Understanding social amplification of risk : possible impact of an avian flu pandemic

Today, stakeholders expect organizations to be able to endure external shocks. Hence, the real potential of an avian flu pandemic has many corporations developing business continuity plans for the disruptions that a pandemic may cause. For the pharmaceutical/biotechnology industry, the major concerns of a pandemic include high employee absentee rates, lack of accessibility to the medical facilities, and disruption to the product supply chain. This work introduces social amplification of risk theory to evaluate the potential impact of a pandemic to a business due to heightened fear. It uses a case study of Genzyme Corporation and evaluates pandemic related risks to two of its major products. By applying a system dynamics framework to evaluate the mechanisms for the amplification of risks, a solution is proposed. The lessons introduced in this work can help organizations evaluate the true risks of catastrophic events.

Department dc:contributor.department

Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Sundrani, Aamir (Aamir Sultan)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Charles L. Cooney and Kimberly M. Thompson.

• Sloan School of Management.
• Engineering Systems Division.
• Leaders for Manufacturing Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/39680

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/39680