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This paper aims to investigate how the extant literature on sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) empirically explores the perspective of emerging economy suppliers operating in global supply chains (GSCs). It thereby explains the role of emerging economy suppliers in determining the success of SSCM.

A systematic literature review of 41 empirical papers (published between 2007 and 2021) was conducted, involving both descriptive and thematic analyses.

The findings demonstrate that emerging economy suppliers have a key role in SSCM, given their use of positive feedback loops to proactively create remedies to surpass barriers using their collaboration mechanisms, and exploit authentic sustainability outcomes as reinforcements to drive further sustainability initiatives. The authors also demonstrate that suppliers are particularly focused on the cultural and institutional dimensions of sustainability. Finally, the authors provide an explanatory analytical framework to reduce the institutional distance between buyers and their global suppliers.

This review identifies avenues for future research on the role of emerging economy suppliers in SSCM.

Recognising remedies to surpass barriers and reinforcements to drive new actions can aid SSCM in GSCs and improve understanding between buyers and suppliers.

The valorisation of cultural and institutional issues can lead to more responsible supplier interactions and improved sustainability outcomes in emerging economies.

This review only analyses the viewpoint of emerging economy suppliers, whereas prior SSCM reviews have focused on the buyer perspective. Thus, the authors reduce supplier invisibility and institutional distance between GSC participants.

This paper aims to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on supply chain (SC) sustainability learning. In particular, it focuses on the learning associated with changes in the sustainability initiatives of emerging economy suppliers.

Through studying three scenarios (pre-outbreak, buyer-centred peak and supplier-centred peak) over a nine-month period, a multi-case study strategy was used to gain an understanding of the learning of export-oriented Brazilian coffee producers, using both exploitation and exploration capabilities. Content analysis was developed after each data collection phase to investigate how sustainability initiatives had changed.

Social sustainability was observed to be the main priority by suppliers facing this unprecedented outbreak, in ways that go beyond expected sustainability certification requirements. For instance, there was evidence of outstanding contributions to the local community. Suppliers initially developed their sustainability initiatives during the outbreak without any support from global buyers, certification bodies or government. In spite of this, stronger relationships with buyers ultimately emerged facilitating greater SC sustainability. Consequently, by using both exploitation and exploration learning capabilities, multiple levels of learning were observed (i.e. individual, organisational and SC) as related to planning, new procedures and social awareness.

A greater awareness of supplier learning processes will aid buyers in developing recovery plans that are appropriate for their global SC partners.

This paper provides an understanding of how emerging economy suppliers of global SCs are coping with this unprecedented outbreak in regard to sustainability management. Moving the spotlight from buyers to suppliers, the research demonstrates that supplier learning is central to global SC sustainability.

The purpose of this paper is to optimise and characterise the sensory aspects of gelatos flavoured with different types of coffee preparations (brewed, espresso and soluble), to select the most acceptable formulation and investigate the influence of hedonic claims on the consumer acceptance of this product.

First, the optimal concentration of each coffee type (brewed, soluble and espresso) to be added to the gelato was determined using the just-about-right scale. Second, the acceptance and purchase intentions towards gelatos flavoured with different concentrations of each type of coffee were determined. Finally, the most acceptable concentration for each flavour was selected based on purchase intentions and three other hedonic claims (i.e. texture, flavour and overall impression).

The estimated optimal concentrations of coffee (in relation to syrup) were found to be 111.09, 135.31 and 59.38 per cent for brewed, espresso and soluble coffee, respectively. Gelatos flavoured with soluble coffee were accepted more readily and associated with higher purchase intentions based on the evaluated sensory attributes (i.e. colour, taste, texture, softness and overall impression). The sensory perceptions towards these gelatos did not change significantly based on the evaluated hedonic claims (“coffee”, “soluble coffee” and “gourmet coffee”). This reveals that consumers may not be influenced by specific information and/or hedonic claims in the case of coffee gelatos.

Besides encouraging the availability of a variety of coffee products on the market, this work also supports future studies aimed at the optimization of coffee products from a sensory perspective.

Sustainable food consumption is crucial to protect the environment and to promote a better quality of life. Our study analyses and compares the causes, perceived consequences of food waste and practices to mitigate it in supermarkets and restaurants.

We conducted 17 semi-structured interviews with managers or other responsible persons with mastery of information about food waste of restaurants (self-service and à la carte) and supermarkets. The data were analysed via thematic content analysis.

The leading causes of food waste for the interviewed supermarkets and restaurants were improper handling by the staff, ineffective stock control management and lack of employee training. Supermarkets perceived other causes such as inadequate food packaging, refrigeration and temperature issues and dishonesty of carriers. The perceived consequences of food waste were mainly related to the economic aspect. Regarding adopting practices to reduce waste, some highlights are employee training, waste management by a specialized employee, assertive demand forecasting, meal preparation in the store and food donation. Just the supermarkets employ price reduction as a practice to reduce food waste. We concluded that, in general, supermarkets perceive more causes for waste than restaurants but do not necessarily present practices to mitigate these additional causes.

This research expanded the scope of studies about food waste and reveals procedures that those in charge can implement to reduce food waste. Our study analysed the causes, practices and consequences of food waste in two types of food channels (supermarkets and restaurants, in different formats). The literature does not clearly disclose aspects assigned to different food marketing channels, especially in emerging economies.

The purpose of this study is to highlight how the digitalization of a public university through a structured Business Process Management (BPM) approach allows for a significant performance improvement, even in a bureaucratized context not inclined to process thinking.

The used research methodology centers on a single case study conducted at an Italian public university. The selected process has been examined and redesigned within the BPM lifecycle framework. The AS-IS and TO-BE state, i.e. before and after the organizational change, have been modeled according to BPMN2.0 notation and evaluated through quantitative and qualitative techniques.

The authors first carried out a literature review to identify pertinent performance indicators suitable for assessing a BPM project within a public organization. Secondarily, applying the BPM framework to the case study enabled significant improvements in the quality of the process. Third, the authors analyzed the impact on people and the organization and how to soothe the transition to a digitalized process.

The study’s findings can contribute to the existing body of knowledge on BPM as a digitalization approach in the public sector. The case study is the first of its kind in the higher education context. Its value also resides in highlighting the efficacy of using BPM as a guiding tool for making organizational and technical decisions during the implementation phase within the specific context of this paper.