From Principles to Practice: Sustainable Supply Chain Management in SMEs

Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) is an evolving discipline, and incorporates the environmental and social performance dimensions of sustainability with the traditional measure of economic performance; current SSCM research indicates a skew towards economic performance and its interaction with environmental performance, while social performance is underrepresented (Pagell and Wu, 2009, Schaefer, 2004, Sharma and Ruud, 2003). The UK clothing industry represents a relevant research focus due to its supply chain complexity, and scale and scope of its environmental and social impacts; this thesis further recognises the tendency for academic research to focus on Large Enterprises (LE) (Curran and Blackburn, 2001) and investigates how SSCM is implemented in UK SME clothing supply chains to understand how and why they address economic, environmental and social performance and the potential contribution to developing the SSCM concept. An inductive case study methodology is employed and the research focuses on 4 UK clothing SMEs with primary data collection a series of semi-structured interviews, supported by observation, company documentation and archival data. Three theoretical lenses are applied and the findings indicate that SMEs manage their supply chains for sustainability in ways that strongly align with their specific characteristics and apply a greater emphasis on long-term, trust-based and mutually beneficial supplier relationships. A rich view of SSCM practice in SMEs is developed, which reflects the more intangible and human components of sustainability and supply chain relationships, and how these can be harnessed to achieve firm specific commitments. This thesis fulfils an identified need to study how sustainability is addressed in SME supply chains within a single industry; SSCM research to date has focused on large organisations and multiple industry perspectives. It contributes to knowledge in both the SSCM and SME research fields by identifying key gaps within the combined literature, critiquing sustainability models and developing a conceptual framework from the findings, which aims to embed social performance and offer a more integrated approach to SSCM in this context

Agrobacterium tumefaciens: chemotaxis and crop protection

Chemotaxis in Agrobacierium tumefaciens was studied. Several plant derived monocyclic phenolic compounds were analysed for their ability to act as chemoattractants for A. tumefaciens C58C (^1) and as inducers of the Ti-plasmid virulence operons. The results divided the phenolics into 4 groups. A strong correlation between vir- inducing ability and Ti-plasmid requirement for chemo taxis was established and chemical structure rules for vir induction and chemo taxis are outlined. Furthermore, virA and virG were found to be the Ti-plasmid virulence genes required for chemo taxis towards the monocyclic phenolic compound acetosyringone. Chemotaxis towards both monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plant extracts was analysed. Undiluted shoot and root extracts from both sources elicited a response from both Ti-plasmid harbouring and cured A. tumefaciens C58C(^1) However, when diluted extracts of Wheat and Kalanchoe shoot homogenate were analysed, a distinct enhancement of chemotaxis was conferred by the Ti-plasmid, suggesting that recognition of, and attraction towards, susceptible plants is not the step blocked in monocot transformation. Analysis of cell wall material revealed that native cell wall components are not required for chemotaxis of A. tumefaciens C58C (^1) towards plant extracts. Results obtained on chemotaxis along with current knowledge of vir- induction allowed the development of a novel idea involving Agrobacterium as a biocontrol agent. A chitinase gene from Serratia marcescens was manipulated such that its promotor was removed. The promotorless cassette was linked to the virB pro-motor from an octopine Ti-plasmid and the construct introduced into Agrobacterium harbouring virA and virG. The potential benefit of this biocontrol system with respect to other existing biocontrol systems is that expression of the pesticidal gene is regulated by components of wound exudate and therefore is a conservative process, pesticide being produced only when a plant is wounded, at a time when it is most susceptible to attack by plant pathogens, and then exclusively in the microrhizosphere around the wound site

The Effects of Stocking Density, Amount of Substrate, Frequency of Feeding, and Waste Removal on Nursery Production and the Effects of Substrate Height on Pond Production of Freshwater Prawn \u3cem\u3eMacrobrachium rosenbergii\u3c/em\u3e

Production of freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) in temperate regions has gradually increased over the past decade due to advances in research. However, production is limited to one seasonal crop in these regions, increasing the need to intensify production. A nursery phase has been implemented to produce larger juveniles to stock into production ponds. Three nursery experiments (A, B, C) were performed to evaluate the effects of stocking density, amount of added substrate, feeding frequency, and waste removal on the survival and growth of juvenile prawn. Experiment A involved two concurrent studies. Prawn averaging 0.01 g were stocked at densities of 2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10/L into 24 200-L tanks. The surface area of each tank was 15,485 cm2; horizontal layers of polyester mesh (6 x 6 mm) were added to equal 50 or 100% increase in tank surface area. The first study compared the two amounts of substrate at two densities (5 and 7.5/L). The second study compared four different densities (2.5, 5, 7.5, and 10/L) with the smaller amount of substrate. Each treatment combination of stocking density and substrate amount was replicated four times. After 60 days, the first study revealed that prawn stocked at 5/L had significantly higher survival (73 and 64% for 5 and 7.5/L, respectively), but lower average individual weight (0.13 and 0.14 g for 5 and 7.5/L, respectively) than those stocked at 7.5/L. Substrate equal to 100% of the tank’s surface area did not significantly increase survival over tanks with 50% added substrate, but did produce significantly larger prawn (0.15 vs. 0.12 g). In the second study, the only significant difference in survival was with prawn stocked at 5/L (72%) versus 2.5/L (55%). Prawn stocked at 2.5/L had an average individual weight (0.08 g) that was significantly less than prawn stocked at 5 (0.12 g), 7.5 (0.13 g), or 10/L (0.13 g). Experiments B and C were initiated with 0.016 g postlarvae stocked at 5/L in circular and rectangular 400-L tanks. In the six circular tanks, polyester mesh (6 x 6 mm) was added in horizontal layers to increase the surface area of the tank by 53% (46.454 cm2). Prawn were fed either a single daily ration or two daily rations that were each equal to half of the single ration, according to a percent body weight regimen. After 60 days, there were no significant differences in survival or average individual weight of prawn fed once daily (66%, 0.13 g) versus twice daily (55%, 0.13 g). In the rectangular tanks, horizontal layers of polyester mesh were added to increase each tank’s surface area by 45% (46,454 cm2). Three tanks were siphoned three times weekly to remove uneaten feed; the three other tanks were never siphoned and uneaten feed and wastes were allowed to accumulate. After 60 days, there were no significant differences in survival or average individual weight of prawn in tanks where waste was removed (57%, 0.11 g) versus tanks where waste was allowed to accumulate (67%, 0.14 g). One pond experiment was conducted to examine the effects of substrate height on production. In the pond experiment, prawn averaging 0.14 g were stocked at a density of 53,304/ha in six 0.04-ha ponds. Three ponds had 0.61-m high fencing and three had 1.22-m fencing, increasing surface area by 20 and 40%, respectively. After 106 days, no significant differences were found in prawn survival (70 vs. 85%), yield (1296 vs. 1508 kg), mean individual weight (32.2 vs. 29.9 g), or feed conversion (2.14 vs. 1.84) for ponds with 0.61-m high versus 1.22-m high substrate, respectively

Outsourcing Decisions in the UK Textile Industry: The Four Routes to Success?

There has been an observed increase in the use of outsourcing within the UK textiles industry and via an industry case study this dissertation will investigate how, what and why UK textile firms decide to outsource. Focusing on manufacturing, recognised as the most commonly outsourced function the study will seek to establish the criteria firms apply when making outsourcing decisions and will investigate the role and relevance of established management theory to this process. Through analysis of theory and real business practice guidelines will be developed to aid managers faced with making similar decisions. The implications of outsourcing for both individual firm and the UK textile industry as a whole will also be discussed

The Spiral Economy: a Socially Progressive Circular Economy Model?

The Circular Economy (CE) is a well-established sustainability framework within the industry and business contexts, with strong advocates such as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. It is designed to be restorative and regenerative, and through a continuous cycle aims to keep products, components, and materials at their highest utility and value at all times. It focuses on preserving and enhancing natural capital, optimising resource yields, and minimising system risks by managing finite stocks and renewable flows. The CE principles align strongly with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) framework, which is a relevant lens for further understanding how industry can strategically address environmental and social issues. However, while the CE framework claims to account for the three inter-related and co-evolutionary sustainability dimensions of social, economic and environmental it is challenged for its overt emphasis on the latter two aspects with less done to achieve social value and benefits for those involved in creating and managing the restorative and regenerative cycles. This chapter aims to address this key gap by critically reviewing relevant literature and arguing for a more socially integrated and progressive CE. It develops and presents an original conceptual framework called the Spiral Economy (SE)

Are sexual media exposure, parental restrictions on media use and co-viewing TV and DVDs with parents and friends associated with teenagers' early sexual behaviour?

Sexual content in teenagers' media diets is known to predict early sexual behaviour. Research on sexual content has not allowed for the social context of media use, which may affect selection and processing of content. This study investigated whether sexual media content and/or contextual factors (co-viewing, parental media restrictions) were associated with early sexual behaviour using 2251 14–15 year-olds from Scotland, UK. A third (<i>n</i> = 733) reported sexual intercourse. In multivariable analysis the likelihood of intercourse was lower with parental restriction of sexual media and same-sex peer co-viewing; but higher with mixed-sex peer co-viewing. Parental co-viewing, other parental restrictions on media and sexual film content exposure were not associated with intercourse. Findings suggest the context of media use may influence early sexual behaviour. Specific parental restrictions on sexual media may offer more protection against early sex than other restrictions or parental co-viewing. Further research is required to establish causal mechanisms

Developing an Individual-level Geodemographic Classification

Geodemographics is a spatially explicit classification of socio-economic data, which can be used to describe and analyse individuals by where they live. Geodemographic information is used by the public sector for planning and resource allocation but it also has considerable use within commercial sector applications. Early geodemographic systems, such as the UK’s ACORN (A Classification of Residential Neighbourhoods), used only area-based census data, but more recent systems have added supplementary layers of information, e.g. credit details and survey data, to provide better discrimination between classes. Although much more data has now become available, geodemographic systems are still fundamentally built from area-based census information. This is partly because privacy laws require release of census data at an aggregate level but mostly because much of the research remains proprietary. Household level classifications do exist but they are often based on regressions between area and household data sets. This paper presents a different approach for creating a geodemographic classification at the individual level using only census data. A generic framework is presented, which classifies data from the UK Census Small Area Microdata and then allocates the resulting clusters to a synthetic population created via microsimulation. The framework is then applied to the creation of an individual-based system for the city of Leeds, demonstrated using data from the 2001 census, and is further validated using individual and household survey data from the British Household Panel Survey

A pilot Internet "Value of Health" Panel: recruitment, participation and compliance

Objectives To pilot using a panel of members of the public to provide preference data via the Internet Methods A stratified random sample of members of the general public was recruited and familiarised with the standard gamble procedure using an Internet based tool. Health states were perdiodically presented in "sets" corresponding to different conditions, during the study. The following were described: Recruitment (proportion of people approached who were trained); Participation (a) the proportion of people trained who provided any preferences and (b) the proportion of panel members who contributed to each "set" of values; and Compliance (the proportion, per participant, of preference tasks which were completed). The influence of covariates on these outcomes was investigated using univariate and multivariate analyses. Results A panel of 112 people was recruited. 23% of those approached (n = 5,320) responded to the invitation, and 24% of respondents (n = 1,215) were willing to participate (net = 5.5%). However, eventual recruitment rates, following training, were low (2.1% of those approached). Recruitment from areas of high socioeconomic deprivation and among ethnic minority communities was low. Eighteen sets of health state descriptions were considered over 14 months. 74% of panel members carried out at least one valuation task. People from areas of higher socioeconomic deprivation and unmarried people were less likely to participate. An average of 41% of panel members expressed preferences on each set of descriptions. Compliance ranged from 3% to 100%. Conclusion It is feasible to establish a panel of members of the general public to express preferences on a wide range of health state descriptions using the Internet, although differential recruitment and attrition are important challenges. Particular attention to recruitment and retention in areas of high socioeconomic deprivation and among ethnic minority communities is necessary. Nevertheless, the panel approach to preference measurement using the Internet offers the potential to provide specific utility data in a responsive manner for use in economic evaluations and to address some of the outstanding methodological uncertainties in this field

The physical scale of the far-infrared emission in the most luminous submillimetre galaxies II: evidence for merger-driven star formation

We present high-resolution 345 GHz interferometric observations of two extreme luminous (L_{IR}>10^{13} L_sun), submillimetre-selected galaxies (SMGs) in the COSMOS field with the Submillimeter Array (SMA). Both targets were previously detected as unresolved point-sources by the SMA in its compact configuration, also at 345 GHz. These new data, which provide a factor of ~3 improvement in resolution, allow us to measure the physical scale of the far-infrared in the submillimetre directly. The visibility functions of both targets show significant evidence for structure on 0.5-1 arcsec scales, which at z=1.5 translates into a physical scale of 5-8 kpc. Our results are consistent with the angular and physical scales of two comparably luminous objects with high-resolution SMA followup, as well as radio continuum and CO sizes. These relatively compact sizes (<5-10 kpc) argue strongly for merger-driven starbursts, rather than extended gas-rich disks, as the preferred channel for forming SMGs. For the most luminous objects, the derived sizes may also have important physical consequences; under a series of simplifying assumptions, we find that these two objects in particular are forming stars close to or at the Eddington limit for a starburst.Comment: 9 pages, 3 Figures, submitted to MNRA