Information Security in Supply Chain Security - Research Proposal Example

?Research Proposal Table of Contents Introduction 3 Research Objectives 3 Literature Review 4 Methodology 5 Timescale 6 Conclusion 6 References 8 Introduction Supply chains are known to be especially important in terms of information sharing across several players which can vary from an organization to a nation. They play crucial part in determining the relationships among the various actors that are involved in the chains. Security in a supply chain has always been an important aspect. Ever since the supply chains have become technology dependent, the security aspect has faced significant impact from the ‘information security’ aspect. However, this ‘information security’ aspect in the supply chain security is not as greatly investigated as the other areas are. Given the fact that supply chains involve crucial information about organizations, nations as well as about individuals, it is a necessity to ensure the security of all the information. Large supply chains that include borders of different countries involve number of agencies that share information among themselves. Such a process requires a strong system that would ensure the security of information. This research proposal is an attempt to provide a guideline regarding the research that will be conducted on the information security systems that are used by the agencies like customs in various countries. The proposal includes details of research objectives, possible structure of literature review as well as the research methodology. Research Objectives The main purpose behind conducting this research is to identify and analyze the present information security systems that are used by various key players in the supply chains. Furthermore, the research is also aimed at finding out the alternative security system models that may be used. There may be several aspects or parameters based on which a particular security system model can be analyzed. This research will try to identify the relevant aspects before analyzing their role in the entire process. Major research questions are mentioned below – Which information security models are currently used by the agencies across the borders? What are benefits and discrepancies of these models? Which are the parameters based on which such a model should be analyzed? It is found that ASYCUDA (Automated System for Customs Data Acquisition) is one of those systems that are widely used by important agencies that are involved in the global supply chains. Hence, this research will aim at gathering sufficient information about this system, its usage, advantages and disadvantages. This will certainly be another main objective of the research. In addition to all these objectives, the research will also focus on identifying the requirements of changing the existing systems and having a new one that will be more efficient and effective. Hence, the following research question arise form these objectives. Is there any need of developing a new standard information security system that will be used across the world? Literature Review A preliminary study of literature reveals that supply chains have evolved in several respects over the past few decades. They have become more global than they were ever before. Today, major stakeholders in a supply chain’s security are the industry, governments and terminal operators. According to the findings of a research paper which is published by IT major IBM, key elements of the security of a supply chain include physical security, risk analysis, personnel security, information security and procedural security (Knight, 2003). As far as information security is considered it is certainly one of the most significant elements as the supply chain processes are managed by the information systems. Acknowledgement of the importance of information security must come with the acceptance of the fact that there are several problems that challenge the safety and security of information that are exchanged across the supply chains. Andrew R. Thomas has opined that one of the major problems in the process of securing the information in the supply chains is that electronic data storages and controls are not properly used throughout the world (Thomas, 2010). Initial study shows that a system known as ASYCUDA (Automated System for Customs Data Acquisition) is heavily used by the agencies like customs. Further literature on all these aspects will be investigated during the research. Various books, journals and scholarly articles will be used as the source of information in order to find the relevant theories and models. They will be made to undergo proper analysis in the ‘literature review’ section in the final research report. Analysis will be qualitative in nature as the secondary data will be mainly in use. Methodology Any research that is conducted without following proper method has significant chance of failing in attaining the research objectives. This research, however, will follow a well-developed method in which the first step will be to define and understand the research objectives appropriately. Once that is done, the next important job will be to collect the data. Both primary as well as secondary data are important for this kind of research. There are different ways of collecting primary data. As far as this research is concerned a ‘focus group interview’ will be useful. As per Lederman, a focus group interview is “a technique involving the use of in-depth group interviews in which participants are selected because they are a purposive and ‘focused’ on a given topic” (Rabiee, 2004). Interviews will involve individuals who are directly or indirectly involved with the agencies that play crucial role in the supply chain networks. Mainly people from customs department will be targeted for collecting relevant information regarding their use of various information system models. A sample size of 20-25 should be enough to gather the important information. Secondary data which will be crucial for the literature review will be collected from various books, scholarly articles etc. It is important to note here that primary research is costlier and more time taking as compared to secondary research (Kelly, n.d.). The analysis part will follow the data collection task. Analysis will be both quantitative and qualitative in nature. An important aspect that needs to be mentioned is that the research design will be ‘deductive’ in kind. According to Hussey a deductive research is “a study in which a conceptual and theoretical structure is developed which is then tested by empirical observation; thus particular instances are deducted from general influences” (University of Pretoria, n.d.). Timescale Since the resources are not unlimited, a research must have a proper time limit by which it should be finished in all respect. A time line of six months is decided for completing this research. In the initial two months, research objectives will be properly developed and analyzed followed by the collection of the secondary data. The next two months will be spent for conducting the interviews with the objective of collecting primary data. The final two months will be in use for analyzing the facts and developing the research reports. Conclusion The main objective of developing this proposal is to give a clear idea about the main subject of the actual research and the justification as well as the requirement of choosing such a subject. It provides a proper overview about the major research questions. Furthermore, it also contains the possible structure of the literature review which will be present in the final research report. This proposal may be considered very important as it properly tells about the overall methodology that will be followed while conducting the main research. References Kelly, M. No Date, Primary and Secondary Data, McKinnon Secondary College, Retrieved on September 26, 2011 from http://www.mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au/vceit/infodata/primarysecondary.htm Knight, P. (2003), Supply Chain Security Guidelines, IBM, Retrieved on September 26, 2011 from http://www-03.ibm.com/procurement/proweb.nsf/objectdocswebview/filesupply+chain+security+guidelines/$file/supply+chain+security+guidelines+12sep03.pdf Rabiee, F. 2004, Focus-group interview and data analysis, University of Central England, Retrieved on September 26, 2011 from http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FPNS%2FPNS63_04%2FS0029665104000874a.pdf&code=bed44b7adb29a0520e528452fc6608c7 Thomas, R. A. (2010), Supply chain security: international practices and innovations in moving goods safely and efficiently, Volume 1, ABC-CLIO University of Pretoria, No Date, Deductive / Inductive, Research methodology, Retrieved on September 26, 2011 from http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-07302006-065725/unrestricted/05chapter5.pdf Read More