Avi Herbon, Shalom Moalem, Haim Shnaiderman and Joseph Templeman
The purpose of this paper is to develop a user‐oriented decision‐supporting applicable tool for selection of a single supplier out of a group of potential suppliers in a dynamic…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a user‐oriented decision‐supporting applicable tool for selection of a single supplier out of a group of potential suppliers in a dynamic business environment over a finite planning horizon.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative and quantitative description of the impact of a change in one or several business environment parameters on current and future supplier choice; the methodology is accompanied by a visual representation of those impacts for the decision maker. The paper presents extended simulation experiments to test the proposed methodology.
Findings
A strategy of replacing suppliers over a definite planning horizon based on a forecast of the business environment is significantly (2‐9 per cent) more efficient than a strategy of relying on a single leading supplier throughout the planning horizon. This efficiency gain is greater the more the business environment is dynamic.
Practical implications
The proposed methodology is applicable to a broad range of service and manufacturing organizations that operate in dynamic business environments and rely on complex purchasing systems. Thanks to its simplicity, it can be applied to very large systems with a broad range of selection and/or environmental parameters.
Originality/value
Although the supplier selection process has been extensively studied, the literature still lacks appropriate reference to the effects of a dynamic business environment on this process.
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Sarah Marie Nogues and Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay
As employed carers tend to experience work interruptions and conflict between work and care, especially women, this paper aims to assess the availability and accessibility of…
Abstract
Purpose
As employed carers tend to experience work interruptions and conflict between work and care, especially women, this paper aims to assess the availability and accessibility of carer-friendly workplace policies (CFWPs) in Quebec workplaces.
Design/methodology/approach
An online survey was distributed to members of the Association of Human Resources Management Counsellors in Quebec. The authors used a validating quantitative data design. The data was collected between October 2019 and the end of February 2020 and the questionnaire yielded 122 valid responses.
Findings
Adult/elder care responsibilities remain systematically perceived less important than childcare or general work-life balance needs. The current distribution of CFWPs within Quebec workplaces is unlikely to ensure carers sufficient support to prevent or significantly mitigate negative repercussions. Notable differences were found between organization type and size.
Practical implications
There is a need for expanding CFWPs through increased support services, educational workshops, broader access to flexible work arrangements and manager training.
Social implications
The results support recent research findings pointing that women with caring responsibilities face important opportunity costs and risk falling in precariousness. Carers should be able to maintain a social income from other sources to compensate a reduced activity on the labor market.
Originality/value
By investigating the availability of CFWPs in Quebec workplaces, this paper adds insights regarding the availability and access to CFWPs regionally and in small and medium size workplaces, rather than identifying best practice from workplaces across the globe. Workplace policies are analyzed for adult/elder care specifically.
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A distinction must be drawn between a dismissal on the one hand, and on the other a repudiation of a contract of employment as a result of a breach of a fundamental term of that…
Abstract
A distinction must be drawn between a dismissal on the one hand, and on the other a repudiation of a contract of employment as a result of a breach of a fundamental term of that contract. When such a repudiation has been accepted by the innocent party then a termination of employment takes place. Such termination does not constitute dismissal (see London v. James Laidlaw & Sons Ltd (1974) IRLR 136 and Gannon v. J. C. Firth (1976) IRLR 415 EAT).
Scientists have often been accused of a desire to reduce the human diet to a pill or powder form “to be taken daily with water at meal times.” Whatever truth there might be in the…
Abstract
Scientists have often been accused of a desire to reduce the human diet to a pill or powder form “to be taken daily with water at meal times.” Whatever truth there might be in the allegation, it is an actual fact that more and more foods are being proved suitable for preservation in dried form. This is partially a logical development of the processes of food preservation, which are largely the concentration of food products for convenience in transport and storage, and partially the results of special war‐time demands. The need for concentrated nourishment is never greater than under conditions of war stress, and the present serious pressure upon Allied shipping facilities has further tended to increase the need for foods that occupy the least possible space. On the average, one pound of fully dehydrated food is the equivalent of fifteen pounds of the same product in its original form. Thirty dozen eggs in the shell, packed and created for shipment, occupy 2¼ cubic feet; dried, the same number take slightly more than one‐half cubic foot. The saving in ships and cargo space is obvious. While the problem of shipping space has been a major factor in the stimulated interest in dehydration, other elements in the existing situation have also had their influence. In Great Britain, under constant threat of invasion, it has been essential to build up reserve stocks of food throughout the country, often under storage conditions that are far from ideal. The serious shortage of tin has restricted the use of ordinary canning methods to foods which cannot, at the present stage of research, be preserved in any other form. A further stimulus has been given by the necessity of providing concentrated foods for paratroops and commando units, which must be entirely self‐sufficient when in action. Special rations are prepared which provide meals for two or three days, yet weigh only a few pounds. Drying is the oldest known form of food preservation, in fact it may be termed the natural method of preservation. Nature herself uses it. On the average, seeds, grains and nuts contain less than 10 per cent. of moisture, regardless of the amount which may be present at earlier stages of growth. The very existence of vegetable life from year to year is in the final analysis dependent upon this lack of moisture which inhibits the growth of bacteria and moulds. Perhaps by some accident, perhaps by imitation of the natural process, man early began to preserve food by drying, either in the sun or by artificial heat. Robinson Crusoe's raisins and the dried apples of our pioneer ancestors leap at once to the mind. Dried fruits and fish, jerked and smoked meats are all preserved by the removal of some part of their original water content. Sometimes this is the sole process, sometimes it is combined with other methods, as salting or pickling. In recent years, however, the preservation of foods by canning, refrigeration, and latterly by quick‐freezing has largely replaced the earlier method. Natural or artificial drying methods have in the past permitted the storage of food and the retention of a part of its nutritive value at the expense of flavour and colour. Everyone knows the difference between the flavour and texture of sweet corn in the milky stage and that which has ripened further, i.e., begun to dry out. In the case of such products we have largely come to prefer the dried flavour, even where we can know the so‐called fresh flavour. Some artificially dried or semi‐dried foods have, in fact, retained their place in the modern diet in direct competition with the fresh form, not as substitutes, but as independent food products in their own right. Such fruits as dates, figs, prunes and raisins are perhaps the best examples. No one expects raisins to take the place of grapes or prunes to have the same flavour as plums. These so‐called dried fruits are, however, really only semi‐hydrated. They retain from 20 to 25 per cent. of their moisture; only enough has been removed to ensure their keeping qualities. While they are a concentrated product, the process has not been carried to the point of complete transformation into the solid form. Jerked or dried meat and such products as pemmican are also among the oldest forms of preserved food, and jerked beef is still extensively produced in many countries. A more generally known form of meat product is meat extract. There are a number of famous brands, available either as a thick syrupy liquid or in a solid cube. The keeping property is implicit in its low water content, usually about 15 per cent. These extracts are prepared by removal of the fat and albumen, the addition of salt and evaporation in vacuum. One pound is ordinarily obtained from twenty‐five pounds of lean meat. Packing companies in the United States report that experimental methods of producing a true dehydrated meat, one which can be restored to its normal character, have been successful, at least in regard to beef. Pork is apparently too fat for such treatment. If the process works on a commercial scale as successfully as in the experiments, additional savings in shipping space will be realised. It is estimated that one ship could carry as much meat as ten cargo vessels were able to transport during the last war. Among other concentrated foods that go back to antiquity are the milk products, butter and cheese. These belong to the class which has little relation in either flavour or texture to the original from which they are made. Cheese is a product of fermentation as well as drying, while butter is additionally protected by salt and by refrigeration in storage and transport. Thus, while the removal of water is an important step in their manufacture, they cannot be considered dried foods. Recent reports from New Zealand indicate that butter is now entering this category. As a result of research which antedates the war, the New Zealand Dairy Research Institute has perfected a method of dehydrating butter. The British Government has contracted to purchase 20,000 tons during 1942 and 1943. A trial shipment of 400 tons was made last year and was well received. According to a report from the Canadian Trade Commissioner in New Zealand, the process was developed originally in order to reach markets not served by refrigerator ships. The dislocation of the shipping facilities between New Zealand and Great Britain has eliminated the usual means of sending butter. The new product, however, can be shipped as general cargo on any ship that may be available. The dried butterfat can be used directly by industrial food manufacturers and its conversion into table butter is simply adding a matter of water and salt. Not only will it serve a valuable war‐time purpose of providing Great Britain with needed fats, but it will also relieve the position of dairy farmers in New Zealand. After the war it is considered possible that the original purpose of marketing in countries without refrigerator service may continue to absorb available supplies.
At the seventeenth ordinary meeting of the Royal Society of Arts, on Wednesday, April 17, 1912, DR. RUDOLF MESSEL, President of the Society of Chemical Industry, in the chair, a…
Abstract
At the seventeenth ordinary meeting of the Royal Society of Arts, on Wednesday, April 17, 1912, DR. RUDOLF MESSEL, President of the Society of Chemical Industry, in the chair, a paper on “Municipal Chemistry” was read by MR. J. H. COSTE, F.I.C. The following résumé of the points of interest to readers of the BRITISH FOOD JOURNAL is published by kind permission of the author and of the Royal Society of Arts:—
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The unsatisfactory state of the law with regard to prosecutions for impoverished milk has been further exemplified in a series of prosecutions at Oldham. Three farmers were…
Abstract
The unsatisfactory state of the law with regard to prosecutions for impoverished milk has been further exemplified in a series of prosecutions at Oldham. Three farmers were summoned for having sold milk “ not of the nature, substance and quality demanded by the purchaser,” and the evidence produced showed that the milk in each case was not only deficient as compared with the standard set by the Board of Agriculture, but even more deficient when compared with mixed samples taken at the farm. The Deputy Town Clerk, who conducted the prosecution, pointed out that the case of Wilkinson v. Clark clearly showed that the Inspectors were justified in going to the farm for a second sample, if the second was comparable with the first, and were entitled to rely on the Public Analyst's certificate for both samples. He argued that, in view of the enhanced price of milk, it was very necessary that the purchaser should be adequately protected and that he should obtain what he paid for — pure unadulterated milk. The defence in the first case was a denial of the milk having been tampered with, it being sold “ as it came from the cow.” Results of experiments at the Yorkshire College for Agricultural Education were quoted to show that wide variations in the quality of the milk might occur for which the farmer ought not to be held responsible. In the present case it was admitted that one of the cows was not milking satisfactorily, and had a “ hard udder.” The milk from this cow when examined closely, was stated in the defendant's evidence to be “ more like water.” This had only been found out on the morning when the first sample had gone into the churn for sale. The Bench, after consultation, expressed themselves satisfied that the milk had not been tampered with, and dismissed the summons.
In the House of Lords on the 13th November last the Earl of MEATH asked whether it was a fact, as stated in the public Press, that the leaflet of the Board of Agriculture…
Abstract
In the House of Lords on the 13th November last the Earl of MEATH asked whether it was a fact, as stated in the public Press, that the leaflet of the Board of Agriculture recommending the use of glucose, salicylic acid, and a coal‐tar product known as saccharin, or saxin, as sugar substitutes in jam had been condemned by the Kensington Public Health Committee on the ground of possible danger to health, and whether the Public Analyst told the Committee that glucose was liable to contamination with arsenic, that salicylic acid was a dangerous drug, which should only be administered under medical direction, and that the use of saccharin, except under medical supervision, had been recently prohibited in America, and was entirely prohibited in France in certain commodities, including preserves; and if the facts were as stated, what steps the Government proposed to take to warn the public against the use of these drugs in the preservation of food. The Duke of MARLBOROUGH, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture, is reported to have replied that the opinion of expert chemists had been taken on the matters raised in the question. They had reported “that glucose had long been used in the manufacture of jam and for other food purposes, that its value as a food was well recognised, that its manufacture in this country was in the hands of a few firms, and that samples were systematically tested for arsenic at Government Laboratories.” Continuing, his Grace observed that “samples of foreign glucose were also taken for examination on importation. In no case did the arsenic exceed one‐hundredth of a grain per pound of glucose, the point below which the Royal Commission on Arsenical Poisoning had reported that no action should be taken under the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts. Manufacturers exercised great care to secure freedom from arsenic. Further, the Board of Agriculture had suggested that, as glucose was sold for human food, it came within the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts, and was subject to public analytical examination. The public was therefore doubly safeguarded. The leaflet did not refer to the use of salicylic acid in jam making, but to its use for sterilising the paper covers on the pots. The Committee of the Local Government Board which was appointed in 1899 to inquire into the use of preservatives in food had placed a limit of one grain of the acid per pound in the case of solids and of one grain per pint in the case of liquids. The amount used for the paper covers of jam pots was not nearly one grain per pound of jam. The use of coal tar for sweetening was not advocated, and was not referred to in the leaflet. It had, however, been suggested that saccharin or saxin could be used in place of cane sugar where cane sugar was not obtainable. Saccharin underwent no change in and was not absorbed by the body. The Department had no precise knowledge of the reasons which had led to the alleged prohibition of the use of saccharin in America and France. It would appear, however, that the prohibition if it existed, was due to fiscal reasons.” After the delivery of this statement the Earl of MEATH is reported to have said it would relieve a great many minds to hear that in the opinion of eminent chemists there was no danger in using the substances in question. He hoped the public would no longer be afraid to use them.
The Imperial Commercial Association has been formed under the presidency of LORD INCHCAPE for the attainment of objects which must commend themselves to all sane and patriotic…
Abstract
The Imperial Commercial Association has been formed under the presidency of LORD INCHCAPE for the attainment of objects which must commend themselves to all sane and patriotic people. We consider it to be a duty to call attention to the formation of the Association and to insist on the importance of giving it all possible support. The, reasons for its formation and the objects in view are ably and clearly set forth in a pamphlet sent to us by the Director, THE HON. F. M. B. FISHER, as follows :—