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The purpose of this paper is to propose a practical method to elicit – in a manner grounded in fact – the “as is” supply chain strategy that a business unit currently has in place. It also proposes a framework to represent the supply chain strategy of a business unit in a clear and actionable manner.

A framework to represent the supply chain strategy of a business unit was developed through inductive theory generation. A method to elicit the current, “as is” supply chain strategy of a business unit was developed through collaborative management research projects and validated by several third-party projects.

In different projects – many conducted by third parties – the method was found to be a useful approach to elicit the “as is” supply chain strategy of a business unit. Practitioners found value in representing a supply chain strategy as a conceptual system serving as a logical bridge between the overall strategy and the supply chain operations of the business units.

The proposed framework may have limited scalability beyond a single business unit. The proposed method may be less useful when the supply chain strategy is undergoing a dramatic transformation, or when the participants from the company are either not fully engaged in the exercise or knowledgeable about the strategic rationale behind activities.

The paper provides an innovative approach to tap into the tacit knowledge of the organization to reveal the patterns of decisions underpinning its current supply chain strategy and to characterize the supply chain strategy of a business unit as a conceptual system.

The objective of this paper is to contribute to Australian berry supply chains with a relevant identification regarding the possible data driven interventions that stakeholders can take while the berries are in transit.

An exploratory series of semi-structured interviews was conducted through six Australian experts in the industry with more than 20 years of experience in Australian berry supply chains and the Australian perishable food industry, to identify key possible in-transit interventions that could be implemented in the Australian berry industry.

The analysis of the interviews revealed a total of 18 possible in-transit interventions. An important finding is that in-transit interventions are made possible by the use of real-time data gathered through IoT devices such as Active Radio Frequency Identification, Time and Temperature Indicators interacting with Wireless Sensor Networks. Another key finding is that Australian berry growers and retailers do possess the technologies and the resources necessary to make in-transit interventions possible, however they have yet applied these technologies to operational decision-making and interventions based on the product, rather focussing on supply chain transactions and events.

Since the research focusses on an Australian context, its findings may or may not be applicable to other countries. The research is exploratory in nature, and its findings should be verified by future research, in particular to test whether the in-transit interventions proposed here can be implemented in a cost-efficient way.

To the authors' knowledge, this publication is the first known academic article to provide a clear understanding of the Australian berry industry from a supply chain and logistics perspective, and the first to explore possible data driven in-transit interventions in perishable food supply chains.

This note explores the applicability of evaluation criteria to the problem of evaluating the supply chain strategy (SCS) of an organization. A discussion of SCS evaluation is relevant today, as the validity of the dominant approach – proposed two decades ago and based on matching types – has come into question. While evaluation criteria have a long history in other disciplines, they are new to SCS evaluation. To help supply chain (SC) scholars assess the applicability of evaluation criteria to SCS, this note proposes a tentative set of criteria and provides insights derived from the authors’ recent experience. We propose that the use of criteria for the evaluation of SCS may be a useful alternative, or at least a complement, to the dominant approach. These proposed criteria are currently being validated in a project with a company in Uruguay; we invite further empirical validation by third parties.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Greater understanding of a business unit’s actual rather than desired supply chain strategy can help identify where changes are needed and ensure it remain closely linked to the wider business strategy. Use of a relevant framework enables the tacit knowledge surrounding the supply chain function to become conceptualized and thus make the supply chain strategy more explicit.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the papers in context.

Since it became part of the fabric of postgraduate education in the post-war period, the Masters of Business Education has gone through innumerable challenges and changes to become what it is today, which is one of the most popular – and expensive – ways for graduates to further their education. Seeing growth that the organizations who sponsor its students could only dream about, the garlanded qualification is offered around the world in hundreds of different guises, and those three letters find themselves after the names of the great and good of business and political life.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.