Keywords: Chinese herbal medicine, supply chains, complexity analysis, thematic analysis.
Increasing demand for Chinese herbal medicines (CHM) has led to expanding supply chains. Additionally, the incidence of CHM adverse events including fatalities has necessitated increased compliance. [1] As regulators focus safety and suppliers on volume, a risk of divergence between these presents with increasing complexity.
Aim:
To explore and evaluate factors which render CHM supply chains particularly complex and thus potentially vulnerable.
Methods:
Literature search using keywords; “Chinese herbal medicine, complexity, problems, toxicity and supply chain” (11th April 2018), yielded 325 relevant publications. 302 were excluded, 23 were included. The model of A Booker-and M Heinrich on value chains was used in the analysis. [2]
Computer-aided thematic generation using (NVivo 11). Coding and thematic analysis with of Braun and Clark methodology. [3]
Results and Discussion:
Findings show that 9 complexity factors impact CHM supply chains which can be represented by three major themes; human, product and conceptual complexity. They contribute 21, 28 and 51% of the complexity factors respectively.
Conclusion:
Most complexity in CHM supply chains is contributed by conceptual factors (such as medicinal material status, regulation and value chain elements), followed by product and human complexity aspects. There is a need to further explore the relationship between conceptual complexity and the risk to product quality and safety.
Funding was received from the Brion Research Institute of Taiwan (Sun Ten Group) and Herbprime Co., Ltd for a PhD Studentship.
[1] Izzo A, Hoon-Kim S, Radhakrishnan R, Williamson E. Phytother Res 2016; 30: 691-700.
[2] Booker A, Johnston, D. and Heinrich, M. 2012. Value chains of herbal medicines—Research needs and key challenges in the context of ethnopharmacology. Journal of ethnopharmacology, 140(3), pp.624-633..
[3] Braun V, Clarke V. Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative research in psychology, 3(2), pp.77-101.