Managing supply chain knowledge in the new product development process:a social network analysis approach

The aim of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework for studying the knowledge transfer problem within the supply chain. The social network analysis (SNA) is presented as a useful tool to study knowledge networks within supply chain, to visualize knowledge flows and to identify the accumulating knowledge nodes of the networks. © 2011 IEEE.

Optimizing Supply Chain Performance in China with Country-Specific Supply Chain Coordination

The implementation of country-specific supply chain coordination techniques ensures an optimal global supply chain performance. This paper looks at success factors going with a supply chain coordination strategy within the global supply chain of a successful, medium-sized, privately-owned company, one having locations in North America (USA), Europe (Hungary) and Asia (China). Through the shown GSL’s Chinese plant, we will endeavor to argue that increased collaboration in the supply network with appropriate supply chain coordination brings down not only the inventory level but can also improve conformance quality and reduce quoted lead times.

Point-and-shoot: rapid quantitative detection methods for on-site food fraud analysis – moving out of the laboratory and into the food supply chain

Major food adulteration and contamination events occur with alarming regularity and are known to be episodic, with the question being not if but when another large-scale food safety/integrity incident will occur. Indeed, the challenges of maintaining food security are now internationally recognised. The ever increasing scale and complexity of food supply networks can lead to them becoming significantly more vulnerable to fraud and contamination, and potentially dysfunctional. This can make the task of deciding which analytical methods are more suitable to collect and analyse (bio)chemical data within complex food supply chains, at targeted points of vulnerability, that much more challenging. It is evident that those working within and associated with the food industry are seeking rapid, user-friendly methods to detect food fraud and contamination, and rapid/high-throughput screening methods for the analysis of food in general. In addition to being robust and reproducible, these methods should be portable and ideally handheld and/or remote sensor devices, that can be taken to or be positioned on/at-line at points of vulnerability along complex food supply networks and require a minimum amount of background training to acquire information rich data rapidly (ergo point-and-shoot). Here we briefly discuss a range of spectrometry and spectroscopy based approaches, many of which are commercially available, as well as other methods currently under development. We discuss a future perspective of how this range of detection methods in the growing sensor portfolio, along with developments in computational and information sciences such as predictive computing and the Internet of Things, will together form systems- and technology-based approaches that significantly reduce the areas of vulnerability to food crime within food supply chains. As food fraud is a problem of systems and therefore requires systems level solutions and thinking.

Green supply chain management practices and firm performance: evidence from Finland

In order to address the increasing stakeholder requirements for environmentally sustainable products and processes, firms often need the participation of their supply chain partners. Green supply chain management has emerged as a set of managerial practices that integrate environmental issues into supply chain management. If implemented successfully, green supply chain management can be a way to achieve competitive advantage while enhancing the environmental sustainability of the firm. The overall purpose of this dissertation is to contribute to the discussion on green supply chain management practices from the perspective of their drivers and performance implications. The theoretical background arises from the literature on competitive strategy, firm performance and green supply chain management. The research questions are addressed by analysing firm-level data from manufacturing, trading and logistics firms operating in Finland. The empirical data comes from two consecutive Finland State of Logistics surveys in 2012 and 2014, combined with financial reporting data from external databases. The data is analysed with multiple statistical methods. First, the thesis contributes to the discussion of the drivers of GSCM practices. To enhance the understanding of the relationship between competitive strategy and GSCM practices, a conceptual tool to describe generic competitive strategy approaches was developed. The findings suggest that firms pursuing marketing differentiation are more likely to be able to compete by having only small environmental effects and by adopting a more advanced form of external green supply chain management, such as a combination of strong environmental collaboration and the increased environmental monitoring of suppliers. Furthermore, customer requirements for environmental sustainability are found to be an important driver in the implementation of internal GSCM practices. Firms can respond to this customer pressure by passing environmental requirements on to their suppliers, either through environmental collaboration or environmental monitoring. Second, this thesis adds value to the existing literature on the effects of green supply chain management practices on firm performance. The thesis provides support for the idea that there is a positive relationship between GSCM practices and firm performance and enhances the understanding of how different types of GSCM practices are related to 1) financial, 2) operational and 3) environmental performance in manufacturing and logistics. The empirical results suggest that while internal GSCM practices have the strongest effect on environmentalperformance, environmental collaboration with customers seems to be the most effective way to improve financial performance. In terms of operational performance, the findings were more mixed, suggesting that the operational performance of firms is more likely to be affected by firm characteristics than by the choices they make regarding their environmental collaboration. This thesis is also one of the first attempts to empirically analyse the relationship between GSCM practices and performance among logistics service providers. The findings also have managerial relevance. Management, especially in manufacturing and logistics industries, may benefit by gaining knowledge about which types of GSCM practice could provide the largest benefits in terms of different performance dimensions. This thesis also has implications for policy-makers and regulators regarding how to promote environmentally friendly activities among 1) manufacturing; 2) trading; and 3) logistics firms.

Supply chain management as beyond operational efficiency

The orthodoxy of supply chain management (SCM) emphasises competitive advantage through increased operational efficiency and market responsiveness from production and distribution processes into the hands of consumers. It anticipates that future competition will be between chains rather than between firms. While well established in other industry sectors, the SCM concept is newly developed in the Australian agri-food sector. Critical review of the concept has identified key issues of power among channel members, processes of chain initiation and innovation, and the inability of SCM to offer a viable business strategy for some firms. Building on those insights, this paper examines the supply chain concept for horticulture. Horticultural products are characterised by perishability, heterogeneity and lags in production response to market signals. Producers’ profits are vulnerable to quantity, timing of supply and product specification. Many supply chains in smaller industries are loose, fragmented, interwoven, unstable and unique! Firms operating within these environments need an astute understanding of the chains, the hierarchy of channel members and their relative position. Effective business strategies – for individual firms and supply chains - need to be developed and redeveloped to accommodate the dynamic nature of horticulture. Two case studies are discussed as contributions to this early stage of the theoretical development of supply chain management. The SCM concept also has implications for horticultural researchers, involving a wider range of industry stakeholders, technical problems and research skills. As for business management, the usefulness of the concept will depend on its capacity to increase responsiveness to customers’ preferences and customer value.

Supply chain management

Nos últimos anos, a economia mundial e a economia brasileira têm sofrido mudanças importantes. Fusões, aquisições e alianças estratégicas têm se multiplicado. Parte considerável destas mudanças relaciona-se com profundas alterações nos sistemas de valores de todos os segmentos industriais. A busca da competitividade relaciona-se cada vez mais com a busca do ótimo sistêmico além das fronteiras da empresa. Neste contexto, a administração logística ganha nova dimensão, envolvendo a integração de todas as atividades ao longo da cadeia de valores e do sistema de valores, das matérias-primas ao cliente final. O objetivo deste trabalho é (re)situar a administração logística no contexto de mudanças, enfatizando a metodologia da gestão da cadeia de demanda (supply chain management).

GREEN SUPPLY CHAIN: PROTAGONISTA OU COADJUVANTE NO BRASIL?

Questões ambientais passaram a ser introduzidas com maior frequência nos negócios empresariais. Quanto à cadeia de suprimentos, Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) surge como novo enfoque à responsabilidade das empresas com o meio ambiente. Este artigo objetiva analisar a difusão do conceito e das práticas de GSCM no cenário brasileiro. Para tanto, foram realizadas entrevistas com especialistas do tema cadeia de suprimentos na área de Administração no Brasil. Os resultados indicam que as razões para o lento desenvolvimento do conceito podem relacionar-se com características do mercado nacional, foco empresarial em aspectos internos, falta de legislação rígida e baixa pressão dos consumidores. Especialistas percebem, entretanto, boas perspectivas para o futuro das discussões da temática no País, em virtude da Política Nacional dos Resíduos Sólidos, de pressões do mercado internacional e da busca por certificação ambiental. Este estudo procurou fomentar novas discussões sobre GSCM no Brasil.

SUPPLY CHAIN RESILIENCE ANALYSIS: A BRAZILIAN AUTOMOTIVE CASE

Supply chain (SC) resilience and flexibility are important research topics receiving growing attention. However, the academic literature needs empirical studies on SC resilience capable of investigating the inter-organizational components of flexibility along different tiers. Therefore, this paper analyzes the main lack of flexibilities in three Brazilian automotive SCs that limit their resilience and therefore their capacity to better support and meet the demand changes in the marketplace. A multi-tier case study approach is adopted. Research findings identify lack of flexibilities in different tiers that inhibit the SC resilience as well as manufacturing and SC flexibilities that build SC resilience. The findings also highlight that the same SC may have the flexibility to be resilient for one of its products but not for another product, what sheds new lights on the academic literature. Finally, flexible SCs should be designed to increase SC resilience to cope with mishaps as significant demand changes.

The role of European "ro-ro" port terminals in the automotive supply chain management

The aim of this paper is concerned with the design and development of a functional framework for maritime mode integration in European automotive supply chain management when considering outbound distribution. Furthermore, it provides a readjustment of traditional concepts and terminology with findings that the role of ro-ro port terminals should be considered as decoupling points, poles and postponement platforms. Case studies examine relevant Western European ro-ro port terminals for cars and respective links to assembly/factories of vehicles localized in the hinterland and concludes that ro-ro port terminals reduce logistical friction and impedance, as well as promote space/time compression.