Product Safety
This research study is based on product safety as it has become a major strategic consideration for all kinds of organizations in the whole world and academicians continue to pay close attention to the same. Some industries such as food and automobiles have continuously experienced recalls of their products because of safety and security issues. Product failures were in the past associated with malfunctions during product designs, production processes, and poor product labeling. Currently, any product safety concern can result in significant problems globally (Marucheck et al., 2011). Also, Marucheck et al. (2011) posit that industrial globalization has raised a lot of awareness of product risks and vulnerability since they move along a complex supply chain system from product designing to transportation and distribution phases to the final consumer. For example, many entities in emerging economies cause a lot of physical threats by constantly handling products as they move across borders. This can cause a lot of product safety concerns.
Many laws have been enacted at national and even global levels to enhance product safety. Organizations' quality assurance managers play vital roles in developing various standard levels to meet within the firms. Hammoudi, Hoffman and Surry (2009) confirms that various laws have passed at national levels to improve food standards and safety. They further acknowledge that numerous formal and informal forums have been held at international levels to discuss the harmonization and legality of standards.
These legal and safety measures have triggered by many concerns about food scares raised by consumers specifically on food quality and production criteria. As a result, many organizations are engaging in the vertical and horizontal differentiation of product quality to meet consumer expectations and demand. For example, producers of agricultural products are shifting from price-based strategies to quality based strategies in the markets as consumers are more concerned about product quality and safety. Moreover, some companies have developed strategies that increase product value I addition to quality control (Curzi, Raimondi & Olper, 2014).
Problem Statement
Safety concerns on food products have for a long time raised a lot of debates. The first known laws about product quality passed in Germany in the year 1516 and since then a wide range of laws and standards have been adopted to regulate food safety (Marucheck et al., 2011). This enormous attention to product safety as well as quality, especially in developed countries, has caused a lot of pressure on developing countries to improve their quality so as to meet export requirements (Curzi, Raimondi & Olper, 2014).
However, there are many regular scandals that are still rocking food safety in many countries. The supply chain systems are still vulnerable as they are dealing with perishable products that may turn out to be harmful if not managed in the right time and safely (Marucheck et al., 2011). Also, as noted by Hammoudi, Hoffman and Surry (2009) public and private policies and standards usually affect a firm's internal organization, its strategic practices, and supply chain organization. The adversely affect the market stakeholders and profit sharing procedure in the supply chain. The management as far the issue of product safety is concerned emanates from the need to balance quality and safety initiatives versus the costs involved.
Scholarly support
The subject of product safety has attracted numerous research interests because it remains a vital concern in the business and the management world. For instance, according to research studies by Curzi, Raimondi and Olper (2014) and Hammoudi, Hoffmann and Surry (2009) there are many ways that organizations in the agricultural food sector can upgrade their quality and trade policy to gain competitive advantage. Also, Marucheck et al. (2011) work on issues, challenges and research opportunities faced in product safety and security in the global supply chain will be relevant for the study.
Research Questions
i. What problems are faced by companies during designing and production processes in order to match the law and standard requirements?
ii. Are the rating differences experienced by companies standards verses the private and public standard requirements enormous enough to warrant product recalls?