Search results for " Supply chain"
showing 10 items of 96 documents
The stakeholder's perception of socio-economic impacts generated by COVID-19 pandemic within the Italian aquaculture systems.
2021
From the beginning of March 2020 and for the following two and half months, many European countries comprising Italy have been forced into an unprecedented lockdown, allowing only the opening of essential economic activities needed to address the problems created by the pandemic (e.g. sanitary, food provision). Like many sectors of the Italian economy, aquaculture has also slowed down due to the ongoing emergency and the consequent closure of business. In our study we provided a ‘snapshot’ of the socio-economic effects of the lockdown on the aquaculture sector in Italy, immediately following the adoption of the COVID-19 restrictions as they were perceived by the workers. Although it was sur…
Arborescent Supply Chains: the effect of OUT policies
2013
The objective of this paper is to analyze the impact of the smoothing replenishment rules on a divergent supply chain. To this purpose we simulate a classical four echelon serially- linked supply chain model and an arborescent supply chain model under two scenarios, i.e. classical OUT and smoothing replenishment rule. We show that the divergent supply chain structure always performs worse than the serial supply chain and how smoothing the order pattern may decrease this discrepancy.
The influence of reverse flow on the dynamics of closed-loop supply chains
2014
The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of reverse logistics’ factors on the order and inventory variance amplification in a closed-loop supply chain. We adopt a difference equation math approach for analysing a closed-loop supply chain. Results show how the return flow positively affects both the inventory variance and the bullwhip effect independently of the number of echelons. On the contrary, an increasing remanufacturing lead-time negatively affects both the two metrics studied independently of the above mentioned settings. However, when the number of echelons increases, the benefit provided by the return flow tends to decrease.
COVID-19 Drives Consumer Behaviour and Agro-Food Markets towards Healthier and More Sustainable Patterns
2020
This study examines the extant state of research into our understanding of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic in its early stages on food-purchasing behaviour. As such, it includes a summary and categorisation of the findings, extending to consumption preferences worldwide. After the indiscriminate stockpiling of food, which was witnessed in many countries following the implementation of the lockdown, the impact of COVID-19 (COronaVIrus Disease-2019) on consumer habits has inversely varied in function of personal attitudes, individual and household experiences, and characteristics. Specific contexts, and the financial, economic, and logistic nature of these contexts, have also been foun…
Alternatives to the traditional waste management: Food recovery for human non-profit organizations
2015
Food supply chains are affected by losses of products which become poorly attractive for the consumers as they get close to their expiration date, therefore remaining unsold on the shelves. Such situation is ethically depreciable considering that many undernourished people rely on non-profit organizations for their survival. Despite of this situation, food recovery through the supply chain is still scarcely practiced, and the potential benefits achievable are frequently ignored. The paper presents a mathematical model for the coordination of the supply chain operating a food recovery policy. The model determines the optimal time for withdrawing the products from the shelves and the quantity…
The Challenges Underlying Firm Revival and Resilience in the Post-COVID-19 Phase
2022
Covid-19 is an exogenous shock that has deeply modified the basic building blocks and the micro-mechanisms on which socio-economic systems and organizations rest. The vast majority of both factor markets and final markets have been significantly disrupted on a worldwide scale. As all factors that determine severe crises, the Covid-19 pandemic is a low probability and high impact shock which has significantly changed the environment in which firms operate (Grewal and Tansuhaj 2001, Hudecheck et al. 2020). Such changes have nonetheless been asymmetric, whilst they have menaced the survival of a huge number of firms and have brought to their knees many key industries, it has also ignited rapid…
From the LCA of food products to the environmental assessment of protected crops districts: A case-study in the south of Italy
2010
In the present study, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was applied to evaluate the energy consumption and environmental burdens associated with the production of protected crops in an agricultural district in the Mediterranean region. In this study, LCA was used as a ‘support tool’, to address local policies for sustainable production and consumption patterns, and to create a ‘knowledge base’ for environmental assessment of an extended agricultural production area. The proposed approach combines organisation-specific tools, such as Environmental Management Systems and Environmental Product Declarations, with the environmental management of the district. Questionnaires were distribute…
How alternative food networks work in a metropolitan area? An analysis of Solidarity Purchase Groups in Northern Italy
2019
AbstractOur paper focuses on Solidarity Purchase Group (SPG) participants located in a highly urbanized area, with the aim to investigate the main motivations underlining their participation in a SPG and provide a characterization of them. To this end, we carried out a survey of 795 participants involved in 125 SPGs in the metropolitan area of Milan (Italy). Taking advantage of a questionnaire with 39 questions, we run a factor analysis and a two-step cluster analysis to identify different profiles of SPG participants. Our results show that the system of values animating metropolitan SPG practitioners does not fully conform to that traditionally attributed to an alternative food network (AF…
Role of alternative food networks in Sicilian farms
2014
Today the short supply chain can be carried out through several typologies which are called as alternative food networks (AFNs). In fact, according to some studies, it is an 'alternative' response to the dominant agro-food system, which offers the possibility to produce food products through supply chains that are opposed to long, complex and rationally organised industrial chains. In the last years many European farmers adopted short supply chain to commercialise their agro-food products and Italy is one of the EU members in which AFNs are developed, thanks to its numerous typical an local products. The aim of this paper has been to analyse the role that AFNs play in Sicilian farms and how…
Agri-food Supply Chain Traceability for Fruit and Vegetable Cooperatives Using Blockchain Technology
2019
Blockchain se ha convertido en una tecnología disruptiva que tiene la capacidad de transformar la industria agroalimentaria, puesto que promete resolver muchos problemas relacionados con la falta de confianza en la trazabilidad y el producto que adquieren los consumidores. Sin embargo, las partes implicadas en la cadena de suministro de productos agroalimentarios son numerosas y están físicamente dispersas, lo que dificulta el manejo de datos e información. Como resultado, el proceso de producción no es transparente y la confianza es difícil de construir. Para ser más exitosas en la economía globalizada actual, las cooperativas deben focalizarse en ofrecer mayor transparencia. Este document…