scholarly journals Eco-innovation as a driver in the agri-food value chain: an empirical study on durum wheat in Italy

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Blasi ◽  
C. Monotti ◽  
L. Ruini ◽  
C. Landi ◽  
G. Avolio ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Empirical Study ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Durum Wheat ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
And Diffusion ◽  
Food Value ◽  
Social And Environmental Impacts

This research is a first attempt to assess the economic, social and environmental impacts related to the diffusion of an eco-innovation in the durum wheat sourcing and supply chain. Barilla Sustainable Farming is taken as a case study to describe the process of the introduction and diffusion of an innovative practice whose benefits could be transferred to all sourcing and supply chain actors. The eco-innovation is described and analysed, from its origin through its development into ‘theoretical’ and ‘in-field experimentations’, to get to the final empirical analysis (via focus groups), aimed at assessing the possible impact of the initiative in economic and environmental terms, as well as at understanding the main drivers of success of the eco-innovation in terms of increase in value across the sourcing and supply chain.

Developing design literacy through brand-based artefacts

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Catarina LELIS
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Study ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Basic Design ◽  
Willingness To Participate ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
Interaction Structure ◽  
Functional Prototype ◽  
High Willingness

The brand is a powerful representational and identification-led asset that can be used to engage staff in creative, sustainable and developmental activities. Being a brand the result of, foremost, a design exercise, it is fair to suppose that it can be a relevant resource for the advancement of design literacy within organisational contexts. The main objective of this paper was to test and validate an interaction structure for an informed co-design process on visual brand artefacts. To carry on the empirical study, a university was chosen as case study as these contexts are generally rich in employee diversity. A non-functional prototype was designed, and walkthroughs were performed in five focus groups held with staff. The latter evidenced a need/wish to engage with basic design principles and high willingness to participate in the creation of brand design artefacts, mostly with the purposeof increasing its consistent use and innovate in its representation possibilities, whilst augmenting the brand’s socially responsible values.

scholarly journals When Amazon ate Whole Foods: big changes for Big Food

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 615-622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Phillips-Connolly ◽  
Aidan J. Connolly
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Food Preferences ◽  
Grocery Store ◽  
Grocery Stores ◽  
Processed Food ◽  
Food Supply Chain ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
Food Value

The grocery store is ground zero in the tsunami of change facing Big Food. Consumers are changing how they relate to grocery stores, increasingly circling the perimeter, focusing on produce and preferentially choosing fresh, local, and new, even unknown, brands while spending less time in the processed food aisles in the center. The next generation, the millenials, are increasingly shunning traditional outlets when buying food. Traditional leading brands of processed food, backed by traditional marketing strategies (heavy advertising on traditional media, coupons, brand extensions, etc.) are failing to hold on to their customers. The challenges can be found throughout the food value chain, from new competitors for grocery providers to new delivery mechanisms, from changes in generational food preferences with social media platforms to express their preferences to farmers who increasingly can and want to communicate directly with the end-users who actually eat the food that they produce. This access to more information opens more options (and opportunities) to buyers and suppliers all along the food value chain. Barely 100 years old, the grocery store model is becoming obsolete, and with it the organization of the food value chain must be re-written. So what does that mean for Big Food and the food supply chain? What directions can the industry take to adjust to the new competitive realities? This paper offers direction and guidance for Big Food and other producers in the food supply chain.

Supply chain, geographical indicator and blockchain: provenance model for commodity

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohita Gangwar Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Institutional Theory ◽  
Supply Chains ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Value Distribution ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
The Right ◽  
Theory Framework

PurposeMany commodity supply chains suffer from an unfair value distribution across the supply chain like “Coffee Paradox.” This study explores the coffee supply chain to determine how the country of origin–geographical indicator can be used as a method of fair distribution of value and provenance across the supply chain effectuated by the blockchain technology. By looking at an exemplar case study for India, this study provides insights into diverse research streams and practice.Design/methodology/approachBased on the case method, analyzing the implementation of blockchain in the coffee industry by a leading Indian software implementation of the logic, dynamics and forces for a provenance model has been devised. It further adopts a stakeholder cum institutional theory framework to understand the logical implementation of a blockchain project embedded in a territorial logic for a commodity supply chain.FindingsThis study specifically looks at coffee which is representative of a commodity supply chain. It also explores how the malaise of unfair value distribution gets addressed by bringing farmers and the consumers on a common platform facilitated by blockchain technology. This study contributes to the literature on blockchain, territory, commodity and supply chain. Using stakeholder cum institutional theory, this study helps to explore how the implementation is successful by different actors in the supply chain through collaboration.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides a new stream of multi-disciplinary study at the interface of supply chain, technology, international trade and geography.Practical implicationsBlockchains are embedded in the supply chain, and supply chains are embedded in territories. This linkage is paramount and the ability to make these blockchain projects successful requires the deep study of the interaction of territory, technology and actors from the provenance angle. De-commodification of coffee can be actualized through blockchain.Social implicationsThe coffee paradox and skewed value distribution is also a social problem wherein the farmers do not get the right price of their produce and are exploited. This case also highlights how this social malaise can be addressed and rightful and equitable distribution of value happens across the value chain.Originality/valueThis linkage between territory, blockchain, commodity supply chain and institutions has not been discussed in the literature. Adopting the territorial design approach, this study is an attempt to stimulate inter-disciplinary conversations and thereby create a provenance framework for commodity and research questions for scholars from different disciplines and divergent disciplinary perspectives.

scholarly journals Accounting for Carbon Footprint Flows in Wine Production Process. Case Study in Spanish Winery

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (23) ◽  
pp. 8381
Author(s):  
Miguel Marco-Fondevila ◽  
José M. Moneva ◽  
Fernando Llena-Macarulla
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Production Process ◽  
Carbon Footprint ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Corporate Image ◽  
Accounting System ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Wine Production

Companies are gradually becoming conscious about the necessity of reducing their environmental impact and adopting low-carbon strategies in order to cope with increasing institutional and social demands. However, remaining competitive while reducing the environmental impact and improving the corporate image requires adopting sophisticated mechanisms boosting eco-efficiency and keeping costs tight. Material Flows Cost Accounting (MFCA) is an instrument that allows the monitoring of, measurement of, and accounting for physical and monetary processes along the production process. If extended to the supply chain, and applied to the energy usage and CO2 emissions, it allows one to account for the Carbon Footprint (CF) of a company and its products at any given stage of the value chain. The current paper presents a case study developed under the framework of a three-year project to introduce an energy use and carbon emissions monitoring and accounting system in a large winery company in Spain, based on the MFCA approach and CF accountability. Including the supply chain of the company and the whole farming cycle of its main input, the case study presents the method and phases adopted to implement the project, its direct and indirect results and outcomes, and the conclusions that can be extracted, which may be inspirational for practitioners and scholars envisaging similar projects.

scholarly journals Perspectives on “Game Changer” Global Challenges for Sustainable 21st Century: Plant-Based Diet, Unavoidable Food Waste Biorefining, and Circular Economy

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1976 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jhuma Sadhukhan ◽  
Tom I. J. Dugmore ◽  
Avtar Matharu ◽  
Elias Martinez-Hernandez ◽  
Jorge Aburto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Food Waste ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Food Supply Chain ◽  
Sustainable Diet ◽  
Food Value ◽  
Game Changer

Planet Earth is under severe stress from several inter-linked factors mainly associated with rising global population, linear resource consumption, security of resources, unsurmountable waste generation, and social inequality, which unabated will lead to an unsustainable 21st Century. The traditional way products are designed promotes a linear economy that discards recoverable resources and creates negative environmental and social impacts. Here, we suggest multi-disciplinary approaches encompassing chemistry, process engineering and sustainability science, and sustainable solutions in “game changer” challenges in three intersecting arenas of food: Sustainable diet, valorisation of unavoidable food supply chain wastes, and circularity of food value chain systems aligning with the United Nations’ seventeen Sustainable Development Goals. In the arena of sustainable diet, comprehensive life cycle assessment using the global life cycle inventory datasets and recommended daily servings is conducted to rank food choices, covering all food groups from fresh fruits/vegetables, lentils/pulses and grains to livestock, with regard to health and the environment, to emphasise the essence of plant-based diet, especially plant-based sources of protein, for holistic systemic sustainability and stability of the earth system. In the arena of unavoidable food supply chain wastes, economically feasible and synergistically (energy and material) integrated innovative biorefinery systems are suggested to transform unavoidable food waste into functional and platform chemical productions alongside energy vectors: Fuel or combined heat and power generation. In the arena of circularity of food value chain systems, novel materials and methods for plant-based protein functionalisation for food/nutraceutical applications are investigated using regenerative bio-surfactants from unavoidable food waste. This circular economy or industrial symbiosis example thus combines the other two arenas, i.e., plant-based protein sourcing and unavoidable food waste valorisation. The multi-disciplinary analysis here will eventually impact on policies for dietary change, but also contribute knowledge needed by industry and policy makers and raise awareness amongst the population at large for making a better approach to the circular economy of food.

Evaluating Supply Chain Energy Use in a Smart Grid Paradigm

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amip J. Shah ◽  
Kiara Corrigan
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Energy Use ◽  
Small Subset ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Cost Structures ◽  
Energy Footprint ◽  
Electricity Use ◽  
Geographic Diversity

A key paradigm shift resulting from the intersection of the information technology (IT) and utility sectors is the availability of real-time data regarding energy use across different industries. Historically, ascertaining the energy costs across the value chain of a given product or service was a laborious and expensive task, requiring many months of data collection; several proxies or approximations for cases where measured data might not be cost-effectively available; and even then, the resulting energy footprint could have significant uncertainty based on time-of-measurement, geographic diversity of manufacturing sites, etc. As dynamic energy pricing begins to take hold and environmental externalities begin to be priced into existing cost structures, the ability to optimize a given value chain for minimal energy use becomes increasingly attractive. In this paper, we discuss an approach for leveraging dynamically available data alongside historical n-tier supply chain models to avail the ability for such optimization. The approach is illustrated for the case study of a computer manufacturer, where we find that metering electricity use at a small subset of sites can allow for a reasonable estimate of the total energy use across the supply chain.

scholarly journals Sustainable Collective Innovation in the Agri-Food Value Chain: The Case of the “Aureo” Wheat Supply Chain

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 5642
Author(s):  
Marcello Stanco ◽  
Concetta Nazzaro ◽  
Marco Lerro ◽  
Giuseppe Marotta
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Collective Innovation ◽  
Interpretative Model ◽  
Innovation Processes ◽  
Food Value ◽  
Chain Level

This paper contributes to the theoretical debate in agri-food economics on sustainable innovations. Specifically, it aims to define an interpretative model of sustainable innovation processes conceived at the supply chain level, and the determinants promoting these processes. The paper also proposes a best practice of sustainable collective innovation, namely the “Aureo” wheat supply chain. Sustainable collective innovation requires the commitment and involvement of all actors of the agri-food supply chain, while its effectiveness depends on the governance models adopted. The study findings validate the proposed theoretical framework, highlighting several economic, social, and environmental benefits that the process can provide. The results contribute to the debate on the topic, providing useful insights for practitioners and policy-makers.

scholarly journals Impact of Blockchain Adoption for Safe Food Supply Chain Management through System Dynamics Approach from Management Perspectives in Thailand

Proceedings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Tipmontian ◽  
Alcover ◽  
Rajmohan
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
System Dynamics ◽  
Value Chain ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Food Supply Chain ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
Block Chain ◽  
Safe Food ◽  
Food Value ◽  
Global Food

Today’s food supply chain is incredibly complex and imposes enormous challenges across the Globe. Products are transported through multimodal transportation internationally, comprising of combination of ship, rail, truck and flight modes etc. The supply chain under multistage network poses more quality related issues. Hence, blockchain technology helps to enhance food safety and quality in the logistics process. This, when coupled with the existing traceability system can create more agile value chain and closer customer relationship across regions. Though, Thailand is a leading food exporter, it lacks in implementation of blockchain technology. The objective of this study is to analyse the impact of blockchain technology adoption for safe food supply chain management through System Dynamics (SD) approach from management perspectives in Thailand. The preliminary survey and discussion were carried out with the participants from food expert firms, and causal loop diagrams and stock and flow diagrams were developed and validated. The trade-off, challenges and opportunities of applying block chain technology on the global food value supply chain has been discussed throughout the system dynamics model. The major contribution of this work is in providing insight into some of the main dimensions of block chain technology and its implications for global food value chain performance improvements.

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