Search results

This study investigates the impact of agri-food supply chains (AFSCs) characteristics on the antecedents of horizontal logistics collaboration (HLC). Specifically, the study compares the relationship between collaboration activities and outcomes for companies in and outside AFSCs.

First, a survey was used to collect data from different industries. Second, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were applied to compare the measurement and structural models from different industry categories.

The results support the premise that collaboration improves trust and commitment in the relationship, which in turn enhance satisfaction. The results also show the existence of a minor influence of AFSCs characteristics on HLC antecedents, in the form of an indirect impact of dedicated investments on commitment.

The factors having a significant influence on the collaboration outcomes and their respective effects are generally similar across food and nonfood supply chains, providing opportunities for interdisciplinary and collaboration experiences.

This research contributes to the body of knowledge on interfirm collaboration by considering the specificities of HLC. It also highlights the importance of conducting contingency research on collaborative experiences, as firms from different industry contexts operate under distinct operational conditions.

This study aims to compare the expectations of non-collaborating professionals and the actual opinions of collaborating professionals regarding success factors of horizontal logistics collaboration (HLC) and investigates the reasons behind the observed differences.

This study employs a mixed-method approach. First, a survey is conducted to collect data from two samples representing collaborating and non-collaborating industry professionals. Second, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is used to compare the measurement models from the two samples and identify their similarities and differences. Third, a Delphi study is conducted to identify factors limiting collaborative behavior.

The results show that collaborating professionals exhibit lower levels of joint relationship efforts and trust than expected. This is primarily due to inadequate information sharing, poor collaboration formalization and the absence of a clear costs and benefits allocation mechanism.

The findings indicate that, in HLC, managers should give high importance to facilitating timely and complete information exchange, putting in place an acceptable costs/benefits allocation mechanism, formalizing the collaboration and prioritizing integrity over competency when selecting partners.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that shows the existence of differences between industry professionals' pre-collaboration expectations and the actual experiences in HLC. This is also the first study that points to the exact HLC enablers that fail in practice and the barriers responsible for it.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive model for horizontal logistics collaboration (HLC), including the collaboration types, enablers, context influence and performance indicators.

First, this study discusses the currently available typologies and their limitations and defines relevant collaboration classification dimensions. Then, a detailed analysis of each dimension is conducted, including the identification of resulting collaboration types. Next, collaboration enablers and the context influence are discussed, as well as their implications on the logistics system, with a specific focus on agri-food supply chains (AFSCs). Additionally, adequate key performance indicators (KPIs) are selected to evaluate collaboration outcomes. Finally, the horizontal logistics collaboration concept (HLCC) is applied to an illustrative case study from AFSCs.

The results show that HLC is a complex strategy where several elements intervene in the creation of the collaboration scenario. The research also shows that the specific characteristics of AFSCs influence the partners' selection process and increase the importance of partners' similarity and information exchange.

The results provide managers with practical insights into the dynamic nature of HLC both at the operational and relational levels.

This paper provides a theoretical contribution by introducing a new comprehensive model for HLC and a practical typology that allows a deeper understanding of the mechanisms governing different HLC scenarios.

This paper aims to investigate outsourcing of different types of logistics activities in Taiwanese food industry, and benchmark with practices in The Netherlands.

The outsourcing of four levels of logistics activities is investigated: transportation (level 1), packaging (level 2), transportation management (level 3), and distribution network management (level 4). A structured questionnaire was designed and sent to logistics managers in The Netherlands and Taiwan to evaluate the most commonly outsourced activities and identify specific outsourcing firm's characteristics.

About 69 per cent of the companies, in both countries outsource level 1 activities, 16 per cent level 2, and 37 per cent level 3 activities. Only few companies (about 10 per cent) outsource the highest level of activities. In particular, The Netherlands has higher percentages for levels 1 and 3. This might be caused by the fact that most Taiwanese companies emphasise low cost whereas the Dutch companies focus on flexibility in order to deal with higher complexities. When intentions for the future are included, Taiwan is planning to outsource level 2 (40 per cent) and level 4 activities (36 per cent) much more than The Netherlands (respectively 13 and 17 per cent). When zooming in, it was found that outsourcing strategies of companies in the subsectors differ. For instance, the dairy sector outsources more frequently than the meat sector on the first three levels. This might be caused by the fact that meat companies emphasise food quality, whereas dairy companies emphasise flexibility and reliability.

This study investigated only food processors. The paper suggests further research should include other types of food organisations.

The paper provides valuable insights in outsourcing strategies of food processing companies in Taiwan and The Netherlands for advanced logistics service providers who are looking at the market potential of Taiwan.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a new framework to optimise the design of halal food supply chains, called the “Halal Supply Chain Model”. In this research the main logistics business processes are defined, which are the determinants for the halal supply chain performance.

Next to an extensive literature review, a large discussion group and various focus group sessions conducted in Malaysia, The Netherlands and China have been used to identify halal control activities and assurance activities in logistics business processes, with a focus on transportation, warehousing and terminal operations.

The findings show that product characteristics (bulk versus unitised, ambient versus cool chain) and market requirements (Muslim or non‐Muslim country) determine the supply chain vulnerability to halal contamination, for which halal control activities and assurance activities are put in place to reduce supply chain vulnerability. More empirical research is needed to further refine the Halal Supply Chain Model for different product–market combinations. Second, qualitative research is recommended for halal cosmetics and pharmaceutical supply chains.

This study shows that halal supply chain management is different from conventional supply chain management, which requires a halal policy and specific design parameters for supply chain objectives, logistics control, supply chain network structure, supply chain business processes, supply chain resources and supply chain performance metrics.

The Halal Supply Chain Model can be an important instrument to design and manage halal food supply chains in extending halal integrity from source to point of consumer purchase. As there is an evident lack of academic research in the field of halal supply chain management, it provides an important reference for halal logistics and supply chain management. The large discussion group and focus group sessions resulted in the publication of the International Halal Logistics Standard (IHIAS 0100:2010) by IHI Alliance in 2010.

Measurement of the performance of entire supply chains is an important issue because it allows for “tracking and tracing” of efficacy and efficiency failures and leads to more informed decision making with regard to chain design. However, the choice of appropriate supply chain performance indicators is rather complicated due to the presence of multiple inputs and multiple outputs in the system. Therefore, this paper aims to evaluate the usefulness of a novel conceptual model for supply chain performance measurement in an agri‐food supply chain.

A conceptual model for integrated supply chain performance measurement is evaluated in a Dutch‐German tomato supply chain by means of a case study approach.

The proposed conceptual framework is found to be useful for measuring performance of the tomato supply chain. From the case study it is concluded that four main categories of performance measures (i.e. efficiency, flexibility, responsiveness, and food quality) are identified as key performance components of the tomato supply chain performance measurement system.

This research evaluates a novel concept for measuring the performance of agri‐food supply chains. This concept is the first step in developing an integrated performance measurement system that contains financial as well as non‐financial indicators combined with the specific characteristics of agri‐food supply chains. Based on a case study in the tomato supply chain, this concept is found to have potential.

The concepts of hybrid supply chain strategies and the decoupling point are applied to a poultry supply chain experiencing high demand uncertainty in an inflexible production environment. Several solutions are proposed for this supply chain to cope with high demand uncertainty. The customer order decoupling point, the product differentiation point and the information decoupling point play a central role in these solutions. Because of specific characteristics of the poultry supply chain, the opportunities for a leagile supply chain design are limited.

The study aims to define a research agenda for creating resource-efficient supply chains (RESCs) by identifying and analysing their key characteristics as well as future research opportunities.

We follow a systematic review method to analyse the literature and to understand RESC, taking a substantive theory approach. Our approach is grounded in a specific domain, the agri-food sector, because it is an intensive user of an extensive range of resources.

The review shows that works of literature has looked at the use of resources primarily from the environmental impact perspective. There is a need to explore whether or not and how logistics/supply chain decisions will affect the overall configuration of future food supply chains in an era of resource scarcity and depletion and what the trade-offs will be.

The paper proposes an agenda for future research in the area of RESC. The framework proposed along with the key characteristics identified for RESC can be applied to other sectors.

Our research should facilitate further understanding of the implications and trade-offs of supply chain decisions taken on the use of resources by supply chain managers.

The paper explores the interaction between supply chains and natural resources and defines the key characteristics of RESC.

The purpose of this paper is to assess whether an existing sourcing strategy can effectively supply products of appropriate quality with acceptable levels of product waste if applied to an international perishable product supply chain. The authors also analyse whether the effectiveness of this sourcing strategy can be improved by including costs for expected shelf life losses while generating order policies.

The performance of sourcing strategies is examined in a prototype international strawberry supply chain. Appropriate order policies were determined using parameters both with and without costs for expected shelf life losses. Shelf life losses during transport and storage were predicted using microbiological growth models. The performance of the resulting policies was assessed using a hybrid discrete event chain simulation model that includes continuous quality decay.

The study's findings reveal that the order policies obtained with standard cost parameters result in poor product quality and large amounts of product waste. Also, including costs for expected shelf life losses in sourcing strategies significantly reduces product waste and improves product quality, although transportation costs rise.

The study shows that in perishable product supply chain design a trade-off should be made between transportation costs, shortage costs, inventory costs, product waste, and expected shelf life losses.

By presenting a generically applicable methodology for perishable product supply chain design, the authors contribute to research and practice efforts to reduce food waste. Furthermore, product quality information is included in supply chain network design, a research area that is still in its infancy.

Dynamic demands and constraints imposed by a rapidly changing business environment make it increasingly necessary for companies in the food supply chain to cooperate with each other. The main questions individual (food) companies face are whether, why, how and with whom they should start supply chain management activities. Presents a qualitative research method for analyzing a supply chain network and for identifying effective chain redesign strategies. Presents a generic list of supply chain redesign strategies based on a multi‐disciplinary literature review. Proposes that in order to identify the most effective strategies in a specific chain scenario one should focus on the identification and management of the sources of uncertainties in the supply chain’s decision‐making processes. The application of the research method in three food supply chains resulted in a valuable tool that can be used in supply chain redesign projects, as it indicates potentially effective redesign strategies when a specific source of uncertainty is encountered in a supply chain.