From Preparedness to Coordination: Operational Excellence in Post-disaster Supply Chain Management in Africa

Preparation and coordination have come to dominate discourse on operational excellence in post disaster supply chain management. In this paper we explore the critical success factors (CSF) of operations excellence in post-disaster operations management in Africa, using in-depth interviews with disaster management practitioners. Available studies have often focused on the commercial supply chains, but rarely on the critical success factors in service excellence in post disaster management operations in Africa. Using in-depth semi-structured interviews and desk-top data collection techniques from disaster management experts in Ghana a number of factors were identified. Employing thematic data analysis technique, these factors were categorised into eight (8) themes: management and administration, resources, political, governance structure, socio-cultural, education and training, infrastructure, and stakeholder involvement and co-operation

The causal nexus between carbon dioxide emissions and agricultural ecosystem—an econometric approach

Achieving a long-term food security and preventing hunger include a better nutrition through sustainable systems of production, distribution, and consumption. Nonetheless, the quest for an alternative to increasing global food supply to meet the growing demand has led to the use of poor agricultural practices that promote climate change. Given the contribution of the agricultural ecosystem towards greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, this study investigated the causal nexus between carbon dioxide emissions and agricultural ecosystem by employing a data spanning from 1961 to 2012. Evidence from long-run elasticity shows that a 1 % increase in the area of rice paddy harvested will increase carbon dioxide emissions by 1.49 %, a 1 % increase in biomass-burned crop residues will increase carbon dioxide emissions by 1.00 %, a 1 % increase in cereal production will increase carbon dioxide emissions by 1.38 %, and a 1 % increase in agricultural machinery will decrease carbon dioxide emissions by 0.09 % in the long run. There was a bidirectional causality between carbon dioxide emissions, cereal production, and biomass-burned crop residues. The Granger causality shows that the agricultural ecosystem in Ghana is sensitive to climate change vulnerability