Trends in food supply chain management

This chapter analyses specific trends in food supply chain management. We focus our analysis on information technology and on sustainability. Relevant applications, implementation practices and challenges are examined in the context of contemporary food supply chains. This analysis will benefit supply chain managers, researchers and other stakeholders involved with the food sector. © 2010 Woodhead Publishing Limited All rights reserved.

The use of future Internet technologies in the agriculture and food sectors:integrating the supply chain

The Future Internet is expected to greatly influence how the food and agriculture sector is currently operating. In this paper, we present the specific characteristics of the agri-food sector focusing on how information management in this area will take place under a highly heterogeneous group of actors and services, based on the EU SmartAgriFood project. We also discuss how a new dynamic marketplace will be realized based on the adoption of a number of specialized software modules, called “Generic Enablers” that are currently developed in the context of the EU FI-WARE project. Thus, the paper presents the overall vision for data integration along the supply chain as well as the development and federation of Future Internet services that are expected to revolutionize the agriculture sector.

A conceptual framework for supply chain collaboration:empirical evidence from the agri-food industry

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to analyse the concept of supply chain collaboration and to provide an overall framework that can be used as a conceptual landmark for further empirical research. In addition, the concept is explored in the context of agri-food industry and particularities are identified. Finally, the paper submits empirical evidence from an exploratory case study in the agri-food industry, at the grower-processor interface, and information regarding the way the concept is actually applied in small medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is presented. Design/methodology/approach - The paper employed case study research by conducting in-depth interviews in the two companies. Findings - Supply chain collaboration concept is of significant importance for the agri-food industry however, some constraints arise due to the nature of industry's products, and the specific structure of the sector. Subsequently, collaboration in the supply chain is often limited to operational issues and to logistics-related activities. Research limitations/implications - Research is limited to a single case study and further qualitative testing of the conceptual model is needed in order to adjust the model before large scale testing. Practical implications - Case study findings may be transferable to other similar dual relationships at the grower-processor interface. Weaker parts in asymmetric relationships have opportunities to improve their position, altering the dependence balance, by achieving product/process excellence. Originality/value - The paper provides evidence regarding the applicability of the supply chain collaboration concept in the agri-food industry. It takes into consideration not relationships between big multinational companies, but SMEs. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

RFID technology to support environmentally sustainable supply chain management

RFID is one of the contemporary technologies that has the potential to enable improved data gathering and cross-companies integration, and thus achieve cost efficiency. However, RFID has not yet become primary approach to collect data from the supply chain activities. This is partly due to (relative) high cost of implementation, partly due to technical deficiencies, as well as cross-company systems integration issues. This paper discusses a potential application area for RFID technology, which is environmentally sustainable supply chain management. The paper discusses the current practices in green supply chain management, and proposes possible applications of RFID enabling green supply chain management. The paper also proposes an idea of ad hoc RFID systems which are rapidly deployable and require minimal, if at all, pre-existing infrastructure. © 2010 IEEE.

Excelling in supply chain management

Assessment of logistics and supply chain management excellence in a volatile global environment.

Internet-based applications in the agri-food supply chain:a survey on the Greek canning sector

In the agri-food industry, Internet-based applications changed the way companies conduct business mainly by facilitating activities that were already taking place, rather by giving birth to virtual networks creation. Due to the specific characteristics of the sector, Internet's huge potential has not been fully exploited yet, still remaining a new communication tool. This paper aims at giving empirical insights regarding the use of Internet-based applications in the agri-food supply chain, by focusing on the Greek fruit canning sector. In particular, the paper identifies companies' perceptions regarding perceived benefits, constrained factors and motivation factors towards the use of Internet-based applications. Results indicate that companies recognise benefits arising from the use of Internet, however they still use traditional ways when communicating with their partners. Regarding transportation issues, while companies' overall satisfaction is rather moderate and differs significantly from the importance placed on a number of criteria, companies are still sceptical in using Electronic Transportation Marketplace. © 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Life cycle assessment in the food supply chain:a case study

This research aims at assessing the environmental impact of the poultry supply chain from cradle to grave using case study research and also life cycle assessment (LCA). While a limited number of generic poultry production LCA studies have been published, fewer yet assess the whole process of a specific organisation, none comparing the increased impact of further processing. Our results show that irrespectively of the impact assessment method utilised, the process of producing portions is considerably higher in total environmental impact due to the extra raw material required to produce the same mass into retail. Our research contributes to the growing number of LCA studies and could be used by practitioners for comparison against national and international averages. From a theoretical point of view, this research provides new insights into the relationship between vertically integrated supply chains and environmental performance which has not been examined in the past.

Managing imbalanced supply chain relationships for sustainability:a power perspective

This study adopts a power perspective to investigate sustainable supply chain relationships and specifically uses resource-dependence theory (RDT) to critically analyze buyer-supplier-supplier relationships. Empirical evidence is provided, extending the RDT model in this context. The concept of power relationships is explored through a qualitative study of a multinational company and agricultural growers in the UK food industry that work together to implement sustainable practices. We look at multiple triadic relationships involving a large buyer and its small suppliers to investigate how relative power affects the implementation of sustainable supply-management practices. The study highlights that power as dependence is relevant to understanding compliance in sustainable supply chains and to identifying appropriate relationship-management strategies to build more sustainable supply chains. We show the influences of power on how players manage their relationships and how it affects organizational responses to the implementation of sustainability initiatives. Power notably influences the sharing of sustainability-related risks and value between supply chain partners. From a managerial perspective, the study contributes to developing a better understanding of how power can become an effective way to achieve sustainability goals. This article offers insights into the way in which a large organization works with small and medium size enterprises to implement sustainable practices and shows how power management-that is, the way in which power is used-can support or hinder effective cooperation around sustainability in the supply chain. © 2014 Decision Sciences Institute.

A sustainable supply chain study of the Indian bioenergy sector

In India, more than one third of the population do not currently have access to modern energy services. Biomass to energy, known as bioenergy, has immense potential for addressing India’s energy poverty. Small scale decentralised bioenergy systems require low investment compared to other renewable technologies and have environmental and social benefits over fossil fuels. Though they have historically been promoted in India through favourable policies, many studies argue that the sector’s potential is underutilised due to sustainable supply chain barriers. Moreover, a significant research gap exists. This research addresses the gap by analysing the potential sustainable supply chain risks of decentralised small scale bioenergy projects. This was achieved through four research objectives, using various research methods along with multiple data collection techniques. Firstly, a conceptual framework was developed to identify and analyse these risks. The framework is founded on existing literature and gathered inputs from practitioners and experts. Following this, sustainability and supply chain issues within the sector were explored. Sustainability issues were collated into 27 objectives, and supply chain issues were categorised according to related processes. Finally, the framework was validated against an actual bioenergy development in Jodhpur, India. Applying the framework to the action research project had some significant impacts upon the project’s design. These include the development of water conservation arrangements, the insertion of auxiliary arrangements, measures to increase upstream supply chain resilience, and the development of a first aid action plan. More widely, the developed framework and identified issues will help practitioners to take necessary precautionary measures and address them quickly and cost effectively. The framework contributes to the bioenergy decision support system literature and the sustainable supply chain management field by incorporating risk analysis and introducing the concept of global and organisational sustainability in supply chains. The sustainability issues identified contribute to existing knowledge through the exploration of a small scale and developing country context. The analysis gives new insights into potential risks affecting the whole bioenergy supply chain.

Integrating supply chain operations in the Internet era

The internet's potential impact on supply chain operations is often approached in the literature in a quite generic way due to the complex nature of supply chains and the different levels of operations' integration. Drawing on existing research, this paper proposes an overall framework of supply chain integration and then attempts to provide a categorisation of the internet's role in the supply chain activities, providing insights from various sectors. The purpose of this paper is to describe and present the alternative ways that the internet impacts on the integration of supply chain operations, by comparing four different sectors: the automotive, the computer, the food and the grocery sector. The paper concludes that in the food, grocery and computer sector, internet's impact on supply chain operations has been quite poor, particularly forward integration, while it has been significant, in the backward integration of the automotive sector. Copyright © 2007 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Sustainability and supply chain management:Publications in Brazil

The number of research papers linking sustainability with supply chain management is increasing around the world. The purpose of this paper is to analyse how the publications in Brazil are considering the relationship between sustainability and supply chain management. The methodology applied consists in five major steps: (1) selection of databases and journals, (2) selection of the papers, (3) reading of papers' abstracts to select only papers that are related to business and sustainability, (4) qualitative and quantitative analysis of the selected papers' abstracts to define the main dimension of sustainability and sustainability aspect, and finally, (5) an evaluation of experts' responses to a questionnaire in the field of sustainability and supply chain in Brazil. The literature review was conducted in 120 Brazilian academic journals in which 124 papers were identified as being published in relation to sustainability, business management and companies, from 2008 until 2013. When considering the traditional Triple Bottom Line approach, the results of the analysis show that sustainability research in Brazil is focusing on the environmental dimension and SCM research is focusing on the economic dimension. Additional inputs are provided by integrating the governance dimension in the analysis to underline which actions and policies are discussed in Brazilian literature at a corporate level. The consultation of experts in the field of sustainability in Brazil was aimed at understanding better the results of the conducted literature review. One of the main conclusions is that there are large opportunities to increase publications about sustainability and SCM in the country.

Modelling the relationship between local logistics management decisions and overall supply chain performance:A research agenda

Supply chains are advocated widely as being the new units for commercial competition and developments have made the sharing of supply chain wide information increasingly common. Most organisations however still make operational decisions intended to maximise local organisational performance. With improved information sharing a holistic focus for operational decisions should now be possible. The development of a pan supply chain performance framework requires an examination of the conditions under which holistic-decisions provide benefits to either the individual enterprise or the complete supply chain. This paper presents the background and supporting methodology for a study of the impact of an overall supply chain performance metric framework upon local logistics decisions and the conditions under which such a framework would improve overall supply chain performance. The methodology concludes a simulation approach using a functionally extended Gensym's e-SCOR model, together with case based triangulation, to be optimum. Copyright © 2007 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Optimizing supply chain waste management through the use of RFID technology

This paper presents a Decision Support System framework based on Constrain Logic Programming and offers suggestions for using RFID technology to improve several of the critical procedures involved. This paper suggests that a widely distributed and semi-structured network of waste producing and waste collecting/processing enterprises can improve their planning both by the proposed Decision Support System, but also by implementing RFID technology to update and validate information in a continuous manner. © 2010 IEEE.