Values based supply chain management and emergent organizational structure

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe an emergent supply chain management system that supports a sustainable values based organization (VBO) using a structuration theory-based framework.

Design/methodology/approach – A case study of a sustainable beef cooperative employing a structuration theory framework provides insights into sustainable supply chain management models.

Findings – The supply chain design and management afford the key to the VBO’s success. In order to attain the necessary price premium, the unique product attributes acquired through the natural beef production process must be sustained along the entire supply chain and communicated to the end customer. Structuration theory is useful in understanding supply chain management in VBOs.
Research limitations/implications – The paper has implications for studying VBOs, particularly those prioritizing sustainability values. The descriptive model presented is useful in settings where organizational structure and the supply chain are needed to support sustainable products and processes and whose success is facilitated by establishing strategic partners, especially those that make possible economies of scale. The study is limited to one, privately owned firm, operating in a specialty industry sector.

Practical implications – The paper has implications for those entities with an identified values set that endows the product with unique characteristics that must be conveyed to their end consumer in order to command a price premium and/or differentiate the product from a commodity. The case study provides an example of how a unique product as well as a facilitating organizational structure and supply chain emerge out of the application of a set of core values.

Originality/value – Little previous research focuses on implications of supply chain management in VBOs. In addition, the paper contributes to both the supply chain management and sustainability literature by relating supply chain management to a more comprehensive sustainability agenda including social, environmental, and long-term economic sustainability and by a theoretically based structuring.

Keywords Sustainable development, Supply chain management, Food industry, Organizational culture, Animal husbandry

Change in UK construction: Moving towards supply chain collaboration

There has been an increasing highlight of supply chain collaboration in UK construction. However, few studies have provided evidence for the current status. Based on the analysis of over 100 questionnaire responses in this research, it is found that the UK construction industry as a whole is experiencing an important change and moving towards supply chain collaboration. On the other hand, an unbalance is found for the change movement. In addition to the questionnaire survey, a series of expert interviews help to explore the specific characteristics of supply chain collaboration in construction and provide practical implications for collaboration strategy implementation.

Using vulnerability performance indicators to attain food supply chain robustness

High effectiveness and leanness of modern supply chains (SCs) increase their vulnerability, i.e. susceptibility to disturbances reflected in non-robust SC performances. Both the SC management literature and SC professionals indicate the need for the development of SC vulnerability assessment tools. In this article, a new method for vulnerability assessment, the VULA method, is presented. The VULA method helps to identify how much a company would underperform on a specific Key Performance Indicator in the case of a disturbance, how often this would happen and how long it would last. It ultimately informs the decision about whether process redesign is appropriate and what kind of redesign strategies should be used in order to increase the SC's robustness. The applicability of the VULA method is demonstrated in the context of a meat SC using discrete-event simulation to conduct the performance analysis.

The Bright Side of Manufacturing–Remanufacturing Conflict in a Decentralised Closed-Loop Supply Chain

Researchers and managers broadly agree that original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), which have opportunities to produce both new and remanufactured products, are better off by centrally controlling their manufacturing and remanufacturing activities. Thus, OEMs should not remanufacture used products until the remanufacturing cost is sufficiently low to overcome the negative impact of new product cannibalisation. In this paper, we present a contrasting view of the manufacturing–remanufacturing conflict: OEMs sometimes benefit from the decentralised control mode under which they ignore the internal cannibalisation rather than the remanufacturing option. We consider a decentralised closed-loop supply chain in which one OEM can purchase new components from one supplier to produce new products and collect used products from consumers to produce remanufactured products. The key feature of our model is that the OEM can select a centralised or decentralised control mode to manage its manufacturing and remanufacturing activities before the supplier prices the new component. In a steady state period setting, we analyse the players’ optimal decisions and compare the OEM's profits under centralised and decentralised control modes. Our analytic results reveal that the decentralised control within the OEM can outperform the centralised control when the cost structure of producing new and remanufactured products satisfies certain conditions. Finally, the key findings are distilled in a conceptual framework and its managerial implications are discussed.

Selenium Characterization in the Global Rice Supply Chain

For up to 1 billion people worldwide, insufficient dietary intake of selenium (Se) is a serious health constraint Cereals are the dominant Se source for those on low protein diets, as typified by the global malnourished population. With crop Se content constrained largely by underlying geology, regional soil Se variations are often mirrored by their locally grown staples. Despite this, the Se concentrations of much of the world's rice, the mainstay of so many, is poorly characterized, for both total Se content and Se speciation. In this study, 1092 samples of market sourced polished rice were obtained. The sampled rice encompassed dominant rice producing and exporting countries. Rice from the U.S. and India were found to be the most enriched, while mean average levels were lowest in Egyptian rice: similar to 32-fold less than their North American equivalents. By weighting country averages by contribution to either global production or export, modeled baseline values for both were produced. Based on a daily rice consumption of 300 g day(-1), around 75% of the grains from the production and export pools would fail to provide 70% of daily recommended Se intakes. Furthermore, Se localization and speciation characterization using X-ray fluorescence (mu-XRF) and X-ray absorption near edge structure (mu-XANES) techniques were investigated in a Se-rich sample. The results revealed that the large majority of Se in the endosperm was present in organic forms.

Supply Chain Management in Confined Site Construction: Strategies to Reduce Delay in the Delivery of Materials to Site

With the increase in construction in dense urban environments, the delays associated with managing the material supply chain to site is called into question. Purpose: The aim of this investigation is to gain the perspective of construction contractors operating in a dense urban environment and the resulting strategies adopted to reduce delays in the delivery of materials to site. Methodology: This is achieved through incorporating a comprehensive literature review on the subject in conjunction with industry interviews with construction professionals in the identification of various management issues and corresponding strategies in the reduction of delays in the delivery of materials to site. Findings: The key issue which emerges is the lack of space for unloading bays while the corresponding key strategy is to schedule deliveries outside peak congestion times. Practical Implication: With confined site construction evident throughout the industry and the noted importance of an effective supply chain, the findings here in further assist on-site management in the daily task of ensuring the effective delivery and off-loading of materials in a complex and hazardous environment. Originality/Value: This research aids on-site management of confined site environments in the coordination of the material supply chain to site.

Exploring resilience in the context of sustainable supply chain management: Towards a capability based perspective

In today’s world, supply chains are becoming more complex and more vulnerable due to increased interdependency of multiple threats. This paper investigates the vulnerability sources in context of sustainable supply chain in order to minimize the impact of uncertain events. The capability-based perspective is discussed in this paper to understand the strategies to improve the resilience of the supply chain. Paper argues that organisations must think beyond their boundaries to accumulate or integrate network resources and develop critical collaborative capabilities across the supply chain to successfully encounter future disruptions.