The dark side of sustainable dairy supply chains

Chrysalis of crisis: Covid-19 as a catalyst for awakening power and justice in a luxury fashion supply chain

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to understand how supply chain actors in an Italian cashmere supply chain reacted to dependence and power use during the Covid-19 crisis and how this affected their perceptions of justice.

Design/methodology/approach

The research took a case study approach exploring issues of dependence, power and justice in a multi-tier luxury cashmere supply chain.

Findings

The authors found two types of dependence: Craftmanship-induced buyer dependence and Market-position-induced supplier dependence. The authors also identified four key archetypes emerging from the dynamics of dependence, power and justice during Covid-19. In the repressive archetype, buying firms perceive their suppliers as dependent and use mediated power through coercive tactics, leading the suppliers to perceive interactional, procedural and distributive injustice and use reciprocal coercive tactics against the buying firms in the form of coopetition. In the restrictive archetype, buying firms that are aware of their dependence on their suppliers use mediated power through contracts, with suppliers perceiving distributive injustice and developing ways to circumvent the brands. In the relational archetype, the awareness of craftmanship-induced buyer dependence leads buying firms to use non-mediated power through collaboration, but suppliers still do not perceive distributive justice, as there is no business security or future orders. In the resilient archetype, buying firms are aware of their own craftmanship-induced dependence and combine mediated and non-mediated power by giving the suppliers sustainable orders, which leads suppliers to perceive each justice type positively.

Originality/value

This paper shows how the actors in a specific supply chain react to and cope with one of the worst health crises in living memory, thereby providing advice for supply chain management in future crises.

The effects of power imbalance on supply chain sustainability adoption: evidence from the artisanal fishing industry

Purpose

Grounded on resource dependence theory, the authors explored how power and dependence affect sustainability adoption in an artisanal fishing supply chain (AFSC) in Mexico.

Design/methodology/approach

An in-depth longitudinal case study was conducted to identify relationships among fishers, a cooperative and intermediaries using a content analysis of data gathered from a combination of interviews, focus groups, observations, participatory workshops and secondary data.

Findings

As a result of the existing power imbalance among AFSC members, mediated forces (e.g. rewards for intermediary–fishers relationship) were the most prominent observed. In addition, a close and high dependence on resources affecting supply chain sustainability (SCS) adoption was identified. For example, within intermediary–cooperative relationships, a power imbalance caused mostly by financial resource dependence generated a negative impact on economic sustainability related to unfair prices and unfair trade. The results, thus, showed the detrimental influence of intermediaries among AFSC members on SCS adoption.

Practical implications

A greater understanding of power imbalance and dependence can help AFSC members to identify their weaknesses and develop actions to adopt sustainability.

Originality/value

Unlike previous research, the authors go beyond the often positive research focus of SCS studies and provide, through the resource dependence theory, a longitudinal view on how power imbalance negatively affects SCS adoption.

Framing Political Issues in Food System Transformative Changes

The paper addresses political issues related to policy interventions for food system sustainability. It presents the results of a literature review, which explores how the concept of power has been used so far by scholars of food system dynamics. Articles numbering 116 were subjected to an in-depth qualitative analysis, which allowed the identification of three main strands of the literature with respect to food and power issues: (1) marketing and industrial organisation literature, dealing with the economic power exercised by economic actors in contexts of noncompetitive market structures; (2) articles addressing the power issue from a political economy perspective and by using an interdisciplinary approach; (3) heterogenous studies. The results of the review witness a growing interest for the analysis of food systems, political issues, and the need of a wider use of analytical tools and concepts offered by social sciences for the study of power in sustainability policy design.

Linking green supply chain management practices with competitiveness during covid 19: The role of big data analytics

Although the global green supply chain management (GSCM) practice has attracted considerable scholarly attention, its efficacy for environmental management systems (EMS) and market competitiveness during Covid-19 has not been fully capitalized. Therefore, the existing literature indicates that the important link between GSCM, EMS, and market competitiveness is missing as supply management is crucial to maintaining market competitiveness. To fill this research gap, the current study examines whether EMS affects the relationship between GSCM practices and market competitiveness. We also propose the moderating role of big data analytics and artificial intelligence (BDA-AI) and environmental visibility on these associations from a Covid-19 perspective. We tested a proposed model using the primary data (N = 283) from regression-based structural equation modeling (SEM). The results provide empirical support for the impact of GSCM on ESM and market competitiveness. Furthermore, the results show that BDA-AI and environmental visibility strengthen the positive relationship between GSCM-EMS and EMS and market competitiveness, respectively. Current research provides thoughtful insights for supply chain practitioners, policymakers, managers, and academics that organizations should opt for formal EMS, BDA-AI, and environmental visibility to achieve market competitiveness, even in times of crisis such as Covid-19.

An integrated literature review on sustainable food supply chains: Exploring research themes and future directions

The sustainable food supply chain (SFSC) is a research area of global significance. The increasing number of research articles in SFSC justifies this. With 80% of publications in SFSC coming up in the last 7 years, this field is expanding and diversifying at a rapid rate. The research on sustainable food supply chain (SFSC) covers a wide variety of areas and has a wide range of research themes in FSC. To facilitate the theoretical understanding of SFSC, we have conducted a review of the literature on SFSC. With the aim to define prominent research themes in SFSC, we follow an integrated review approach of structured literature review (SLR), bibliometric analysis, and thematic analysis. Bibliometric analysis was conducted using the vosviewer software version 1.6.16. The thematic analysis identified- "Waste management", "SC sustainability and impact assessment", "Decision support", "Operations management and optimization", "Food quality and safety", "Sustainable business models", "Innovation and technological solution", "SC strategy", and "Social sustainability" as the key emergent themes. We discuss the conceptual and theoretical basis of each of these themes. "SC sustainability and impact assessment" is identified as the most dominant theme in SFSC. Innovation and technological solution is an emerging theme with many new publications related to disruptive technologies coming up. Research in collaboration and decision theory-based approaches is important to enable sustainability in FSC. Quantifying waste streams, identifying hotspots are important future directions of research in SFSCM. Circular economy, AFSC, and the use of advanced technologies to enable circularity and sustainability also have great scope. The review aims to help researchers and academicians understand the boundaries and domain of SFSC and the future scope of these themes about how they can enhance the sustainability in SFSC.

Resilience in food processing supply chain networks: empirical evidence from the Indian dairy operations

Purpose

This paper identifies sources of disruptions that impede resilience in the dairy supply chain in an emerging economy context.

Design/methodology/approach

A case study approach is used. The unit of analysis is the Indian dairy supply chain (IDSC). Data were collected from nine major dairy cooperatives and five major private firms operating across the Indian states. A total of 28 face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted with two individuals from each case dairy organisation during January 2016 to December 2017.

Findings

Disruption sources in the IDSC are both external and internal and impact the quality of products and the distribution network. Compared to developed economies, in an emerging economy context such as India, the number of disruptions is very high. These disruptions negatively impact resilience and affect efficiency, flexibility, responsiveness and product quality.

Research limitations/implications

The findings stress the importance of integration across upstream and downstream processes in the IDSC. However, contextual factors should also be considered when designing the supply chain configuration. Small supply sources may be conceptualised as distributed sources that can be consolidated on the move using logistics and IT-enabled solutions. Moreover, the underlying processes of the dairy supply chain need to adapt to the external environment, and internal causes of disruptions should be eliminated through process redesign.

Practical implications

The findings highlight that the efficient operation of the IDSC is challenged by disruptions, the fragmentation of various stages and poor support infrastructure. The findings may be useful in managing supply networks which have linkages in emerging economies.

Social implications

The upstream stage of the IDSC involves many small- and medium-sized unorganised producers. The overall inefficiency and poor value generation across the entire IDSC constrain the livelihood and interests of these unorganised producers. Therefore, supply chain design needs to be aligned with social context.

Originality/value

The central contribution of this article is to present sources of disruptions that impact dairy supply chain performance in an emerging economy context. Areas requiring process improvement are also highlighted.

Consumer Choice for Milk and Dairy in Romania: Does Income Really Have an Influence?

Milk and dairy are basic food products and their importance in healthy human development is well known. However, this does not mean that the consumers’ requests for these products are not evolving and fitting into the new context of sustainable development. By conducting a quantitative analysis on 847 answers regarding milk and dairy consumption offered by Romanian consumers, the objective of this study is to reveal what are the main factors of influence for respondents when choosing a milk or dairy product, and to see if these factors are evolving towards including sustainability-related aspects. The results point out that while price and store availability are still present as choice criteria, new aspects that might be related to a sustainable behavior, such as ecologic certification, country of origin or traditional products, are considered by the respondents when purchasing milk and dairy. However, this depends on the level of income; higher incomes allow respondents to consider new criteria.

Paradoxical tensions in sustainable supply chain management: insights from the electronics multi-tier supply chain context

Purpose

Managing supply chains (SCs) for sustainability often results in conflicting demands, which can be conceptualized as sustainability tensions. This paper studies sustainability tensions in electronics SC contexts and the related management responses by applying a paradox perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

A single case study on the electronics SC is conducted with companies and third-party organizations as embedded units of analysis, using semi-structured interviews that are triangulated with publicly available data.

Findings

The study identifies tension elements (learning, belonging, organizing and economic performing) conflicting with general social–ecological objectives in the electronics SC. The results indicate a hierarchal structure among the sustainability tensions in SC contexts. The management responses of contextualization and resolution are assigned to the identified tensions.

Practical implications

Framing social–ecological objectives with their conflicting elements as paradoxical tensions enables organizations and SCs to develop better strategies for responding to complex sustainability issues in SC contexts.

Originality/value

The study contributes toward filling the gap on paradoxical sustainability tensions in SCs. Empirical insights are gained from different actors in the electronics SC. The level of emergence and interconnectedness of sustainability tensions in a larger SC context is explored through an outside-in perspective.

The hidden side of sustainable operations and supply chain management: unanticipated outcomes, trade-offs and tensions

Purpose

The research is based on a critically analyzed literature review focused on the unanticipated outcomes, trade-offs and tensions of sustainable operations and supply chain management (OSCM), including the articles selected for this special issue.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors introduce the key concepts, issues and theoretical foundations of this special issue on “The hidden side of sustainable operations and supply chain management (OSCM): Unanticipated outcomes, trade-offs and tensions”. The authors explore these issues within this context, and how they may hinder the authors' transition to more sustainable practices.

Findings

The authors present an overview of unanticipated outcomes, trade-offs, tensions and influencing factors from the literature, and identify how such problems may emerge. The model addresses these problems by highlighting the crucial effect of the underlying state of knowledge on sustainable OSCM decision-making.

Research limitations/implications

The authors limited the literature review to journals that ranked 2 and above as defined by the Chartered Association of Business Schools Academic Journal Guide. The main implication for research is a call to focus attention on unanticipated outcomes as a starting point rather than only an afterthought. For practitioners, good intentions such as sustainability initiatives need careful consideration for potential unanticipated outcomes.

Originality/value

The study provides the first critical review of unanticipated outcomes, trade-offs and tensions in the sustainable OSCM discourse. While the literature review (including papers in this special issue) significantly contributes toward describing these issues, it is still unclear how such problems emerge. The model developed in this paper addresses this gap by highlighting the crucial effect of the underlying state of knowledge concerned with sustainable OSCM decision-making.