scholarly journals Responding to the Impact of the COVID-19 on Food Value Chains – Case of Industry Practice

Author(s):  
Slobodan Antić

Supply chain operations in food value chains includes all logistics activities that enable the flow of agriculture inputs, outputs, and agriculture-related services, such as transportation, warehousing, procurement, packaging and inventory management. The efficacy of logistics is critical for the agri-food sector, in particular in times of crisis. Disruptions can cause adverse impacts on the quality of food, freshness, its safety, and can impede access to markets and affordability. The COVID-19 pandemic caused that the governments around the world implemented different measures, including a reduction in the transportation of goods (ground, ocean freight and air freight), as well as migration of labour domestically and internationally. In order to stop the transmission of the disease workers are less available in transportation systems because restrictions across borders. These issues induce disruptions in the logistics of the food supply chains. The contemporary business environment in COVID-19 pandemic environment imposes an increased need for the development of decision-support tools. The Shadow IT solution will be described on the example of the inventory control model for frozen fruit wholesale, implemented as a spreadsheet application.

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 106
Author(s):  
Bader A. Alyoubi

Big Data is gaining rapid popularity in e-commerce sector across the globe. There is a general consensus among experts that Saudi organisations are late in adopting new technologies. It is generally believed that the lack of research in latest technologies that are specific to Saudi Arabia that is culturally, socially, and economically different from the West, is one of the key factors for the delay in technology adoption in Saudi Arabia. Hence, to fill this gap to a certain extent and create awareness about Big Data technology, the primary goal of this research was to identify the impact of Big Data on e-commerce organisations in Saudi Arabia. Internet has changed the business environment of Saudi Arabia too. E-commerce is set for achieving new heights due to latest technological advancements. A qualitative research approach was used by conducting interviews with highly experienced professional to gather primary data. Using multiple sources of evidence, this research found out that traditional databases are not capable of handling massive data. Big Data is a promising technology that can be adopted by e-commerce companies in Saudi Arabia. Big Data’s predictive analytics will certainly help e-commerce companies to gain better insight of the consumer behaviour and thus offer customised products and services. The key finding of this research is that Big Data has a significant impact in e-commerce organisations in Saudi Arabia on various verticals like customer retention, inventory management, product customisation, and fraud detection.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1046
Author(s):  
Nicola Francesconi ◽  
Fleur Wouterse ◽  
Dorothy Birungi Namuyiga

While the health impact of COVID-19 in most African countries appears modest, the impact of social distancing measures, closing of markets and reduced mobility is felt across the board. Domestic, labor-intensive and traditional food value chains and the smallholders they serve appear to be particularly affected. During a systemic shock where idiosyncratic risk coping strategies fail, collective or organizational resilience becomes of the essence to protect the livelihoods of smallholders. In this study, we have used pre- and during-shock data on agricultural cooperatives from Southeast Africa to understand how resilient these smallholder-owned organizations are. We find that many organizations could not countervail market-disruptions and fell into a state of dormancy during the pandemic. One reason for this is that collective decision-making was heavily affected by the banning of gatherings. Only a few organizations devised innovative solutions to maintain the market linkages of rural smallholders. The lack of resilience demonstrated by most cooperatives appears to be associated with organizational immaturity, large membership size, elite capture and limited business-orientation, which underscore a general lack of managerial capital.


2016 ◽  
Vol 118 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Blake E. Angelo ◽  
Becca B.R. Jablonski ◽  
Dawn Thilmany

Purpose A body of literature and case studies has developed as part of the reporting, outreach and evaluation of the local and regional food system projects supported by grants and other funders. Yet, there is concern that food value chains are promoted without adequately evaluating the viability of these businesses, or how these markets affect the performance and welfare of key stakeholders: farm vendors and local communities/economies. Design/methodology/approach This paper reviews and summarizes a comprehensive set of U.S.-based case studies focused on food value chains. We conduct a meta-analysis to systematically capture what available case study evidence tells us about: 1) trends in the viability of food value chain businesses; 2) the impact of these businesses on participating farm vendors; and, 3) the associated community economic development outcomes (framed in terms of ‘wealth creation’). Findings In addition to sharing findings from the meta-analysis, we demonstrate how the lack of standardized protocols for case study development is a barrier to learning about metric comparisons, best practices, and what impacts these food value chain businesses may have. We conclude with some recommendations of how the field can move forward to evaluate and share lessons learned using more uniform, project-driven case study development. Originality/value This is the first study to conduct a systematic meta-analysis of U.S. food value chain businesses.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonella Di Fonzo ◽  
Vanessa Nardone ◽  
Negin Fathinejad ◽  
Carlo Russo

More than 25 years after the 1991 reform of the Union for the Protection of New Plant Varieties (UPOV) treaty, the regulation of Plant Variety Protection (PVP) is still controversial. While the incentives to private innovations are unquestionable, concerns have been raised about farmers’ access to resources, the weakening of their bargaining power, their entrepreneurial freedom, and ultimately their welfare. Our paper investigates the effect of PVP regulation on the governance of agri-food value chains (AFVC) with a small-scale survey of kiwi producers in Italy. We found that AFVC trading-protected (club) plant varieties are more likely to exhibit captive governance forms than those trading the free varieties. Nevertheless, the producers of club kiwis achieve higher returns from their investments and bear less risk than others. Because of the high demand for the club fruits, the breeders must give farmers highly profitable contract terms in order to elicit the production and to promote the adoption of the new cultivar. As a consequence, farmers are capturing a share of the value of innovation, even if the breeders have a strong protection. The long-run sustainability of this win-win agreement between breeders and farmers might be jeopardized should the demand for the new varieties fall.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6551
Author(s):  
Gaëlle Petit ◽  
Gwenola Yannou-Le Bris ◽  
Claudia Eckert ◽  
Yan Liu

The transition of existing food value chains towards greater sustainability is a societal imperative and a potential competitive factor. To succeed, some actors in the chains define new practices to establish common sustainability goals. To date, there is little evidence that the visions and values of the various actors in the chains have been leading to common solutions. This work explores the impact of collaboration on the value chain actors’ ability to jointly decide strategies for redesigning their activities. It reports on an empirical approach, which elicits the values and priorities of different stakeholders. The case takes place in the context of a value chain of the production/processing/sale of pork products. This value chain involves two French production-processing and redistribution cooperatives. Stakeholders were questioned about their prioritization of sustainability issues and these weights were applied to evaluate 12 animal feed solutions that vary in terms of the composition and geographical origin of rations, and the means and locations of their production. The results show that despite several years of cooperation, the objectives of the upstream and downstream actors remain different. The objectives of the upstream actors are driven by the economic difficulties of production and those of the downstream actors by the multiplicity of consumer demands and cost control objectives. In a reversal of the current practice marked by the economic difficulties of the actors upstream of the chain, an integrated culture could be led by bottom-up approaches to create a shared vision. Public policy would be then essential in regulating the sharing of value among actors; and in promoting chain models that help the required investments.


2020 ◽  
pp. 29-67
Author(s):  
Nikos Vettas ◽  
◽  
Konstantinos Peppas ◽  
Sophia Stavraki ◽  
Michail Vasileiadis

The scope of the study is to examine the impact of various factors on the growth of Greek industrial firms, in order to identify those that can contribute to a gradual recovery of Industry in the coming years. In this context, we estimate a firm growth model with the Quantile Regression econometric method, using an unbalanced panel dataset of 18,143 companies that were active in Greek Industry over the period 2005-2018. The explanatory variables used are firm-, sectorand macroeconomic environment-specific. Further, we estimate the effects on firm growth from the structural reforms related to business environment and from the sector’s participation in global value chains within or beyond the EU. The estimations highlight the positive effect on firm growth from exports and the reduction in the time and cost required to export, the availability of funding from the banking sector and the stock market, as well as from the reduction in the cost and procedures to start a business. Positive effects also stem from the participation of the faster-growing Greek industrial companies in value chains mainly outside the EU. By contrast, high corporate debt to banks, adverse macroeconomic conditions, energy costs and the participation of businesses other than the faster-growing ones in value chains in EU countries have a negative impact on firm growth. The latter effect is possibly due to the strong competition that these businesses face in the European markets. Some differences appear when estimates are made for the subsamples of high and low performance industrial sectors in terms of economic activity, financial efficiency, innovativeness and extroversion. The study includes policy recommendations based on the results of the estimations, to support growth in Industry. These concern the reduction of energy costs, the change in the depreciation method for investments in machinery and equipment, as well as the financing of the sector.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 4-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashraf Mohammad Salem Alrjoub ◽  
Muhannad Akram Ahmad

Several studies have examined the relationship between inventory management and firm performance. However, most of these studies ignore the impact of inventory types on the relationship. Moreover, the relationship is influenced by some factors such as cost of capital which has not been considered. This study examines the moderating effect of cost of capital on the relationship between inventory types and firm performance. The data of 48 firms for the period 2010-2016 which formed 279 firm-year observations were used in this study. With the use of Pearson correlation and panel Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimation, the findings show that inventory management with consideration of its types influence firm performance in the long term. In addition, it is also found that cost of capital moderates the relationship between inventory management and firm performance. However, the interaction between cost of capital and inventory types has different implications. It is suggested that firms should consider cost of capital when making decision on inventory types and align their inventory control to fit in to the changes in their business environment.


Author(s):  
D. Mukha

The article is devoted to the study of the phenomenon of Industry 4.0, the impact of the fourth industrial revolution on the key aspects of the companies’ economic activity, including multinational corporations. It was revealed how Industry 4.0 affects the placement and organization of global value chains. It was established that Industry 4.0 technologies contribute to the transformation of existing and the emergence of new (digital) business models, thanks to which companies can achieve a significant reduction in their own costs, gain additional income and enter international markets. It shows how Industry 4.0 can influence investment decisions, change the global flows and directions of foreign direct investment. As a result of the research, conclusions are drawn about the role of Industry 4.0 in the transformation of the business environment, industries, markets, and economy as a whole.


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