Exploring food retail logistics internationalisation in South East Asia

Paper originally presented at the 20th Annual Logistics Research Network Conference, 9th to 11th Sept 2015, Derby. Introduction: Two recent market research reports noted UK consumers enjoy lower food prices than other Western economies. There are many reasons for this but one is due to the UK’s world-leading food retail logistics systems. However, as highly-efficient UK and other Western grocery retailers have entered developing markets, such as South East (SE) Asia, this expertise has not necessarily been successful. Western systems are usually expected to contribute to retailing internationalisation through ‘follow-sourcing’ where retailers entering new markets will encourage existing suppliers to follow them into it, concentrating on procurement modernisation, the establishment of centralised distribution, and the use of third-party logistics (3PL) service providers

The internationalisation of food retailing affecting logistics in south east Asia : an exploratory perspective of consumers

Few studies have been carried out to determine consumer characteristics for food distribution in new and/ or emerging markets and how they might influence logistics and supply chain solutions. This paper reports on a study investigating physical and demographic characteristics for food purchase and storage in the Southeast Asia countries of Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. The study was undertaken at the consumer end with an exploratory e-mail survey about consumer food shopping preferences and storage and yielded a total of 200 responses. The findings support the literature regarding supermarket diffusion into the Asian retail space and price and quality were important purchase decision factors. However, wet markets continue to be important and food hygiene and safety appear to becoming more important. The study should provide guidance for Western food retailers, suppliers and 3PL service providers considering entry into these markets or already operating in them

Identification and prioritization of critical success factors in faith-based and non-faith-based organizations’ humanitarian supply chain

In the last few decades, an exponential increase in the number of disasters, and their complexity has been reported, which ultimately put much pressure on relief organizations. These organizations cannot usually respond to the disaster on their own, and therefore, all actors involved in relief efforts should have end-to-end synchronization in order to provide relief effectively and efficiently. Consequently, to smoothen the flow of relief operation, a shared understanding of critical success factors in humanitarian supply chain serves as a pre-requisite for successful relief operation. Therefore, any member of the humanitarian supply chain might disrupt this synchronization by neglecting one or several of these critical success factors. However, in this study, we try to investigate how faith-based and non-faith-based relief organizations treat these critical success factors. Moreover, we also try to identify any differences between Islamic and Christian relief organizations in identifying and prioritizing these factors. To achieve the objective of this study, we used a two-stage approach; in the first stage, we collected the critical success factors from existing humanitarian literature. Whereas, in the second stage, using an online questionnaire, we collected data on the importance of selected factors from humanitarian relief organizations from around the world in collaboration with World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (WANGO). Later, responses were analyzed to answer the research questions using non-parametric Binomial and Wilcoxon Rank-Sum tests. Test results indicate that for RQ1, two but all factors are significant for successful relief operation. For RQ2, we found significant differences for some CSF among faith-based and non-faith-based relief organizations. Similarly for RQ3, we found significant differences for some CSF among Islamic and Christian relief organizations

Beyond links and chains in food supply: a community OR perspective

This theoretical paper complements traditional OR approaches to improve micro-businesses’ performance. When looking at local micro-businesses, we find that current supply chain and operations theory that focuses on efficiency and economic-based criteria for chain and network integration, is inapplicable and external organisation inappropriate. An illustration shows how traditional modelling exercises may fall short in better-informing independent-minded micro-entrepreneurs on how to collaborate, even though they recognise benefits from such endeavour. The illustration concerns consideration of food micro-producers, not as links constituting a chain, but as members of a community. This paper explores two different approaches to apply Community OR research principles. On one hand, the application of OR methods to phenomena in the ‘community’; on the other, the development of research on ‘community operations’; which are symbolised as C+OR and CO+R respectively. These approaches are associated to two different research languages: of needs and for interactions. Main contributions of this paper are: first, we show that collaboration does not always need shared aims. Second, we offer a circular process where the identification of collective actions may help organisations to improve individually; and vice versa. Third, we suggest how to develop the role of a stronger collective actor by means of collaboration

Disaster relief operations: past, present and future

The aim of the preface is to introduce the scope of this special issue (SI). We explain our editorial approach and summarise our findings based on articles included in this SI. Finally, we outline future research questions which stemmed out of the discussions of this SI

Humanitarian logistics research for the care of refugees and internally displaced persons: A new area of research and a research agenda

© 2018, Richard Oloruntoba and Ruth Banomyong. Purpose: This “thought paper” is written by the special issue editors as a part of the five papers accepted and published in response to the special issue call for papers on logistics and SCM in the context of relief for refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the special issue on “refugee logistics” and analyse the nature and challenges of displacement from a displaced person’s perspective. The paper also argues for a more critical appreciation of the role and value that research in logistics, operations and supply chain management (LOSCM) can play in the delivery of services and care for refugees and IDPs from the perspective of preparedness and logistics planning of humanitarian organisations. The paper further outlines basic challenges to undertaking innovative, boundary pushing valuable and impactful research on “refugee logistics” given the difficult ideological, political and policy context in which “refugee logistics research” will be undertaken. The paper also advocates for more critical research in humanitarian logistics (HL), that explicitly acknowledges its ontological, epistemological and methodological limitations even when ethically sound. The paper concludes by suggesting a future research agenda for this new sub-field of humanitarian logistics research. Design/methodology/approach: Conceptual paper utilising viewpoints, literature reviews as well as original ideas and thoughts of the authors. Findings: The new field of “refugee logistics research” is important. It has been neglected in humanitarian logistics research for too long. Hence, there needs to be more research in this sub-field of humanitarian logistics. Research limitations/implications: This is a “thought paper”. It is the basic conceptual ideas of the authors. While it is not based on empirical work or data collection, it is based on a comprehensive literature research and analysis. Social implications: This paper advocates for the universal human rights of IDPs and refugees and their dignity, and how LOSCM can contribute to upholding such dignity. Originality/value: It contributes indirectly to logistics policy and refugee policy as well as logistics service quality and advocacy for human rights and human dignity

Assessing the national logistics system of Vietnam

The purpose of this research is to present and analyse the current situation regarding the capability of the national logistics system in Vietnam. A national assessment framework for macro-logistics is utilised in combination with semi-structured interviews of key Vietnamese stakeholders to reflect on the current situation in the country. There are still numerous shortcomings in the Vietnamese logistics system. These shortcomings are not purely infrastructure based but also from a regulatory and commercial perspective. The presented national logistics system assessment framework can be replicated in other countries or regions when assessing national logistics capability. The findings can help foreign investors, international logistics providers wanting to provide their services in Vietnam to understand the logistics context within the country. These findings are also helpful for policy makers in Vietnam on how to improve their national logistics system. This study proposes a template to assess national logistics systems and provides an in-depth understanding of logistics in Vietnam, a country that has not been much studied in the literature