Abstract

Organizations of all sizes are vulnerable to critical material supply disruptions. Although there is a significant body of literature that examines how large entities such as nations and governments can assess and mitigate criticality, there is very little work that addresses firm-level criticality in a way that is actionable for businesses. This work uses literature review and case study analysis to understand the impact of critical material supply risk at the firm level, and to determine salient internal indicators. A total of 42 criticality studies were reviewed and the findings were used to develop a framework to assess and monitor criticality risk using internal firm-specific data. The framework incorporates three categories of risk including product concept viability, production, and profitability. It also contains four key business functions including finance, procurement, marketing, and production. These aspects were chosen because they are relevant to all businesses that produce and sell manufactured goods, and because they represent dynamics that are within the control of an individual firm. Unlike the global and national level indicators emphasized in most current research, the indicators proposed in this research are derived from data such that firms can compile it with reasonable ease. Finally, this work considers the role of the organization in criticality risk assessment and mitigation through an examination of the data needed to complete the aforementioned framework and the likely sources of that information. The findings of this analysis elucidate the gap between internal and external and micro and macro criticality assessment, as well as provide a framework for firm-level criticality mitigation.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Materials management--Research; Business logistics--Research; Risk management--Research

Publication Date

12-12-2019

Document Type

Thesis

Student Type

Graduate

Degree Name

Sustainable Systems (MS)

Department, Program, or Center

Sustainability (GIS)

Advisor

Thomas A. Trabold

Advisor/Committee Member

Gabrielle Gaustad

Advisor/Committee Member

Callie Babbitt

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

Plan Codes

SUSTSY-MS

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