Social sustainability initiatives in cocoa supply chains in Africa:an analysis of sustainability reporting of world's major chocolatiers

This research paper focuses on the self-declared initiatives of the four largest chocolate companies to tackle social problems within the context of establishing a sustainable supply chain. After the literature review of sustainability, supply chain management, and cocoa farming, this paper gives an assessment of the extant practices of the chocolatiers and makes a comparative analysis based on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainability Reports. This paper uses a case study approach based on secondary-data. A roadmap and benchmarking of social sustainability initiatives were conducted for the supply chain management activities of the world's four largest chocolatiers. This paper analyses the extant sustainability practices of the chocolatiers and offers a model framework for comparison of the measures taken. This paper is based on self-declared secondary data. There is a chance that some practices were not documented by the case companies; or that companies claim what they don't actually do. This paper provides a framework for agricultural businesses to compare their sustainability efforts and improve the performance of their supply chains. Originality and value of this research reside in terms of both literature and methodology. The framework for analysing the social sustainability aspects of agricultural supply chains is original and gives an up-to-date view of sustainability practices. The use of secondary data to compare self-declared initiatives is also a novel approach to business sustainability research.

Structural and agentic analysis of supply-chains: a social network analysis approach

This research adds to a body of work exploring the role of Social Network Analysis (SNA) in the study of both relational and structural characteristics of supply chain networks. Two contrasting network cases (food enterprises and digital-based enterprises) are chosen in order to elicit structural differences in business networks subject to divergences in local embeddedness and the relative materiality of the goods and services produced. Our analysis and findings draw out differences in network structure as evidenced by metrics of network centralization and cohesion, the presence of components and other sub-groupings, and the position of central actors. We relate these structural features both to the nature of the networks and to the (qualitative) experiences of the actors themselves. We find, in particular, the role of customers as co-creators of knowledge (for the Food network), the central role of infrastructure and services (for the Digital network), the importance of ICT as a source of codified knowledge inputs, along with the continuing importance of geographical proximity for the development and transfer of tacit knowledge and for incremental learning.

An assessment of the influence of the industry distribution chain on the oxygen levels in commercial modified atmosphere packaged cheddar cheese using non-destructive oxygen sensor technology

The establishment and control of oxygen levels in packs of oxygen-sensitive food products such as cheese is imperative in order to maintain product quality over a determined shelf life. Oxygen sensors quantify oxygen concentrations within packaging using a reversible optical measurement process, and this non-destructive nature ensures the entire supply chain can be monitored and can assist in pinpointing negative issues pertaining to product packaging. This study was carried out in a commercial cheese packaging plant and involved the insertion of 768 sensors into 384 flow-wrapped cheese packs (two sensors per pack) that were flushed with 100% carbon dioxide prior to sealing. The cheese blocks were randomly assigned to two different storage groups to assess the effects of package quality, packaging process efficiency, and handling and distribution on package containment. Results demonstrated that oxygen levels increased in both experimental groups examined over the 30-day assessment period. The group subjected to a simulated industrial distribution route and handling procedures of commercial retailed cheese exhibited the highest level of oxygen detected on every day examined and experienced the highest rate of package failure. The study concluded that fluctuating storage conditions, product movement associated with distribution activities, and the possible presence of cheese-derived contaminants such as calcium lactate crystals were chief contributors to package failure.

Gestão da cadeia de suprimento e vantagem competitiva: uma análise em setores industriais a partir da visão relacional

This work has as its main purpose to investigate the contribution of supply chain management in order to obtain competitive advantage by companies from the textile industry and from Ceará footwear industry, focusing its analysis mainly in the interorganizational relations (dyadic). For this, the theoretical referential contemplates different explanatory streams of the competitive advantage, detaching the relational perception of the resources theory, as well as, the main presuppositions of the supply chain management which culminates with the development of an analysis sample that runs the empirical study; the one which considers an expanded purpose of the supply chain which includes the government and the abetment institutions as institutional environment representatives. Besides supply chain management consideration as a competitive advantage source, the work also tried to identify other possible competitive advantage sources for the companies of the investigated sectors. It represents a study of multiple interpretive cases, having four cases as a total; meaning two cases in each one of the sectors, which used as a primary data collecting instrument a semi-structured interview schedule. Different methods were used for the data analysis, the content analysis and the constant comparison methods, the analytical procedure originated from the grounded theory research strategy, which were applied the Atlas/ti software recourse. Considering the theoretical referential and the used analysis sample, four basic categories of the work were defined, including its respective proprieties and dimensions: (1) characteristics concerning to the relationship with the supplier; (2) the company relations with the government; (3) the company relations with the abetment institutions and; (4) obtaining sources of competitive advantage. In general, the applied research in the footwear sector revealed that in the relationships of the researched companies related to its suppliers, there is a predominance of the partnership system and the main presuppositions of the supply chain management are applied which contributes for the acquisition of the relational competitive advantage; while in the textile sector, only some of these presuppositions are applied, with little contribution for the relational competitive advantage. The main resource which was accessed by the companies in both sectors through its relationships with the government and the abetment institutions are the tax incentives which, for the footwear companies, contribute for the acquisition of the temporary competitive advantage in relation to the contestants who do not own productive installations in the Northeast region, it also conducts to a competitive parity situation in relation to the contestants who own productive installations in the Northeast region and to the external market contestants; while for the companies of the textile sector, the tax incentives run the companies to a competitive parity situation in relation to its contestants. Furthermore, the investigated companies from the two sectors possess acquisition sources of the competitive advantage which collimate with different explanatory streams (industrial analysis, resources theory, Austrian school and the dynamic capabilities theory), although there is a predominance of the product innovation as a competitive advantage source in both sectors, due to the bond of these with the fashion tendencies

Management accounting and supply chains: actions, concerns, and networks

What does this thesis do? This thesis uses Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to examine how a UK retailer’s organization and strategy, and, in turn, its form of management accounting was shaped by its supply chain. The thesis does this by reporting on four related themes in the form of four inter-connected essays. The first essay undertakes a state-of-the-art review of the literature. It examines how accounting issues within supply chains permeate ‘matters of concern’. In accordance with this idea of ANT, the essay illustrates how issues emerged, controversies developed, and matters evolved through an actor-network of accounting researchers within the supply chain domain. This leads on to the second essay, which exemplifies the nature of the UK’s retailing industry within which the supply chain case organization emerged and developed. The purposes of the essay are twofold: to introduce the contextual ramifications of the case organization; and to illustrate the emergence of a new market logic, which led to the creation of a global supply chain and a new form of management accounting therein. The third essay reports on a qualitative case study. It analyses the dualistic relation between ostensive and performative aspects of supply chain strategy, reveals how accounting numbers act as an obligatory passage point within this dualism, and makes a contribution to the ANT debate around the issue of whether and how a dualism between ostensive and performative aspects exists. The final essay reports on another case analysis of institutionalizing a heterarchical form of management accounting: a distributed form of intelligence that penetrates through lateral accountable relations. The analysis reveals a new form of management accounting characterised by ambiguity; it emphasizes the possibilities of compromises and negotiations, and it thus contributes to knowledge by combining an aspect of ANT with heterarchical tendencies in the world of contemporary organizations. Finally, the thesis concludes that it is the supply chain that organises today’s neoliberal capitalism; and it is management accounting that unites both human and non-human actors within such supply chains, despite that form of management accounting being ambiguous. The thesis comprises the introduction, these four essays, and the conclusion.

Gestão da cadeia de suprimento e vantagem competitiva: uma análise em setores industriais a partir da visão relacional

This work has as its main purpose to investigate the contribution of supply chain management in order to obtain competitive advantage by companies from the textile industry and from Ceará footwear industry, focusing its analysis mainly in the interorganizational relations (dyadic). For this, the theoretical referential contemplates different explanatory streams of the competitive advantage, detaching the relational perception of the resources theory, as well as, the main presuppositions of the supply chain management which culminates with the development of an analysis sample that runs the empirical study; the one which considers an expanded purpose of the supply chain which includes the government and the abetment institutions as institutional environment representatives. Besides supply chain management consideration as a competitive advantage source, the work also tried to identify other possible competitive advantage sources for the companies of the investigated sectors. It represents a study of multiple interpretive cases, having four cases as a total; meaning two cases in each one of the sectors, which used as a primary data collecting instrument a semi-structured interview schedule. Different methods were used for the data analysis, the content analysis and the constant comparison methods, the analytical procedure originated from the grounded theory research strategy, which were applied the Atlas/ti software recourse. Considering the theoretical referential and the used analysis sample, four basic categories of the work were defined, including its respective proprieties and dimensions: (1) characteristics concerning to the relationship with the supplier; (2) the company relations with the government; (3) the company relations with the abetment institutions and; (4) obtaining sources of competitive advantage. In general, the applied research in the footwear sector revealed that in the relationships of the researched companies related to its suppliers, there is a predominance of the partnership system and the main presuppositions of the supply chain management are applied which contributes for the acquisition of the relational competitive advantage; while in the textile sector, only some of these presuppositions are applied, with little contribution for the relational competitive advantage. The main resource which was accessed by the companies in both sectors through its relationships with the government and the abetment institutions are the tax incentives which, for the footwear companies, contribute for the acquisition of the temporary competitive advantage in relation to the contestants who do not own productive installations in the Northeast region, it also conducts to a competitive parity situation in relation to the contestants who own productive installations in the Northeast region and to the external market contestants; while for the companies of the textile sector, the tax incentives run the companies to a competitive parity situation in relation to its contestants. Furthermore, the investigated companies from the two sectors possess acquisition sources of the competitive advantage which collimate with different explanatory streams (industrial analysis, resources theory, Austrian school and the dynamic capabilities theory), although there is a predominance of the product innovation as a competitive advantage source in both sectors, due to the bond of these with the fashion tendencies

Service Orientation in Demand-Supply Chains: Towards an Integrated Framework

Part 5: Service Orientation in Collaborative Networks

Nuevas tendencias en la Supply Management en Colombia y México

La Misión empresarial a México 2015, tiene como propósito brindar a los estudiantes espacios para el crecimiento profesional, mediante la aplicación de los conceptos y los modelos estudiados en las diferentes visitas empresariales que se realizaron. Se pretende conocer cuáles son las nuevas tendencias en el manejo y administración de la cadena de abastecimiento de las empresas, de manera que estos conceptos puedan ser aplicados en diferentes tipos de empresas. Se realizó una investigación de cada una de las empresas que fueron visitadas realizando un análisis de un punto clave en cada una, por ejemplo, se describe la política “Think Blue” empleada por el grupo Volkswagen para el éxito y reconocimiento empresarial en la logística verde, y se analizan los principales procesos de producción de la planta productora del grupo Modelo, entre otras. Por otra parte, se analiza el modelo de gestión logística para pequeñas y medianas empresas, desarrollado en la Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla, el cual puede ser usado como base para el progreso y fortalecimiento de las pymes en nuestro país.

Market Structures in Air Conditioning Maintenance Activity

It is questionable whether activities like construction, including maintenance and repair, can be considered a single entity or industry - on the basis that different sectors of construction/maintenance use fundamentally distinct resource and skill bases. This creates a number of issues including the development of competition and reform policy. de Valance deployed the Structure-Conduct-Performance model (SCP) to delineate sectors of new/installation construction activity and, in doing so, proposes that there exists multiple market structures in a given project. The purpose of this paper is to apply the SCP model to a different sector of construction activity, that is air conditioning maintenance and test de Valance's proposition concerning the existence of multiple market structures in a supply chain but this time to a built facility. The research method combines secondary data concerning the "Structure" component of the SCP model and primary data with regard to the "Conduct" and "Performance" parts of the SCP model. The results provide further support (beyond de Valance's analysis of new/installation activity) that a sector system approach using the SCP model is a more effective way to analyse market structures in construction activity. This paper also supports de Valance's proposition concerning the existence of multiple market structures in a supply chain to a project/facility.

Report a review of the concepts and definitions of the various forms of relational contracting

Partnering has been defined in many ways. It can be considered as an individual project mechanism or can be considered as a long term strategy. Alliancing is normally assumed to be a long term business strategy linking together client, contractor and supply chain. Relational contracting goes further than this and brings in the whole philosophy of the value chain and the linking of the interdependent parts within the construction project as a key business objective. This document aims to review existing definitions of these three concepts and present and overview of the current state of-the-art in terms of their use and implementation. The document should be useful for all of those project team members looking to sharpen their understanding of the various concepts and will also provide a platform for debating the current state of the definitions and implementations being used in Main Roads and Public Works Departments.

Literature review

This research aims to improve the economic and environmental sustainability of the construction & demolition waste and precast concrete supply chains through the development, trial and evaluation of an innovative public sector supply chain management strategy. The long-term goals are to improve competitive behaviour and market sector performance and improve business process efficiency and effectiveness of public sector program delivery by influencing policy development, changing organisational behaviour and implementation development to achieve more economic and environmental sustainable markets.

Final report: stage 1 : results

This research project aims to improve economic, social and environmental sustainability of the pre-cast concrete and construction and demolition waste supply chains through the development, trial and evaluation of an innovative supply chain management strategy. The long-term goals are to improve competitive behaviour and market sector performance and improve business process efficiency and effectiveness of public sector program delivery by influencing policy development, changing organisational behaviour and implementation development to achieve more economic, social and environmental sustainable markets.

Performance measurement and feedback in a public sector program

Establishing a framework for measuring the performance of public sector programs is fraught with dangers. Many public sector organisations are satisfied with measuring activity in programs and fail to see the need for establishing a framework that will meet the needs of participants and measure outcomes as well as activities. This paper explores how a government department in Queensland went about establishing a performance management framework to measure the outcomes and activities in a program that was a public private partnership. Findings indicate that using an iterative consultative approach performance measure can be put in place that are meaningful and assist the participants to review the program.

Literature review

There are many studies that reveal the nature of design thinking and the nature of conceptual design as distinct from detailed or embodiment design. The results can assist in our understanding of how the process of design can be supported and how new technologies can be introduced into the workplace. Existing studies provide limited information about the nature of collaborative design as it takes place on the ground and in the actual working context. How to provide appropriate and effective of support for collaborative design information sharing across companies, countries and heterogeneous computer systems is a key issue. As data are passed between designers and the computer systems they employ, many exchanges are made. These exchanges may be used to establish measures of the benefits that new support systems can bring. Collaboration support tools represent a fast growing section of the commercial software market place and a reasonable range of products are available. Many of them offer significant application to design for the support of distributed meetings by the provision of video and audio communications and the sharing of information, including collaborative sketching. The tools that specifically support 3D models and other very design specific features are less common and many of those are in prototype stages of development. A key question is to find viable ways of combining design information visualisation support with the collaboration support technologies that can be seen today. When collaborating, different views will need to be accessible at different times to all the collaborators. The architects may want to explain some ideas on their model, the structural engineers on their model and so on. However, there are issues of ownership when the structural engineer wants to manipulate the architect’s model and vice versa. The modes of working, synchronous or asynchronous may have a bearing as in a synchronous session there is control of what is happening.

Experimental methodology report

In architectural design and the construction industry, there is insufficient evidence about the way designers collaborate in their normal working environments using both traditional and digital media. It is this gap in empirical evidence that the CRC project, “Team Collaboration in High Bandwidth Virtual Environments” addresses. The project is primarily, but not exclusively, concerned with the conceptual stages of design carried out by professional designers working in different offices. The aim is to increase opportunities for communication and interaction between people in geographically distant locations in order to improve the quality of collaboration. In order to understand the practical implications of introducing new digital tools on working practices, research into how designers work collaboratively using both traditional and digital media is being undertaken. This will involve a series of empirical studies in the work places of the industry partners in the project. The studies of collaboration processes will provide empirical results that will lead to more effective use of virtual environments in design and construction processes. The report describes the research approach, the industry study, the methods for data collection and analysis and the foundation research methodologies. A distinctive aspect is that the research has been devised to enable field studies to be undertaken in a live industrial environment where the participant designers carry out real projects alongside their colleagues and in familiar locations. There are two basic research objectives: one is to obtain evidence about design practice that will inform the architecture and construction industries about the impact and potential benefit of using digital collaboration technologies; the second is to add to long term research knowledge of human cognitive and behavioural processes based on real world data. In order to achieve this, the research methods must be able to acquire a rich and heterogeneous set of data from design activities as they are carried out in the normal working environment. This places different demands upon the data collection and analysis methods to those of laboratory studies where controlled conditions are required. In order to address this, the research approach that has been adopted is ethnographic in nature and case study-based. The plan is to carry out a series of indepth studies in order to provide baseline results for future research across a wider community of user groups. An important objective has been to develop a methodology that will produce valid, significant and transferable results. The research will contribute to knowledge about how architectural design and the construction industry may benefit from the introduction of leading edge collaboration technologies. The outcomes will provide a sound foundation for the production of guidelines for the assessment of high bandwidth tools and their future deployment. The knowledge will form the basis for the specification of future collaboration products and collaboration processes. This project directly addresses the industry-identified focus on cultural change, image, e-project management, and innovative methods.