192,232 research outputs found

    Consumer-driven innovation networks and e-business management systems

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    This paper examines the use of consumer-driven innovation networks within the UK food-retailing industry using qualitative interview-based research analysed within an economic framework. This perspective revealed that, by exploiting information gathered directly from their customers at point-of-sale and data mining, supermarkets are able to identify consumer preferences and co-ordinate new product development via innovation networks. This has been made possible through their information control of the supply-chain established through the use of transparent inventory management systems. As a result, supermarkets’ e-business systems have established new competitive processes in the UK food-processing and retailing industry and are an example of consumer-driven innovation networks. The informant-based qualitative approach also revealed that trust-based transacting relationships operated differently from those previously described in the literature

    Water Management Efficiency in the Food and Beverage Industry

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    Water is critical for food production, food security, and health. Water quality management influences freshwater sustainability, land, and energy administration. Global agriculture accounts for more than 70% of all water consumption; the fertilizer, manure, and pesticide overspills are chief sources of water pollution worldwide. On a global scale, food-related waste directly impacts local food production and water resource management. The purpose of this multiple-case study on the food and beverage (FB) industry in the State of Georgia was to identify successful strategies for improving water management efficiency. The concepts of systems thinking, adaptive resource management, and integrated water resource management provided the conceptual framework for the study. Data were collected via personal interviews with 2 global supply chain leaders in the FB industry and 1 water expert in the public water utility system in Georgia. The findings showed 10 themes: sustainability; mission-driven culture; ethical responsibility; water quality and governance; food safety and sanitation; water conservation and climatic trends; waste management; nutrition and the freeze drying method; knowledge sharing and collaboration; and water detention and retention systems. The study results are intended to contribute to social change by providing information to global supply chain leaders, policy makers, entrepreneurs, and sustainability leaders to implement sustainability beyond the environmental value; these findings will also help achieve a positive posture on resource overconsumption and waste management for efficient and complex decision making within a worldwide spectrum

    Innovation networks and the development of consumer-driven ICT-based Management Systems

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    This paper examines the use of consumer-driven innovation networks within the UK food retailing industry using qualitative interview-based research analysed within an economic framework. This perspective revealed that by exploiting information gathered directly from their customers at point-of-sale and data mining, supermarkets are able to identify consumer preferences and co-ordinate new product development via innovation networks. This has been made possible through their information control of the supply-chain established through the use of transparent inventory management systems. As a result, supermarkets e-business systems have established new competitive processes in the UK food processing and retailing industry and are an example of consumer-driven innovation networks. The informant-based qualitative approach also revealed that trust-based transacting relationships operated differently to those previously described in the literature

    A conceptual framework for crop-based agri-food supply chain characterization under uncertainty

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    [EN] Crop-based Agri-food Supply Chains (AFSCs) are complex systems that face multiple sources of uncertainty that can cause a significant imbalance between supply and demand in terms of product varieties, quantities, qualities, customer requirements, times and prices, all of which greatly complicate their management. Poor management of these sources of uncertainty in these AFSCs can have negative impact on quality, safety, and sustainability by reducing the logistic efficiency and increasing the waste. Therefore, it becomes crucial to develop models in order to deal with the key sources of uncertainty. For this purpose, it is necessary to precisely understand and define the problem under study. Even, the characterisation process of this domains is also a difficult and time-consuming task, especially when the right directions and standards are not in place. In this chapter, a Conceptual Framework is proposed that systematically collects those aspects that are relevant for an adequate crop-based AFSC management under uncertainty.Authors of this publication acknowledge the contribution of the Project 691249, RUC-APS "Enhancing and implementing Knowledge based ICT solutions within high Risk and Uncertain Conditions for Agriculture Production Systems" (www.ruc-aps.eu), funded by the European Union under their funding scheme H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015Alemany Díaz, MDM.; Esteso, A.; Ortiz Bas, Á.; Hernández Hormazabal, JE.; Fernández, A.; Garrido, A.; Martin, J.... (2021). A conceptual framework for crop-based agri-food supply chain characterization under uncertainty. Studies in Systems, Decision and Control. 280:19-33. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51047-3_2S1933280Taylor, D.H., Fearne, A.: Towards a framework for improvement in the management of demand in agri-food supply chains. 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    Revitalizing Zambia’s Agricultural Marketing Information Centre (Amic)

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    1. Public sector agricultural market information systems (MIS) can provide useful information to farmers, uninformed traders, and policy makers. While private information networks offer a valuable service to select clients, only a well-functioning public MIS can redress information asymmetries among marketing actors that can inhibit competition. 2. The second core mission of a public MIS should be to organize and manage data in such a way that government decision-makers and civil society organizations can accurately diagnose and even anticipate emerging market problems and respond to them in a timely manner. 3. Zambia’s AMIC suffers from a range of weaknesses all along the supply chain for price information. Data collection and transmission is irregular and unreliable, data management is unstructured and lacks strategic oversight, and dissemination is entirely supply-driven. 4. The primary reasons for AMIC’s weak performance are competing priorities and a misguided incentive structure for staff at the national, provincial, and most importantly at the district level, where the viability of the collection process depends on reciprocity between price collectors and traders. 5. The draft Agricultural Marketing Act, which will be sent to Parliament in the 2012 budget cycle, provides an opportunity to re-establish AMIC’s mission and importance.agricultural market information systems, Zambia, Agricultural and Food Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

    A Study on the Food Supply Chain Traceability of Agricultural Produce in Ireland.

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    The agricultural food industry in Ireland is facing unprecedented challenges due to the rapid population growth in the emerging markets by putting a strain on the global food supply. Ireland has a growth in the natural food production techniques that has driven the quality appeal of the food produced with its low environmental footprints, strict traceability and the effective supply chain management. Traceability in the Supply Chain Management process for the agricultural food produce is a growing concern among the farmers, manufacturers and suppliers of the food industry in Ireland. The research study has focused on Ireland's reputation in the food and agricultural production and effective management of the SCM traceability. In order to provide a safe, traceable and sustainable food product through a modern and upgraded supply chain system, Ireland is focused on its agro food industry through adoption of new initiatives and modern technological systems. The initial part of the research study sets the significance and specific purpose of the research study along with developing research objectives and questions. The second part of the study gathers the information that is based on food supply chain traceability in the Irish food produce sector and its effective implementation within the research paper. The methodology part of the research study identifies the specific research technique and the philosophy that is set for the research process. In order to carry out the study the application, a qualitative form of primary data collection method has been taken into consideration. Through the help of the interviews that are being conducted by the researcher, the findings of the data analysis have been presented. Based on the interview responses the primary data is collected and critically elaborated in the discussion part of the study. Finally, the concluding part of the study has justified if the research objectives are successfully linked with the research paper or not by stating a future scope of the study along with the limitations of the research

    Supply Chain And Outsourcing Practices In The Food Processing Industry

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    The Malaysian food processing industry has been experiencing a major transformation, driven by the emergence of large retail chains and the changing consumption patterns and lifestyles. However, no empirical studies have been conducted to investigate the attempts undertaken by companies in the industry in taking advantage of supply chain management and outsourcing applications. Moreover, a critical review of outsourcing models from literature showed that the majority of the models developed were ambiguous, assumed outsourcing is only limited to non-core functions and lack a clear-cut decision making methodology. Also, none of the examined models was developed specifically for the food processing industry. Therefore, this research aims to provide a detailed analysis of the outsourcing and the supply chain activities in the Malaysian Food processing industry and develop a model for outsourcing decision making in the food processing industry that will allow companies to decide their outsourcing policy for any intended outsourcing project. Data for this research were collected through literature review, expert interviews, and survey questionnaire. The survey questionnaire was used to gather empirical data on outsourcing and supply chain management issues in the Malaysian food processing industry. Five hundred questionnaires were mailed to randomly chosen companies in a 5-month period that yielded a response rate of 11%. The outsourcing decision making model was developed using the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP), and validated by conducting structured interviews with 25 purchasing managers from different food processing companies and analyzed using the Expert Choice Software (v. 9.5). The results indicated that modern SCM principles have not penetrated well into the Malaysian food processing sector. Only 44% of the respondents have strategic partnership(s), and 39% indicated an increase in strategic partnerships(s) in the last three years. Companies outsource both core and non-core function. The top five outsourced functions were packaging (60.4%), import/export management (58.3%), transportation management (58.3%), processing (56.3%), and warehousing (54.2%). Main reasons influenced the respondents to resort to outsourcing included suppliers’ compatibility (83%), lack of in-house capability (73%), and complexity of function (56%). Lack of advanced communication systems and competition scored the highest as the most obstacles faced in SC execution with 3.39 and 3.32 respectively. The outsourcing model output indicated that those companies that outsource to solve short-term problems tend to adopt a short-term outsourcing policy which does not emphasize on relationship. On the contrary, companies that tend to outsource to transform their businesses through significant improvements tend to outsource strategically in which strategic partnership must be sought. Otherwise, investing and performing internally is the best alternative. The contribution of this research is that it has presented empirical evidence on the practices of outsourcing and SCM in the Malaysian food processing industry. Moreover, an outsourcing model was developed to assist food processing companies in identifying their outsourcing policies in accordance with the objectives of the outsourcing project

    New Product Development and Product Supply Within a Network Setting: The Case of the Chilled Ready-Meal Industry in the UK

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    This paper analyses inter-organizational networks that link together firms operating in the food processing and distribution industry in the UK. In doing so, the paper draws on insights recently developed by Mark Casson that treat inter-firm networks as an institutional response to the changing costs and opportunities of information management. Detailed analysis of product innovation and supply chain management issues within the industry, exemplified by the growth of chilled ready-meals, leads to the identification of two distinct but complementary inter-firm networks: a network of control and a network of innovation. In each case, the study finds that the critical information is derived from the retailers’ interface with consumers and thus that these information-based networks are effectively controlled by the leading supermarket chains. The study’s conclusions are considered in relation to the recent findings of the Competition Commission following its investigation into grocery retailing in the UK

    Foreign investment, organizational innovation and transformation in food supply chains : evidence from the Ethiopian barley sector

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    Driven by rapid urbanization, economic growth, and changes in consumption patterns, food chains in emerging and developing economies are experiencing a fundamental transformation process. This transformation is usually characterized by increased vertical coordination, growth of modern distribution channels (e.g. supermarkets), consolidation of retail markets, and an increase in export orientation. The rapid growth in demand of modern food with higher quality and safety attracts multinational enterprises to invest in agriculture and food processing in emerging economies. The appearance of multinationals in the food systems of developing countries has been claimed to have a positive impact on economic development and reduction of poverty. The multinationals have adopted modern supply chain management practices for securing a large volume and consistent supply of high quality products. They introduce new technologies that boost productivity and post-harvest management for product upgrading. While so far most research on the modernization of food systems has focused on export chains, there is growing interest in the transformation of domestic and staple food chains. Upgrading domestic food chains is needed for a more efficient supply to fast growing urban markets and to sustain access to affordable food for the rapidly growing urban consumers in sub-Saharan Africa. As domestic food value chains are more inclusive than high-value export chains, upgrading these food chains can contribute more to poverty reduction and food security. However, much remains to be understood about the process of modernization in domestic food chains and its implications for rural development. The overarching aim of this dissertation was to deepen our understanding on how organizational innovations facilitate modernization of domestic food chains using case studies from the Ethiopian barley sector. In particular, the thesis examines the effectiveness and impacts of foreign direct investments (FDI), contract farming arrangements (CFAs), producer organizations (POs), and partnerships on the upgrading of malt barley value chains and welfare of local suppliers. To address this objective, we use a combination of qualitative and quantitative research approaches. Data were analyzed using parametric and non-parametric econometric models. The findings from the empirical chapters show that: First, our analysis reveals that the appearance of foreign companies in the malt barley chain has brought important changes in the structure and economics of the barley value chain, resulting in the development of a modern chain next to the conventional chain. It is also shown that participation in modern supply chains is determined by a range of factors that include farmer and farm characteristics. Second, the results show that participation in modern supply chains has a positive and significant impact on commercialization, intensification, quality improvement and farm gate prices, ultimately resulting in increased farmer income and spillovers towards productivity of other food crops. Third, we found that POs perform diverse economic functions to enhance rural development , but tighter coordination in food value chains demands alignment of chain activities among actors which leads to changes in the strategies and functions of POs. Fourth, we showed that POs have a positive impact on farm productivity and smallholder income. However, this positive impact of POs come at the expense of inclusiveness, i.e. POs are less inclusive. Thus, there is a tension between business performance and inclusiveness of POs. Moreover, the results show that the motivation to participate in a PO is determined by demographic and economic factors. Lastly, we found that the determinants of quality improvement at farm level are socioeconomic, technological and institutional factors. Specifically, the identified factors are farmers’ level of education, age (as a proxy for farming experience), entrepreneurial attitude, PO membership, CFA participation, and type of improved seed varieties. The thesis concludes that enhancing the modernization of food value chains involving smallholders requires organizational innovation that facilitate coordination and collaborative activities among chain actors. </p

    E-logistics of agribusiness organisations

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    Logistics is one of the most important agribusiness functions due to the idiosyncrasy of food products and the structure of food supply chain. Companies in the food sector typically operate with poor production forecasting, inefficient inventory management, lack of coordination with supply partners. Further, markets are characterised by stern competition, increasing consumer demands and stringent regulation for food quality and safety. Large agribusiness corporations have already turned to e-logistics solutions as a means to sustain competitive advantage and meet consumer demands. There are four types of e-logistics applications: (a) Vertical alliances where supply partners forge long-term strategic alliances based on electronic sharing of critical logistics information such as sales forecasts and inventory volume. Vertical alliances often apply supply chain management (SCM) which is concerned with the relationship between a company and its suppliers and customers. The prime characteristic of SCM is interorganizational coordination: agribusiness companies working jointly with their customers and suppliers to integrate activities along the supply chain to effectively supply food products to customers. E-logistics solutions engender the systematic integration among supply partners by allowing more efficient and automatic information flow. (b) e-tailing, in which retailers give consumers the ability to order food such as groceries from home electronically i.e. using the Internet and the subsequent delivery of those ordered goods at home. (c) Efficient Foodservice Response (EFR), which is a strategy designed to enable foodservice industry to achieve profitable growth by looking at ways to save money for each level of the supply chain by eliminating inefficient practices. EFR provides solutions to common logistics problems, such as transactional inefficiency, inefficient plant scheduling, out-of-stocks, and expedited transportation. (d) Contracting, a means of coordinating procurement of food, beverages and their associated supplies. Many markets and supply chains in agriculture are buyer-driven where the buyers in the market tend to set prices and terms of trade. Those terms can include the use of electronic means of communication to support automatic replenishment of goods, management of supply and inventory. The results of the current applications of e-logistics in food sector are encouraging for Greek agribusiness. Companies need to become aware of and evaluate the value-added by those applications which are a sustainable competitive advantage, optimisation of supply chain flows, and meeting consumer demands and food safety regulations. E-business diffusion has shown that typically first-movers gain a significant competitive advantage and the rest companies either eventually adopt the new systems or see a significant decline in their trading partners and perish. E-logistics solutions typically require huge investments in hardware and software and skilled personnel, which is an overt barrier for most Greek companies. Large companies typically are first-movers but small and medium enterprises (SMEs) need institutional support in order to become aware that e-logistics systems can be fruitful for them as well
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