Supply chain risks experienced by Stellenbosch wine producers

The South African wine industry is a significant contributor to the South African economy. However the wine producers are facing financial and operational challenges as they operate and compete in a highly traded local and international wine market. These financial and operational challenges manifest as risks in their supply chain and could affect the future sustainability of their business. It against this backdrop that this study aimed to identify the supply chain risks experienced by the Stellenbosch wine producers, and how they manage and overcome these risks. The research was conducted at five wine producers located in each of five Stellenbosch wine producing areas. The producers were selected through a non-probability purposive sample with the assistance of a gatekeeper. The study is descriptive and exploratory with qualitative data collected through semi-structured interviews with ten participants from the five wine producers. The data was analysed using thematic analysis. The study found that the main risk factors centered around: the planning activities concerning the risks involved in matching demand and supply; agricultural activities including the drought and other external hazard risks; the wine making activities including in-process controls; financial risks including margin erosion due to inflationary costs not being matched by selling price increases; and human resource risks. This study recommends that wine producers use a formal risk appraisal process, implement a supplier development process, could make use of precision viticulture methods and improved pest control measures.Business ManagementM. Com. (Business Management

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field