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Restoring the Medical Supply Chain from Below: The Role of Social Entrepreneurship in the Production of Face Masks during the Covid-19 Crisis
Kees Boersma
Robert Larruina
Anouck Adrot
Rob Grace
Kathleen Moore
Christopher W. Zobel
The COVID-19 pandemic hit societies all over the world deeply. Since it has affected societies worldwide and compromised socio-technical systems across geographical, judicial and administrative borders it can be considered a cross-border, transboundary crisis. This dimension has exposed the global medical supply chain's vulnerability. Due to its 'lean and mean' characteristics the supply chain was unable to function adequately during the crisis and formal authorities struggled to restore it, causing serious problems in the response to the pandemic. At the same time, numerous initiatives from below tried to give a (partial) answer on how to restore the broken supply chain. This paper presents a case study about a Dutch social enterprise (i.e. the Refugee Company) engaged with the cross-border dimension of the COVID-19 crisis. The Refugee Company set up a supply chain, operation and (domestic) production of personal protection equipment (PPE) materials, in particular face masks. The paper draws on data collected through qualitative methods, including document analysis (secondary sources), interviews and observations. The conclusion is that social entrepreneurs and enterprises played a crucial role in restoring the supply chain. The paper provides valuable lessons for both policy makers and crisis managers: there is great potential in recognizing the entrepreneurial activities from below in strengthening supply chains at times of crisis, potentially making them more sustainable and resilient.
openurl:?ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info%3Asid%2Fidl.iscram.org%2F&genre=proceeding&title=Restoring%20the%20Medical%20Supply%20Chain%20from%20Below%3A%20The%20Role%20of%20Social%20Entrepreneurship%20in%20the%20Production%20of%20Face%20Masks%20during%20the%20Covid-19%20Crisis&stitle=Iscram%202021&issn=978-1-949373-61-5&date=2021&spage=260&epage=269&aulast=Kees%20Boersma&au=Robert%20Larruina&pub=Virginia%20Tech&place=Blacksburg%2C%20VA%20%28USA%29&sid=refbase%3AISCRAM
url:http://idl.iscram.org/show.php?record=2331
citekey:KeesBoersma+RobertLarruina2021
citation:Kees Boersma, & Robert Larruina. (2021). Restoring the Medical Supply Chain from Below: The Role of Social Entrepreneurship in the Production of Face Masks during the Covid-19 Crisis. In Anouck Adrot, Rob Grace, Kathleen Moore, & Christopher W. Zobel (Eds.), ISCRAM 2021 Conference Proceedings – 18th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management (pp. 260-269). Blacksburg, VA (USA): Virginia Tech.
2021
ConferencePaper
text
COVID-19 crisis response, supply chain, personal protection equipment, face masks, social entrepreneurship, resilience
file:http://idl.iscram.org/files/keesboersma/2021/2331_KeesBoersma+RobertLarruina2021.pdf
Virginia Tech
English
978-1-949373-61-5
ISCRAM 2021 Conference Proceedings – 18th International Conference on Information Systems for Crisis Response and Management
2021
260
269
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