1st Edition

Consumer Panic Buying in Times of Crisis Effective Management of Supply Chain Disruptions

By Rui Zheng, Yi Li, Kin Keung Lai Copyright 2026
226 Pages 30 B/W Illustrations
by Routledge

This book comprehensively reviews existing literature on consumer panic stockpiling behaviour, suggesting strategies to effectively manage supply chains during such disruptions. The book examines the prevalent operation strategies for managing consumer stockpiling based on analytical models and numerical experiments. This includes retailers’ inventory preparation, pricing and quota policies,... Read more

1. Introduction 2. Supply Chain Management in Times of Supply Disruption Risk and Consumer Panic Buying: A Systematic Review 3. Supply Disruption Management under Consumer Panic Buying and Social Learning Effects 4. Managing Consumers’ Panic Stockpiling Behavior under Supply Disruption Risk: Price Increase vs. Quota Policy 5. Intervention through Government-Retailer Information Disclosure during Panic Buying 6. Robust Sourcing Contract Design for the Manufacturer under Supply Risk 7. Managing Supply Chain Disruption Risk and Consumer Panic-Buying Behavior: Practical Cases 8. Summary and Future Research Directions

Biography

Rui Zheng is an Associate Professor at the School of Safety Science and Emergency Management, Wuhan University of Technology. She holds a PhD in Management Science and Engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, and a PhD in Management Sciences from City University of Hong Kong. Her research focuses on supply chain risk management, emergency logistics, and optimization algorithms. She has published approximately 20 journal papers in outlets such as Production and Operations Management.

Yi Li is currently an Associate Professor at the School of Economics and Management, Xidian University. He received his PhD degree in Management Science and Engineering at Xi’an Jiaotong University, and the PhD degree in Management Sciences at City University of Hong Kong. His research interests include supply chain management, service operations management, and the interface of operations and finance. He has published about 20 papers, in journal such as Annals of Operations Research, International Journal of Forecasting, and Omega-The International Journal of Management Science. He is now on the young editorial board of Data Science and Management.

Kin Keung Lai received his PhD from Michigan State University, USA. He is currently the Distinguished Professor at the International Business School of Shaanxi Normal University, Xian, China, and the Honorary Professor at the Department of Data and Systems Engineering, Hong Kong University, Hong Kong. Prior to his post, he was the Chair Professor of Management Science at the City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong (2003–2016). Professor Lai was awarded as the Changjiang Scholar Chair Professor by the Ministry of Education, China in 2009. He was also elected as an Academician of the International Academy of Systems and Cybernetic Sciences in Austria. Professor Lai was the Founding Chairman of the Hong Kong Operational Research Society. He is currently the President of the International Federation of Logistics and Supply Chain Management from 2025.