Digitala Vetenskapliga Arkivet

Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Managing supply chain sustainability risks of antibiotics: A case study within Sweden
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology, Technology, Department of Engineering Sciences, Industrial Engineering & Management.
Uppsala University, Disciplinary Domain of Science and Technology, Technology, Department of Engineering Sciences, Industrial Engineering & Management.
2019 (English)Independent thesis Advanced level (degree of Master (Two Years)), 20 credits / 30 HE creditsStudent thesis
Abstract [en]

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has been classified as one of the phenomena that belongs to the current top threats to human health. AMR is the process where bacteria become resistant to the antimicrobial drug and renders the antibiotic ineffective. This phenomenon is increasing exponentially due to misuse and overuse of antibiotics and is responsible for 700,000 annual deaths globally. If the contributing factors to AMR remain persistent, the estimated amount of annual deaths will increase to the exorbitant figure of 10 million by 2050. The inappropriate waste discharge from antibiotic manufacturing plants is the third major cause contributing to AMR. For this reason, environmental sustainability within the pharmaceutical industry is tightly linked to human health, and therefore, the importance of environmental risk management becomes crucial. Pharmaceutical supply chains are extremely complex, fragmented, and rigid due to the highly regulated environment and global distribution of the chains. Constant availability is sometimes compromised, and this leads to national shortages of antibiotics, which increase AMR. Therefore, supply chain sustainability risks (SCSRs) need to be thoroughly assessed and managed. The thesis aims to identify the sustainability risks that threaten the constant supply of antibiotics and further provide a comprehensive and sufficient framework on how to assess and manage SCSRs within the pharmaceutical industry. This research is based on the review of existing literature, followed by an empirical study that included a case study of two specific antibiotics relevant to the Swedish market. The analysis of publicly available databases, together with the qualitative interviews, revealed that the most susceptible node of the supply chain resides in the primary manufacturing stage. The most relevant SCSRs have been identified, and an adapted framework is suggested. The role of regulatory agencies has been demonstrated to be fundamental to achieve change concerning environmental progress. Further research needs to be implemented for the validation of the suggested framework within a practical context.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2019.
Series
TVE-MILI ; 19018
Keywords [en]
AMR, antibiotics, sustainability, supply chain sustainability risks, SCSR, sustainable development, pharmaceutical supply chains, supply chain management, risk management
National Category
Other Engineering and Technologies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-390626OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-390626DiVA, id: diva2:1342267
External cooperation
PLATINEA, Uppsala Universitet
Educational program
Master Programme in Industrial Management and Innovation
Supervisors
Examiners
Available from: 2019-08-13 Created: 2019-08-13 Last updated: 2025-02-10Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

fulltext(2377 kB)1376 downloads
File information
File name FULLTEXT01.pdfFile size 2377 kBChecksum SHA-512
f085956349db84f3c02a79bc94edf21e14ed59a6e1f10b0b0a3b70caec0d96c010773e17bdf9e4db8859fbefa6ced449e23ec6b5535a50c971c4377e932c6a61
Type fulltextMimetype application/pdf

By organisation
Industrial Engineering & Management
Other Engineering and Technologies

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar
Total: 1392 downloads
The number of downloads is the sum of all downloads of full texts. It may include eg previous versions that are now no longer available

urn-nbn

Altmetric score

urn-nbn
Total: 1369 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf