Traceability in a supply chain with repeated moral hazard

Recent food safety events have raised concerns about food traceability in both developed and developing countries. In this paper we study the decision to adopt a traceability system in a supply chain with repeated upstream and downstream moral hazard and imperfect consumer monitoring. In deciding wh...

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Main Author: Saak, Alexander E.
Format: Artículo preliminar
Language:Inglés
Published: International Food Policy Research Institute 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/154010
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author Saak, Alexander E.
author_browse Saak, Alexander E.
author_facet Saak, Alexander E.
author_sort Saak, Alexander E.
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Recent food safety events have raised concerns about food traceability in both developed and developing countries. In this paper we study the decision to adopt a traceability system in a supply chain with repeated upstream and downstream moral hazard and imperfect consumer monitoring. In deciding whether to maintain information regarding product origin, firms face a trade-off. On one hand, the downstream firm’s threat to punish upstream shirking is more credible when products are traceable to their firm of origin. On the other hand, the downstream firm has less incentive to collude with a subset of upstream firms to shirk in the provision of quality when it cannot tell whether a product originates from a shirking or non-shirking firm. We show that firms achieve higher joint profits when products are not traceable to upstream suppliers if the cost savings from upstream shirking and the discounted cost savings from downstream shirking are sufficiently similar or the consumer experience is a sufficiently noisy signal of quality.
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spelling CGSpace1540102025-11-06T06:22:17Z Traceability in a supply chain with repeated moral hazard Saak, Alexander E. food safety health supply chains monitoring contracts Recent food safety events have raised concerns about food traceability in both developed and developing countries. In this paper we study the decision to adopt a traceability system in a supply chain with repeated upstream and downstream moral hazard and imperfect consumer monitoring. In deciding whether to maintain information regarding product origin, firms face a trade-off. On one hand, the downstream firm’s threat to punish upstream shirking is more credible when products are traceable to their firm of origin. On the other hand, the downstream firm has less incentive to collude with a subset of upstream firms to shirk in the provision of quality when it cannot tell whether a product originates from a shirking or non-shirking firm. We show that firms achieve higher joint profits when products are not traceable to upstream suppliers if the cost savings from upstream shirking and the discounted cost savings from downstream shirking are sufficiently similar or the consumer experience is a sufficiently noisy signal of quality. 2012 2024-10-01T13:58:56Z 2024-10-01T13:58:56Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/154010 en Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Saak, Alexander E. 2012. Traceability in a supply chain with repeated moral hazard. IFPRI Discussion Paper 1211. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://hdl.handle.net/10568/154010
spellingShingle food safety
health
supply chains
monitoring
contracts
Saak, Alexander E.
Traceability in a supply chain with repeated moral hazard
title Traceability in a supply chain with repeated moral hazard
title_full Traceability in a supply chain with repeated moral hazard
title_fullStr Traceability in a supply chain with repeated moral hazard
title_full_unstemmed Traceability in a supply chain with repeated moral hazard
title_short Traceability in a supply chain with repeated moral hazard
title_sort traceability in a supply chain with repeated moral hazard
topic food safety
health
supply chains
monitoring
contracts
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/154010
work_keys_str_mv AT saakalexandere traceabilityinasupplychainwithrepeatedmoralhazard