Voluntary Traceability and Transaction Costs: An Empirical Analysis in the Italian Meat Processing Supply Chain

This paper analyses voluntary traceability effects on the coordination of the food supply chain from the transaction cost perspective. The analysis concerns Italian firms and makes particular reference to the meat sector. A survey was conducted by questionnaire to assess the changes in key transaction factors and costs after the introduction of traceability. The results underline an increase in the degree of human, material and site asset specificity, and reveal a reduction in the degree of uncertainty in transactions. Growth in some transaction costs related to monitoring is also observed. Factorial and cluster analysis were used to underline the different organisational solutions of the firms.traceability, trust, transaction cost, vertical relationships, meat chain, Agribusiness, Livestock Production/Industries,

Vertical relationships between health insurers and healthcare providers

The current institutional reforms in the Dutch healthcare sector may increase the extent of vertical relations (such as vertical contracts and vertical integration) between insurers and healthcare providers. Vertical relations may have both welfare increasing and welfare reducing effects. In this study, we focus on the latter, in particular on anticompetitive foreclosure. We distinguish three possible mechanisms that may lead to anticompetitive foreclosure, called respectively 'exclusivity', 'sabotage', and the 'waterbed effect'. We discuss under which conditions they come into play and which policy measures can prevent them.

Sugar Supply Chains and Regional Development

The coastal Queensland regions are heavily dependent upon the sugar industry and are likely to remain so. The interplay between sugar industry and regional development is little understood beyond the historical record. Yet current reform proposals place great store on regional initiatives to rejuvenate both sugar and its host communities. Such proposals are at best naïve as will be seen in this paper. A key feature of sugar and like industries is a high degree of supply chain interdependence which is embedded in place and time. Reflecting this, sugar regions have a more diverse skills mix and a more advanced manufacturing and services capability than many other agriculturally-oriented regions, notably broadacre grain and beef. Central to the emergence of such a regional industrial structure are inter-industry transactions. These will be considered in both an input-output framework and from a transactions cost basis. Associated insights point to the inadequacy and likely failure of initiatives based on current “efficiency/productivity‿ thinking. Alternative ways to view the industry are discussed along with a recommendation that those involved with sugar regionally revisit current plans

Comparison between minimum purchase, quantity flexibility contracts and spot procurement in a supply chain

When, in a supply chain, a supplier and a buyer have the choice of transaction form to do business, the equilibrium transaction form which emerges is much more constrained than previously envisaged in literature. In this paper, two forms of long-term supply contracts and procurement in the spot market are compared. A capacity constrained service provider and a buyer of such service choose among three different transaction forms: spot procurement, minimum purchase commitment and quantity flexibility contracts. The ultimate demand the buyer has to satisfy and the spot market price of the input she has to purchase from the supplier are exogenous stochastic processes. Complete analytical results and a numerical example are presented. This paper builds upon recent supply chain contract literature by trying to join in one setting problems which up till now were considered in isolation.contracts, supply chain, statistical decision theory, optimization techniques, transactional relationships

Effects of Power Asymmetry and Competition Intensity: The Role of High Involvement and Economics Practices in Supplier Performance

Fokus kajian ini adalah untuk mengenalpasti bagaimana amalan pengurusan pembekal dapat mengubah perhubungan antara faktor konteksual dan pencapaian pembekal. The focus of this study is to observe how supplier management practices alter the equation of organizational context and supplier performance

Asymmetric Information under the \u3ci\u3eKafala\u3c/i\u3e Sponsorship System: Impacts on Foreign Domestic Workers’ Income and Employment Status in the GCC Countries

This paper examines the legal and policy implications of information asymmetry on foreign domestic workers employed under the Kafala sponsorship system in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Drawing from ethnographic and field-based observations in large GCC migrant destinations—including Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—we investigate the flow of information and market uncertainties between five key stakeholders: labor-receiving government, labor-sending government, recruitment agencies (subagents), sponsors (employers), and social networks. Several factors contribute to asymmetric information: the lack of bilateral labor agreements and government policy coordination, programs between and among government entities, the absence of labor law for domestic workers, and the laissez faire approach of the labor-receiving government. These sources of asymmetric information do not only create serious market vulnerabilities for the domestic worker population, but often lead to loss of employment and early deportation. The concluding section further outlines various critical policy implications and potential areas of methodological research on GCC migration

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

The impact of coordination and information on transport procurement

Transport cost is second in importance after production cost in industry. It is the purpose of the present paper to study the impact of information sharing and contractual instruments between a supply chain and its transport suppliers. After reviewing the literature, we propose a model to measure the benefits in terms of transport cost and standard deviation of transport cost. We evaluate three scenarios over one period reiterated for a shipper carrier two-echelon model with a mix of long- term and short-term procurement strategies: perfect information, asymmetric information and private information at one level of the supply chain. We evaluate the transfer in rent between carrier and shipper according to the information known and give some insights on optimal contract parameters.Supply chain management, coordination, contracts, information sharing, game theory, mechanisms