A Study on the Effect of Supply Chain Risk Management of Exporting SMEs’ Operating Cold Chain Logistics System on Shipping Logistics Efficiency

Recently, the size of the global cold chain market is growing. Therefore, the cold chain has increased management risks. The purpose of this study is to identify potential supply chain risk factors that could emerge during the operation of the cold chain logistics system for small and medium-sized export businesses. Additionally, we attempted to comprehend how risk management affected the effectiveness of logistics and shipping. Structured questionnaires were distributed from October 11, 2022, to October 28, 2022, focused on lists of randomly chosen member organizations, including the Korea International Trade Association, the Korea Fisheries Trade Association, the Korea Pharmaceutical Bio Association, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, and the Korea Small and Medium Business Association. As for the survey method, about 225 copies were collected by distributing Google questionnaires online, and a total of 202 copies were used for empirical analysis, excluding 23 insincere copies. For empirical analysis, the Smart PLS statistical package was used to evaluate external measurement models, internal structural model evaluation, and structural equation modeling, focusing on conceptual research models. The results of this study are as follows. Among risk factors, low temperature maintenance risk had a negative (-) effect on cold chain risk management, and transportation environment risk and information technology risk had a significant positive (+) effect on cold chain risk management. And risk management was found to have an effect on responsiveness and flexibility in shipping and logistics. This study supplements the contents of previous studies on the risks that small and medium-sized export companies with limited human and financial resources may encounter in the process of operating a cold chain logistics system and examines the causal relationship that related risk management has on shipping logistics efficiency.