Value chain disruptions: policy responses to antibiotic shortages in global value chains
研究以瑞典为例，分析全球抗生素价值链的短缺风险，评估六项政策的效果，发现强制平行采购、搬迁和新报销模式影响最大，并探讨政策从国家到欧盟层面的变化。
Abstract Significant disruptions have recently afflicted global value chains (GVCs), causing shortages of essential products like antibiotics. Antibiotic shortages are a prioritized issue for policymakers because they increase patient suffering and healthcare costs. Focusing on the case of Sweden, we use a unique dataset of generic antibiotic GVCs and show that more than three-quarters of them entail substantial shortage risk. Through extensive qualitative data, we first identify six policies currently under discussion by Swedish policymakers to address antibiotic shortages, and then discuss their potential impact on the configuration of antibiotics GVCs, as well as how these policies change when moving from the Swedish to the EU context. Our analysis shows specifically that mandatory parallel sourcing, relocations, and new reimbursement models are the three policies with the strongest expected effects. This study contributes to the GVC and international business literature by introducing three types of mechanisms (reinforcing, gathering, and multiplying) whereby policy can affect the resilience of GVCs. We also contribute novel insights about necessary changes in policies when moving from the national (Sweden) to the supranational (EU) level, as well as about how different types of GVC governance frame the relevance of policies for other small high-income countries.