Theoretical background of supply chain management and potential supply chain of North Queensland timber industry

This paper examines the suitability of supply chain management (SCM) as a methodology for examining forestry development options in north Queensland - both industrial and farm - with particular emphasis on hoop pine. SCM has been defined from different perspectives by various authors and some of the alternative definitions of SCM are given. SCM is then placed in the context of the north Queensland timber industry focusing on the current structure and participants and the factors that need to be considered to make the supply chain for hoop pine more efficient. This highlights the need for a broader and more extensive supply chain for the north Queensland timber industry. Facilitation of a broader supply chain requires the development of mechanisms to improve cooperation between supply chain participants. This includes the expansion of the hoop pine resource area, value-adding processes, and improved information flows. The goal of research in progress is to develop a framework to facilitate a diverse multilayered supply chain for hoop pine that will promote a north Queensland industry that is economically and environmentally viable

Macadamia industry benchmark report: 2009 to 2016 seasons, Project MC15005

The benchmarking project is supporting improved productivity and profitability within the Australian macadamia industry. The current project builds on previous benchmarking and best practice work conducted since 2001. Yield, quality and planting information has been collected annually from macadamia farms throughout Australia since 2009. This information is provided either directly by growers or by processors on their behalf. Cost of production data has also been collected annually since 2013. Each season all benchmarking participants receive a confidential, personalised report that compares their individual farm performance with the average performance of similar farms based on a range of criteria including region, locality, farm size, management structure, irrigation status and tree age. These reports highlight individual and average farm performance trends over multiple seasons. This industry report has been produced to provide growers, processors, consultants, investors and other industry stakeholders with a summary of yield, quality and cost of production trends within the Australian macadamia industry

Australian farm business performance insights from effective farm business managers

This national study aims to improve farm business performance through developing a reflective self-assessment tool to assist farmers to evaluate their business performance, and to prioritise strategies and tactics to improve performance. The Farm Management Strategy Tool is based on insights into strategies and tactics used to achieve performance goals from the perceptions of a large and diverse sample of farmers who are seen as relatively successful by their peers and industry leaders. This research identifies the thinking behind the strategies and tactics that could contribute to increased profitability and the ability to achieve business-related goals. The reflective self-assessment tool assists farmers and their advisors to tailor relevant strategies and tactics to their own unique situation and performance goals

Alignment of performance metrics in a multi-enterprise agribusiness: a case of integrated autonomy?

Purpose - To examine the disconnect that can develop between corporate goals and those of individual intra-organisational business units arranged as an internal supply chain within a large vertically integrated agribusiness. To explore and discuss the development of a holistic performance metrics system that facilitates internal supply chain coordination and cohesion while allowing synergies to develop across the company. Design/methodology/approach - A case study approach involving a participative action research component was used to examine the disconnect between internal business unit (operational) goals and overall corporate (strategic) goals and to develop a conceptual performance assessment model addressing both operational and strategic contexts. Findings - The findings show that appropriate performance indicators and measures can be created that relate directly to logical operational outcomes thus encouraging a more tightly integrated internal supply chain, a stronger coherence among the components and a better aligned set of operational and corporate goals. Research limitations/implications - Only financial information and data obtained from a participative managerial decision making simulation were used to explore performance goal incongruence between operational and corporate managers, compared to the need for multiple contextual performance measurement metrics that the literature suggest provides a best practice system. Originality/value – The rapidly developing corporate agribusiness sector provides a unique operating environment in that these companies deal primarily in self regenerating assets such as livestock. Additionally we explore for the first time the development of performance metrics fo

Integrated autonomy: a modelling-based investigation of agrifood supply chain performance

The success of supply chains, whether they are whole-of-industry chains or internal business chains, depends on integration, coordination, communication and cooperation. However, one of the key issues faced by enterprises within a supply chain is the tendency for each component in the supply chain to have different goals – particularly since each component is very often an autonomous business unit. This situation can, and very often does, result in a lack of integration, coordination, communication and thus cooperation. This paper describes the use of agent based modeling techniques to investigate whether the distributed computing concept of Integrated Autonomy could also be promoted as a business strategy for managing agri-food supply chains in order to increase efficiencies and coordination across the chain. The results of modeling two different supply chain scenarios in both an industry and in an enterprise environment indicate that IA as a concept can be translated into a practical management strategy with associated performance metrics aimed at increasing efficiencies, coordination and communication across supply chains

Information flow perspective for capturing the impact of corporate environmental performance on the cost of debt

Stakeholders’ increased concern for environmental sustainability has resulted in many firms placing greater emphasis on environmental performance management. Creditors are often major corporate stakeholders and as such when evaluating firms’ applications for debt financing examine how the environmental sustainability of an organisation may impact on default risk and thus the cost of debt. This study identifies the elements of the information flows between corporate borrowers and lenders and how environmental performance impacts on the cost of debt financing. It develops a conceptual framework based on stakeholder, agency theory and data flow diagram which traces the flow of environmental and financial information between lenders and corporate borrowers. The proposed framework is designed to identify information that determines the impact of corporate environmental performance on a firm’s cost of debt

Corporate social responsibility disclosure and employee commitment: evidence from Libya

Most research on corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) describes its relationships with external factors such as financial performance and corporate reputation. There are relatively few studies that have focused employee’s behaviours towards CSRD. This paper examines the relationship between CSRD on employee commitment. An exploratory approach is used in this paper by this study. This study utilizes interview method to collect data from 31 financial managers and information managers of 22 organisations; Miles and Huberman (1994) approach is used to analyse the qualitative data. The researchers have chosen the Libyan context as one of the world's developing countries that has undergone many changes over a short period of time in terms of economic, environmental and social changes. The majority view of managers interviewed is that as CSRD related to employee activities and consumer activities increases employee commitment towards its company increase. However, there is no relationship between CSRD related to environmental and employee disclosures and employee commitment in Libyan companies. The study discusses and explains important implications regarding uses of CSRD for enhancing employee's commitment

Corporate social responsibility disclosure and corporate reputation in developing countries: the case of Libya

This paper uses stakeholder theory to explore the relationship between corporate social responsibility disclosure (CSRD) and corporate reputation (CR) using both quantitative and qualitative methods. The paper was undertaken in Libya, because Libya has an important standing in the world economy as well as a different political and economic system (Wallace & Wilkinson 2004). Moreover, it is a particularly interesting country, as socialist and Islamic factors have impacted on the nature of CSRD. As a result, the level of CSRD has increased in Libya since 2000 due to pressures from stakeholders for information which may influence organisational performance for Libyan companies (Pratten & Mashat 2009). The quantitative data used to measure level of CSRD consists of 110 annual reports of 40 Libyan companies and 149 questionnaires collected from managers and employees to measure corporate reputation. In the qualitative data, thirty one financial managers and information managers express their perception about the relationship between CSRD and corporate reputation. The results confirm that a high level of CSRD is strongly associated with company reputation for stakeholder groups

Factors influencing levels of corporate social responsibility disclosure Libyan firms: a mixed study

This paper explores whether company age, industry type and company size have a potential influence on levels of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure (CSRD) in the annual reports of Libyan companies. In this study quantitative and qualitative methods were used to collect data to determine the level CSRD in Libyan firms. Hypotheses are tested using regression analysis on a sample of 40 annual reports from Libyan companies’ from 2007 to 2009. In addition, thirty one of the financial managers and information managers express their perceptions about the determinants of CSRD in Libya. The quantitative findings reveal that there is a positive relationship between company age and industry type and the level of CSRD. The qualitative findings show a positive relationship between all factors influencing levels of CSRD used in this study and level of CSRD in Libyan companies

Adoption of quality management systems in macadamia, final report, MC03008

The Australian macadamia industry has conducted considerable research on the effects of on-farm practices on macadamia nut in shell (NIS) and kernel quality. These include studies of nut drying, storage, handling and harvesting and agronomic practices. The adoption of these findings provides quality benefits for processors, marketers and consumers, but not necessarily for growers. The adoption of the practices may involve significant additional investment in on-farm infrastructure and major changes in production practices. Some major findings from this work are: 1) Harvest frequency has a strong relationship to the quality of NIS. Frequent harvesting (less than or equal to every 4 weeks on average) gave a mean sound kernel recovery (SKR) of 34.2%, while harvesting intervals longer than every 4 weeks, gave a mean sound kernel recovery of 31.6%. This difference of 2.6 % SKR, using current payment scales that award 10c per kg for each 1% increment increase in SKR, results in a difference of $260 per tonne delivered to the factory. On a 40 tonne NIS farm, this equates to$10,400 in additional revenue. The actual payment received could be higher or lower, depending on the reject/bonus category it puts the NIS consignment within. 2) There is also the added advantage from harvesting more frequently of reducing shed losses. Frequent harvesting resulted in shed reject levels of 4.6% of harvested yield while long harvest intervals resulted in shed reject levels of 8.3%. For a 40 tonne NIS farm, this is an extra 1.5 tonne of NIS delivered to the factory. 3) Smaller silos (less than or equal to 20 tonnes) were found to reduce unsound kernel recovery (UKR) on average by 0.34%, compared with larger, taller silos (greater than 20 tonnes). The main effect is on reducing internal discolouration of kernel and this has been identified as a serious problem by the industry. This reduction using current payment scales that awards 10c per kg for each 1% increment increase in SKR, results in a difference of $34 per tonne delivered to the factory. There are also advantages of smaller silos reducing the consignment moisture content of NIS delivered leading to reduced external discolouration of the kernel. A strong focus upon an extension program to deliver the findings from this and other work relating to quality management would benefit the Australian macadamia industry. This program would need to focus upon the economic costs and returns from adopting these practices. Part of this program would need to promote the use of the re-sort decision support tool developed for growers during this project. The re-sort decisions tool improves the economic basis of re-sort decisions and also has the potential to improve the quality of NIS through reducing on-farm storage times. Consideration should be given to research and development of the factors causing many of the quality issues and quantifying their significance so management strategies can be developed that target these issues. Any future research work carried out into quality management needs to quantify the costs and benefits of changing management practices or investing in capital improvements that address the causes