Sustainable Purchasing Practices Implementation in Fresh Food Small and Medium Enterprises in the UK

Purpose Purchasing plays an important role in achieving sustainability in the supply chain. The purpose of this paper is to investigate: How do small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the fresh food sector in the UK implement sustainable purchasing practices? As well as how they deal with the pressures and incentives they face when carrying out this implementation. Research Approach This paper follows a natural resources-based view theoretical background, then employs mixed methods. These comprise of semi-structured interviews with farmers, retailers and wholesalers in five fresh food SMEs, supplemented by eleven responses to a survey questionnaire. Interview transcripts were analysed and interpreted using qualitative methods and the survey questionnaire responses were analysed using quantitative methods supported by MS Excel. Findings and Originality The results highlight that owners’ personal commitment on sustainability provides incentives for SMEs to implement sustainable purchasing practices. Whilst brand reputation, pressures from consumers and government policies are also important drivers underpinning the implementation of sustainable purchasing practices. Although most of these fresh food SMEs consider environmental and social factors to a great extent in their purchasing decisions, the lack of financial and human resources are the main barriers that affect their sustainable purchasing decisions. However, there is also evidence to suggest that most SMEs do not require certification from their suppliers, but they have strong relationships with small and independent suppliers and often monitor them in terms of environmental and social issues. It is also found that local sourcing is a priority for most of the fresh food SMEs considering both environmental and economic dimensions of sustainability. Research Impact This paper provides some new insights on the frameworks typically used in sustainable purchasing practices. Furthermore, it adds the additional focus on fresh food SMEs, considering both the drivers and barriers for the effective implementation of these sustainable purchasing. Practical Impact This paper supports that purchasing managers should work more closely with their suppliers and local community on implementation of sustainable purchasing practices. It also suggests that fresh food SMEs require more financial and human resources in order to achieve effective sustainable purchasing practices

Supply Chain Management Strategies for Increasing Productivity and Satisfying Customer Demand in the Fast Fashion Retail Sector in the UK

This research study aims to identify the different supply chain strategies within the fast fashion retail sector in the UK to improve the productivity and the customer satisfaction level. For this purpose, in-depth analysis has been conducted in accordance with the relationship of supply chain with productivity and customer satisfaction levels and impact of supply chain strategies has been evaluated with regards to fast fashion retail sector. The research methodology adopted for this research is quantitative analysis of a survey questionnaire among customers of fast fashion, supported by secondary data from fast fashion retail companies’ websites and practitioners’ publications. The data analysis and discussion show the supply chain strategies that enhance the productivity and customer satisfaction levels within the retail fashion sector. These include being agile to provide weekly new designs and trends

E-commerce in Fresh Food Supply Chain in China and its role on Quality performance

E-commerce companies have experienced a competitive environment in China, large companies benefit from more funding and talent, which puts a huge burden on small and medium size companies to find an effective way to manage quality with less investment. This paper gives a fresh food SC system’s view and analysis of improving fresh food quality. This paper focuses on small and medium-sized enterprises to analyse how companies can improve product quality through effective supply chain management, while ensuring the company's profitability. Using interviews with knowledgeable middle level managers in the SC, an analysis is carried out. The findings could help e-commerce companies in China strengthen their SC network and offer better quality standard of fresh food. Scarce literature discusses about fresh food e-commerce SCs in China, this research developed a basis background and knowledge. Nowadays, technology changes SC in various ways, this research explored how the advanced technology can be applied in fresh food SC. Some recommendations to companies that operate in this sector are provided. The limitations and future research directions of the fresh food supply chain are drawn

The quest for achieving United Nations Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs): Infrastructure and innovation for Responsible production and consumption

Purpose: This paper aims to provide some insights on how progress towards United Nations Sustainability Development Goals – SDGs- can be achieved by organisations. The focus is on two different contexts of UK and Brazil with a specific focus on SDG 9: “Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation” and SDG 12: “Responsible consumption and production”. Design/methodology/approach: This is a viewpoint paper with drawing from literature mainly from UN documents, UK and Brazilian governments and practitioner publications. Findings: A future research agenda is proposed, with four suggestions: (1) understand the context of SDGs, (2) Prioritise SDGs according to sector, (3) develop a common language, (4) Better understand how digital technologies can help sustainability and (5) system thinking application to SDGs. Research limitations/implications: The paper provides a viewpoint, so one of the limitations is that no data that has been specifically collected or analysed for the questions proposed. Nevertheless, it provides a good discussion point. Practical implications: The implications to practice, managers can place their own practical experience on progress towards SDGs with the future research agenda proposed in this paper. Social implications: SDGs are concerned with all aspects of sustainability including social development. This paper provides some insights on the different context that develop and developing countries observe. Originality/value: This paper highlights the potential different challenges and opportunities that the implementation of SDGs 9 and 12 poses in both developed and developing economies

Towards a comparable and harmonised set of performance indicators for Third Sector organisations: the Italian experience

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to intend as a contribution to the performance evaluation of Third Sector organisations (TSOs). The Italian experience on the development and adoption of harmonised indicators is considered here as an example of problems and possible solutions. Design/methodology/approach – Preliminary analysis shows that, in the Italian situation, two main gaps exist. The first one relates to the incomplete statistical information on the magnitude and performance of TSOs; the second is related to the lack of a set of harmonised indicators. To address these problems, two initiatives have been recently set up in Italy. On the one hand, the newly presented “National Strategy on Social Corporate Responsibility – 2012-2014” has been oriented to fill the statistical gap, by extending the compilation of socio-economic and environmental accounts to TSOs; on the other hand, a joint initiative of the Italian Statistical Institute and the CSR Manager Network Italia towards the harmonisation of the “Global Reporting Initiatives-quantitative performance indicators” and the standards of the Italian statistical system. Within the second initiative, a specific sub-set of performance indicators for TSOs is proposed and presented in this paper. Findings – The Italian experiences reported here, together with the set of proposed indicators, can be used to improve data collection and to move towards a common framework for performance evaluation in the TSOs. Originality/value – The main contribution of the proposed set of indicators is to: first, provide standard definitions and clear calculation methods; second, define quantitative measurements allowing for aggregation; and third, promote data collection and performance evaluation in a context, as the Italian one, where statistical information for TSOs is largely incomplete

Reducing schedule instability by identifying and omitting complexity-adding information flows at the supplier-customer interface

Within the supply chain context, schedule instability is caused by revisions to forecast demand from customers, problems with scheduled deliveries from suppliers, and disruptions to internal production. Supply chain partners attempt to address schedule instability by regular exchanges of information flows on current demand and delivery forecasts. However, if these updating information flows are unreliable and likely to be over-ridden by subsequent updated schedules, then the problem of schedule instability at the supplier-customer interface is not being solved. The research hypothesis investigated in this paper is whether supply chain partners may reduce schedule instability at the supplier-customer interface by identifying and omitting complexity-adding information flows. To this aim, previous work by the authors on an information-theoretic methodology for measuring complexity is extended and applied in this paper for identifying complexity-adding information flows. The application consists of comparing the complexity index of actual exchanged information flows with the complexity index of scenarios that omit one or more of these information flows. Using empirical results, it is shown that supply chain partners may reduce schedule instability at the supplier-customer interface by identifying and omitting complexity-adding information flows. The applied methodology is independent of the information systems used by the supplier and customer, and it provides an objective, integrative measure of schedule instability at the supplier-customer interface. Two case studies are presented, one in the commodity production environment of fast-moving consumer goods, and another in the customised production environment of electronic products sector. By applying the measurement and analysis methodology, relevant schedule instability-related insights about the specific case-studies are obtained. In light of the findings from these case studies, areas for further research and validation of the conditions in which the proposed research hypothesis holds are also proposed

The role of rescheduling in managing manufacturing systems' complexity

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Integrated risk management performance and manufacturing capabilities in the energy sector

There is extensive research on the field of supply chain risk management and risk management in manufacturing. However, there are a few studies that have focused on the energy sector in particular. In this paper, we focus on this topic and sector by using a qualitative methodology, semi-structured interviews were conducted with chief risk officers from different organisations in the UK and Portugal to understand their practices, tools, and organisational views around risk management. The results show that managers recognise the innovation behind their respective management strategies and are committed to continuing embracing technological paradigms that enhance risk management. Some recommendations to managers in the sector are provided. The paper concludes with a summary of the research, limitations and avenues for future research