Roman Schumacher

I am currently working in SCM at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, where I led several projects to trace the value streams of different brands and realize cash flow opportunities through inventory optimisation. Prior to this, I gained experience in venture capital, engine development, and manufacturing engineering. I would like to thank RADMA for the generous support of my PhD studies, and the chance to engage with other RADMA scholars through the network.

My PhD focused on managing product safety in complex supply chains. My research started when I noticed several large scale automotive and pharmaceutical product recalls that happened in 2018. I conducted preliminary research, which indicated that recalls are steeply increasing in multiple mature, regulated industries. The product failures associated with these recalls were often rooted in supplier-related design or manufacturing defects in multi-tier supply networks, driven by various dimensions of supply chain complexity.

I applied a mixed method approach to investigate the effects of supply chain complexity on various product safety metrics. First, I used a multiple holistic, inductive, cross-industry case study approach to identify the relationships between supply chain complexity and product safety. After that, I empirically validated the results of this case study approach by using large scale, industry level data. The study was conducted using regression techniques and firm supply chain, financial and recall data from multiple sources.

The outcome of this research provides meaningful insights for theory and practice. First, it links multiple supply chain complexity dimensions to product safety risk by providing a comprehensive theoretical framework, using complexity theory, information processing theory, prior literature, and the results of the case studies. Second, it shows a positive effect of multiple supply chain complexity dimensions on product safety risk as measured by severe product recalls, as well as their relative strength. Lastly, it identifies multiple moderating effects on these relationships, providing practitioners with insights on how to manage product safety risks in the age of highly globalised supply chains effectively.