

Factorial Analysis of the Critical Success Factors of Continuous Improvement (CI) Techniques in the Companies from Sohar Industrial Estate, Oman

Purpose: The research objectives were to analyze the role of continuous improvement (CI) techniques in manufacturing in Oman in the CI process and to investigate the crucial factors of CI and the application techniques of CI that have been implemented by the manufacturing companies during the CI process. Design/methodology/approach: A survey questionnaire was developed with the baseline of CI practices used by manufacturing companies in Oman and a convenient sampling method was used to collect the data. 146 completely filled-in questionnaires were collected from 75 manufacturing units out of the entire Public Establishment database. The data was tabulated, compiled. The robustness was tested along with the ranking tests and the factor analysis using SPSS and AMOS. Findings: The results reveal that the Omani manufacturing companies using structured CI programs had lesser product recalls, leading to increased overall sales, decrease in processing time. Further, it is also revealed that the CI culture and Employee Performance Measurement and Review are instrumental in translating into company savings. Research limitations/implications: This research was limited to Sohar Industrial estate only. As there are nine industrial estates in Oman, the research can be undertaken to study the CI practices adoption in all the other industrial estates as well. Social implications: Countries from all over the world are facing numerous challenges due to COVID-19. The paper will help the manufacturing companies in decision making towards the process improvement. Originality/Value: There are not many studies on continuous improvement practices within the Omani manufacturing industry and this paper examines the status of CI implementation in manufacturing companies in Oman.

Photo-Activated Carbon Dots for Inactivation of Foodborne Pathogens Listeria and Salmonella

Foodborne pathogens have long been recognized as major challenges for the food industry and repeatedly implicated in food product recalls and outbreaks of foodborne diseases. This study demonstrated the application of a recently discovered class of visible-light activated carbon-based nanoparticles, namely carbon dots (CDots), for photodynamic inactivation of foodborne pathogens. The results demonstrated that CDots were highly effective in the photo-inactivation of Listeria monocytogenes in suspensions and on stainless steel surfaces. However, it was much less effective to Salmonella cells, but treatments with higher CDots concentration and longer time were still able to inactivate Salmonella cells. Mechanistic implications of the observed different antibacterial effects on the two types of cells were discussed, and the associated generation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), the resulted lipid peroxidation, and the leakage of nucleic acid and proteins from the treated cells were analyzed, with the results collectively suggesting CDots as a class of promising photodynamic inactivation agents for foodborne pathogens. Importance: Foodborne infectious diseases have long been recognized as major challenges in public health. Contaminations of food processing facilities and equipment with foodborne pathogens occur often. There is a critical need for new tools/approaches to control the pathogens and prevent such contaminations in food processing facilities and other settings. This study reports a newly established antimicrobial nanomaterials platform, carbon dots (CDots) coupled with visible/natural light, for effectively and efficiently inactivation of representative foodborne bacterial pathogens. The study will contribute to promoting the practical application of CDots as a new class of promising nanomaterial-based photodynamic inactivation agents for foodborne pathogens.