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Identification, analysis and improvement of red meat supply chain strategies considering the impact of COVID-19 pandemic: a hybrid SWOT-QSPM approach in an emerging economy
Abstract
Purpose
In recent years, and especially during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the significant role of agriculture, specifically red meat, in household consumption has been increased. On the other hand, the lack of proper policymaking in the production and pricing of red meat and the lack of a comprehensive study on the beef supply chain has led to a reduction in the role of this protein product in the household food basket. Thus, in this research, comprehensive strategic planning considering the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic has been illustrated to overcome the aforementioned problems.
Design/methodology/approach
To study the intended objectives, first, using qualitative methods, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) to the studied company's supply chain in Iran were identified and then using the SWOT-Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM) technique, the surrounding strategies have been analysed.
Findings
The results indicate that the most important strength of the studied company is the “access to the red meat market of the retirement plan”; the most important weakness is the “lack of required and on-time funding, especially in the condition of the COVID-19 pandemic”; the highest-ranked opportunity is the “access to banking facilities” and the main threat to the company is the “COVID-19 pandemic limitations and health protocols”. In the same vein, by examining the attractiveness score of internal and external factors, it was observed that diversity and competitive strategies would have a higher priority. Finally, the QSPM illustrated that activating the full capacity of existing infrastructure has the highest priority.
Originality/value
According to the red meat supply chain and the link amongst different market levels, identifying, analysing and improving the beef supply chain is of particular importance. One of the threats facing the international community is the emergence of events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, which requires businesses to choose the right strategy to deal with the issue. Therefore, the main distinction of this study is to identify, analyse and improve the red meat supply chain of a real case due to the condition of the COVID-19 pandemic.
... In addition, a few studies have focused on consumer behavior and awareness (Amfo and Ali, 2021) and, specifically, on the effects of the increasing perception of meat products as having a high impact on climate change (Spendrup et al., 2019). Recent studies have investigated issues related to biodiversity protection (Leone, 2021), the effects of substitute products (Collier et al., 2021), and the impact of COVID-19 on the meat industry (Ijaz et al., 2021;Riahi Dorcheh et al., 2021). ...
... Financial considerations and related factors, such as issues related to value appropriation and negotiation power, have traditionally been identified by supply chain management studies as the primary source of pressure in partner selection (Riahi Dorcheh et al., 2021 Quantify the economic impact of the Water Stress Index, water footprint, and carbon footprint as indicators of the sustainability of the beef cattle fattening industry strategies and compare them with the economic value generated by that system ...
Purpose
This study comprehensively depicts the state of the art on sustainability research in the meat supply chain to advance the debate on challenges and issues associated with developing sustainable supply chain management practices.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a systematic literature review of 333 articles published in peer-reviewed journals and organized the extant literature into five areas of supply chain management practices: strategic orientation, continuity, collaboration, risk management, and proactivity.
Findings
Since 2016, the meat supply chain has received increasing scholarly attention. The literature shows the diffusion of highly heterogeneous sustainability practices related to multiple management areas and levels of analysis (institutional, industry, firm). The need for integrated, multilevel initiatives involving different stakeholders becomes increasingly crucial to the transition towards more sustainable meat supply chains.
Practical implications
This study highlights the importance of regulatory and stakeholder pressures in the sustainability transition. Beyond setting regulatory requirements, policymakers may facilitate the establishment of collaborations within the meat supply chain and foster the development of support services that help firms to integrate sustainability in their business models. The review also alerts entrepreneurs and managers to the benefits from cooperating with their supply chain partners to navigate the industry transition and thus more effectively respond to the demands of stakeholders and to the increasing customers’ awareness of sustainability issues.
Originality/value
This study is the first to systematize the corpus of knowledge on the sustainability of the meat supply chain by adopting a comprehensive approach to analyze relevant management and agriculture literature.
... Imports and government restrictions on transport and trade can obstruct food production and supply chains around the world. However, despite having enormous importance by themselves, price elasticity and income elasticity are not enough to explain changes in consumer purchasing behavior [16][17][18]. ...
... Considering the evidence presented in the literature in which concerns about animal welfare and environmental impact are the most frequent justifications for avoiding meat, it would be reasonable to assume that placing less emphasis on ethical considerations in food selection would encourage consumers to consume less beef or to avoid it altogether [18,24,58]. Therefore, many researchers suggest decreasing consumption in favor of reducing the environmental impact caused by the meat sector [18,24,58], while others encourage good production techniques since animal welfare standards can be improved, the health benefits of meat can be increased, and harmful effects on human health and the environment can be reduced through innovation and behavioral change [17,27,30,59]. ...
This cross-cultural study aimed to determine the main factors behind potential changes in eating habits by analyzing changes in the patterns of beef consumption currently observed in Brazil, Spain, and Turkey. To achieve this aim, 412 regular beef consumers from Brazil, 407 from Spain, and 424 from Turkey answered a self-administered questionnaire. The study surveyed the effects of economic factors, switching from beef to other sources of protein, aspects of credence, health-related concerns, the influence of lifestyle on beef consumption patterns, and purchasing decision factors. The most important factors that changed consumer behavior and resulted in a decrease in consumption, mostly among Brazilian and Turkish consumers, were the economics and accessibility of the products. Beef was replaced by other alternative sources of protein that were likewise derived from animals. The consumers whose purchasing intentions were most significantly influenced by credence factors (e.g., indiscriminate use of agricultural products, substandard animal welfare requirements, among others) were Brazilian and Turkish and, to a lesser degree, Spanish consumers. Lifestyle factors (e.g., consumption of out-of-home meals, available time to cook, among others) were demonstrated to alter consumption patterns and therefore must be carefully considered by the industry, taking into account cultural differences and consumer needs. The population under investigation considered that eating beef had no impact on their health.
... As the Agri-food industry is a mature sector that is characterised by increased competition due to overcapacity (Mokhtarzadeh et al., 2020a;Dorcheh et al., 2021), a growing number of entrepreneurial firms should look for ways to stay competitive and develop strategies that enable them to differentiate themselves from other firms (Rua et al., 2018). Accordingly, one of the most significant current discussions in entrepreneurship literature is to rely on the role of a strong brand as a significant competitive advantage enabling performance (Kaleka, 2011;Kozlenkova et al., 2014;Ding et al., 2020;Martin et al., 2020;Reimann et al., 2021). ...
... Iranian exporters of Agri-food products were studied, in that the country's economy is characterised by dependence on the entrepreneurship and export of agriculture and the food sector (Mokhtarzadeh et al., 2020a;Dorcheh et al., 2021). Using the database of the Federation of Iranian Food Industries Association, we located and identified 304 exporters. ...
Purpose - The purpose of the present study is to investigate the antecedents of export performance and branding advantage, as a key type of competitive advantage in export markets among entrepreneurs and managers of Agri-food exporters.
Design/ methodology/ approach - A sample of entrepreneurs from 182 exporting firms of the agriculture and food industry participated in a cross-sectional survey. The data was collected by a self-reporting questionnaire and partial least squares were used to analyse the data and assess the path model.
Findings - Results revealed that experiential resources strongly promote communication capabilities. Also, communication, distribution, and product development capabilities contribute to the creation of the branding advantage in export markets. In addition, a positive relationship between the branding advantage and export performance of Agri-food products is confirmed.
Research Limitations/Implications – The study targets exporters of Agri-food products. Hence, the results should be interpreted regarding the context of low-technology firms. Further, this paper delineates branding advantage considerations that managers need to account for to achieve effective exporting. Practitioners can efficaciously exploit resources to achieve a competitive advantage, considering that they focus on building capabilities, and in particular, communication capabilities.
Originality/value - The present study highlights the role of the branding advantage as an important type of competitive advantage in international entrepreneurship and export markets. It attempts to examine the combined relationships of resources and capabilities with branding advantage and export performance.
... Moreover, real-time information sharing and trust communication between the SMEs would result in their coevolution by moving from cooperation and collaboration towards co-creation (Duan et al., 2021). These outcomes would lead to CO 2 neutralisation, waste reduction, production and transportation effectiveness and efficiency, short LTs, integration of warehouses, price reduction, and other decarbonised resilient CLSC strategies recommended by scholars (Dorcheh et al., 2021). ...
Today's primary challenges in supply chains (SCs) include considerable greenhouse gas emissions, waste, and disruptions. Addressing these requires the examination of three interconnected SC paradigms, i.e. decarbonisation, resilience, and Closed-Loop SCs (CLSCs). This paper seeks to investigate and assess the criteria for decarbonised resilient CLSCs, as influenced by the global pandemic, specifically within the context of Iran's small and medium pharmaceutical enterprises, employing a mixed-method approach. Initially, a Systematic Literature Review was employed to identify a categorised list of decarbonised resilient CLSC criteria by determining the impact of COVID-19 on SCs. Afterwards, the list was indigenised via the fuzzy-Delphi method. Two popular Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision-Making methods, i.e. fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory and fuzzy Interpretive Structural Modelling-Matrix-based Multiplication Applied to a Classification (MICMAC), were then employed to investigate the finalised criteria. This paper has innovatively enhanced these methods by incorporating a multi-scenario analysis approach. The findings indicate that technological advancements, issues related to market and communication, and raw material markets significantly affect other criteria. Transportation and logistics are also crucial in reducing lead times, waste, and CO2 emissions. Two countermeasures are recommended for senior managers, i.e. (i) the identification and application of suitable basic and advanced technologies across each SC process and (ii) engaging in a coevolutionary process beginning with SMEs' cooperation and collaboration towards their co-creation. The importance of regulatory bodies was also emphasised in devising effective policies to improve the markets for raw materials and finished products.
... The incessant conducting of a value chain analysis prompts these companies to consider how each step adds or subtracts value from your final product or service. In the value chain analysis, companies can first identify various activities where chances are there to improve in the primary activities based on which companies can develop plans, programs, policies, strategies, and budgets (Riahi Dorcheh et al., 2021). Whatever the type of technology, ease of use and usefulness of the technology, corporate needs, and social acceptance are the critical reasons for the approval of technology. ...
In the modern era, disruptive technologies, ranging from artificial intelligence to big data analytics and virtual reality to drone technology, have profoundly impacted India's lifestyles and employment dynamics. This chapter deeply explores these innovations' history, meaning, theory, and significance, focusing mainly on their transformative influence on the Indian industries, health, transport, and energy sectors. Beyond just an exploration, this study employs DEA for efficiency benchmarking, offering a structured assessment of how well these sectors have harnessed the potential of disruptive technologies. The analysis underscores the diverse issues, challenges, and opportunities arising from integrating these technologies and the subsequent shifts in employer-employee relationships and challenges posed to governance. Furthermore, the chapter elaborates on the real-world implementations of these technologies and their broader ramifications, including cost reductions, sustainability, and socially responsible practices in the concerned sectors.
... The significance of blockchain in cold chain traceability systems during the Covid-19 pandemic is mentioned (Masudin et al., 2021). (Riahi Dorcheh et al., 2021) identified weaknesses, threats, and offensive, competitive, conservative, and defensive strategies in response to the pandemic in the red meat SC. Regarding articles with a generic company context, two articles focused on small and medium-sized enterprises (Abdelfattah et al., 2023;Munongo & Pooe, 2022). ...
It is well-known that the Covid-19, originated in December 2019 in China, had a huge impact not only on the population but also on supply chains, which were forced to stop their activities or quickly adapt to the changes. The severity of the impact of Covid-19 on logistics and supply chain processes varied across the industrial sectors and depending on the moment in which they were observed. Often, supply chains were found to be not ready for counteracting a pandemic emergency (which is undoubtedly an exceptional event). Some early studies in the literature have analysed the extent of the Covid-19 impacts, or, alternatively, have evaluated the possibility of applying (traditional) risk management models for counteracting a pandemic emergency. Hopefully, after approximately two years of pandemic spread of the virus, we are now entering the post-Covid era. Hence, it is a good time for tracing a balance of the studies focusing on the Covid-19 and in particular, on its effects on logistics and supply chains, on modelling approaches, on strategies used for counteracting the emergency and on suggestions for making supply chains more resilient in the future. This is the focus of this paper, which analyses and classifies the literature published in 2021 and 2022 (≈ 70 studies) and related to Covid-19 in the supply chain. Keyword analysis helps in evaluating the key topics treated, their popularity and recurrence across the studies. Simulation appears to have been seldom used by researchers in recent times, while general modelling tools (e.g., multi-criteria decision making or structural equation modelling) are definitely more popular among researchers. Suggestions for future research activities can be easily delineated starting from these findings.
... SCM attempts to adopt all strategic and operational decisions so that the best performance from the upstream to the downstream in the supply chain is obtained and stakeholders gain the maximum profit (Rahbari et al., 2022a;Riahi Dorcheh et al., 2021). Given that both governments and organizations pay the attention to SCM of different materials, especially hazmat; therefore, the researchers have a special focus on this issue. ...
The sustainable development goals (SDGs) are designed for the prosperity and peace of the people of the world and the planet in the present and especially in the future. One of the main challenges facing hazardous materials (hazmat) of manufacturing and government is the operational decisions related to hazmat. This is because any accident occurring for hazmat can result in irreversible consequences for society. Therefore, according to numbers 3 and 8 in the SDGs, the objectives of this study are to: (1) examine hazmat management in a supply chain and (2) minimize the supply chain costs and the risk caused by hazmat in the network simultaneously. In this study, according to numbers 12 and 13 in the SDGs, the carbon cap and trade mechanism are used to control the amount of carbon emissions in the network. The carbon cap and trade mechanism is one of the most effective techniques to control greenhouse gas emissions in the international community. In this study, a location-inventory-routing problem (LIRP) is investigated by considering the heterogeneous fleet vehicle, in which production decisions are taken into account. A bi-objective mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model is presented to formulate the problem. The supply chain network of hazmat is divided into two levels: customers, factories, disposal facilities, and intermediate nodes. A multi-objective red deer algorithm (MORDA), as one of the main novelties of this study, is presented, and also its performance is compared with that of the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) and multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO). Ultimately, three new metrics are presented to investigate the performance of the applied meta-heuristics, and also a new technique is proposed to choose the most reliable solution.
... Transportation issues in the supply chain involve a series of decisions that can have a significant effect on modeling and getting closer to the real world. For instance, vehicle fleets can be homogeneous or heterogeneous , single or multiple periods may be considered (Mirzapour Al-e-hashem & Rekik, 2014), product may be industrial or perishable (Rahbari et al., 2023c;Riahi Dorcheh et al., 2021), the shortage of product that can lead to the lost sales or backordered demand may be considered (Ghomi & Asgarian, 2019), and retailer demand can be stochastic or deterministic (Rafie-Majd et al., 2018;Rahbari et al., 2023a). Moreover, certain characteristics, such as time windows (Neves-Moreira et al., 2019), transshipment , and risk (Heidari et al., 2018) can be taken into account. ...
In this study, a location-inventory-routing problem (LIRP) for perishable products with a many-to-many network and a heterogeneous vehicle fleet is considered. Retailer demand changed in the different time periods, and decreased as a function of the lifetime of the perishable product. A lost sale due to quality loss is considered. Taking the necessary actions to limit climate change and efficient use of natural resources are some of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the supply chain management environment (Number 12 and 13 of SDGs). The carbon dioxide (CO2) cap-and-trade mechanism is considered due to its significant contribution to the control of global warming. In this study, LIRP sought to minimize the fixed and variable transportation costs, inventory holding costs, facility opening costs, lost sales costs, and the amount of CO2 emissions. A mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP) model is proposed and validated in general algebraic modeling system (GAMS). A Lagrangian relaxation algorithm and hybrid genetic algorithm-black widow optimization (HGABWO) are considered to solve the different problems and specify the best lower and upper bounds. Our findings showed that results of the solutions obtained from the HGABWO algorithm are better than those of the genetic algorithm (GA) and black widow optimization (BWO) algorithm. On the other hand, the time to solve the large-scale problems, using the proposed algorithms compared to the GAMS is significantly reduced. Finally, the sensitivity analysis is performed for the effect of the CO2 cap-and-trade mechanism on the problem. The sensitivity analysis results indicated that considering the CO2 cap-and-trade mechanism in the problem could reduce the transportation costs and CO2 emissions.
... We argue that the IIoT can optimise the supply chain's process quality and product delivery. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the supply chain helped enhance the competitiveness of businesses to stay competitive (Dorcheh et al., 2021). The researchers used RBV theory to determine organisational performance through an organisational resource such as IoT (Rehman et al., 2021). ...
Purpose
This paper aims to model the mediating effects of facilitating conditions and innovativeness in the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and blockchain technology (BT) on manufacturing supply chain performance (MSCP).
Design/methodology/approach
Partial least square structural equation modelling was used to test the goodness of the model fit and hypotheses by using SmartPLS 3.3.3. Data was collected from 464 managers in Pakistan’s automotive industry through a stratified random sampling technique.
Findings
IIoT, BT, facilitating conditions and innovativeness significantly enhanced the MSCP. Therefore, the mediation between facilitating conditions and innovativeness to IIoT and BT adoption was significant in the MSCP.
Practical implications
The adoption of digital technology to improve the MSCP can assist companies in reducing the cost of complex procurement, production and distribution processes through secured and efficient operations. Furthermore, organisations must establish a conducive atmosphere that fosters experimentation, collaboration and resource allocation towards technological advancements to capitalise on the advantages of these technologies effectively.
Originality/value
This study developed a research model integrating IIoT technology, BT, facilitating conditions and innovativeness to determine the MSCP under the resource-based view theory. The outcome of this study could help organisations design a framework to improve supply chain performance by integrating innovativeness.
... The research was carried out on optimising aircraft operations. Hammad et al. investigated the effects of these indicators on the sustainability of the supply chain by reviewing articles (Riahi Dorcheh, Razavi Hajiagha, Rahbari, Jafari-Sadeghi, & Amoozad Mahdiraji, 2021;Sadraei, Biancone, Lanzalonga, Jafari-Sadeghi, & Chmet, 2022). This topic has directly impacted all the sustainability indicators related to flight operations (Hammad, Rey, Bu-Qammaz, Grzybowska, & Akbarnezhad, 2020). ...
... Furthermore, Shariq et al. (2021) tested radio frequency identification (RFID), and internet of things (IoT) enabled healthcare in the COVID-19 scenario. While Dorcheh et al. (2021) discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic using a hybrid SWOT-QSPM approach in an emerging economy. This study is an example of the new trend of the studies that are looking for a hybrid or mix-methods of problem-solving and decision making in SMEs or large companies; concerning the size of the business SMEs. ...
... Hence, for a streamlined perspective, the current bibliometric review seeks to isolate and address the obesity discourse only in the marketing domain. Among other themes, in general business and management studies, scholars have explored issues around being a responsible food business (Lee et al., 2013;Riahi Dorcheh et al., 2021;Hosseinzadeh et al., 2022), the extent to which firms should be pre-occupied with obesity (Seiders and Berry, 2007), fast-food firms' corporate responsibility (Schrempf, 2014), addressing obesity in the workplace (Heinen andDarling, 2009), obesity andproductivity (Barkin et al., 2010), and non-rational economic behaviour (Hojjat, 2015;Khavarinezhad et al., 2022). Weighing up the evident volume of publications on the topic, it is opportune to assess the quality and impact of the corpus through a bibliometric inquiry. ...
Purpose
In spite of wide civic and academic interest in obesity, there are no bibliometric records of this issue in the marketing corpus. Thus, this inquiry is conceived to address this shortcoming with a bibliometric analysis of Scopus indexed articles published on the subject.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis followed a five-step science mapping approach of study design, data collection, data analysis, data visualisation and data interpretation. R programming software was used to review 88 peer reviewed journals published between 1987 and 2021.
Findings
A sizable stream of literature exploring obesity has accrued in the marketing area as authors have drawn parallels between the influence of persuasive communication and advertising on human wellbeing and child health. The United States of America is found to be by far the country with the highest number of publications on obesity, followed by Australia and the United Kingdom. The topic dendrogram indicates two strands of obesity discourse: (1) social and policy intervention opportunities and (2) the effects on social groups in the population.
Research limitations/implications
This review will shape future enquiries investigating obesity. Beyond the focus on children, males and females, an emerging focus on cola, ethics, food waste, milk, policy-making and students is highlighted.
Originality/value
This is the first bibliometric review of obesity in the marketing literature. This is especially timely for weighing up the utility of research aimed at understanding and reporting the trends, influences and role of stakeholders in addressing obesity.
... Notably, the structure of multiple relationships among stakeholders involved in creating a new food waste management system has been observed, providing theoretical contributions found within the Italian context Ghinoi et al., 2020). Moreover, the numerous cases of COVID-19 have made the region of interest in assessing changes in the agri-food industry in terms of food production, storage and distribution, and to asseverate changes concerning food access, food consumption and food waste behaviour (Amicarelli et al., 2022;Riahi Dorcheh et al., 2021;Su et al., 2022). Then, the 40 papers from academics with US affiliations considered several aspects. ...
Food waste is a tremendous systemic challenge, mainly at all stages of consumption and the supply chain process. In recent years, the global food supply challenge has called for new methods to decrease food waste or recover them to more valuable materials. Indeed, understanding the techniques for reducing and recovering food waste provides insights into exploring the impact of waste food recovery on the environment. This paper aims to review the literature on food waste in production processes. Hence, we employ a bibliometric and thematic analysis to explore a total number of 163 scientific articles published between 2000 and 2021. The present research uses the theoretical model of circular economy to analyse the literature on the topic both thematically and with cluster analysis. The results provide significant implications for academics and practitioners, drawing attention to a closer relationship between people and food waste, increasing the culture of the value of waste in all processes from agricultural production to distribution and consumption. Finally, it reiterates the need to emphasise the pollution caused by food production.
... Our empirical research suggests that innovation is a necessary condition for entrepreneurship and enables an entrepreneurial frm to create and deploy new creations into new markets and attain leadership positions in those markets. Innovations could be risky and non-risky (Rosenbusch et al., 2013;Riahi Dorcheh et al., 2021) and innovative frms which fail to make this distinction can encounter failure and eventual demise. The success of an innovative orientation is mediated by risk-taking. ...
... Furthermore, Shariq et al. (2021) tested radio frequency identification (RFID), and internet of things (IoT) enabled healthcare in the COVID-19 scenario. While Dorcheh et al. (2021) discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic using a hybrid SWOT-QSPM approach in an emerging economy. This study is an example of the new trend of the studies that are looking for a hybrid or mix-methods of problem-solving and decision making in SMEs or large companies; concerning the size of the business SMEs. ...
Abstract: The Covid-19 pandemic, the implementation of the Industrial Revolution 4.0, the recent fuel price crisis and the vision of the Sultanate of Oman Logistics Strategy 2040 are forcing the Omani logistics sector to determine its capability in handling these four issues simultaneously. This study proposes a decision-making model for small and medium logistics enterprises in Oman for analysing numerous potential business strategies by considering the uncertainty of contemporary factors. A hybrid of multiple-criteria decision-making methods, namely, the analytic hierarchy process, fuzzy link-based approach and evidential reasoning approach, were used in this study. It was found that the "Centralised Business Activities" business strategy is preferable and more essential to be implemented immediately, mainly due to the geographical market positioning reason. This novel study contributes to developing the decision model for the Logistics Enterprises in Oman as a new measurement when dealing with the uncertainty of external factors of the business environment.
Keywords: Operations management; Logistics management; Decision making; Uncertainty supply chain; Small-medium enterprises; VUCA Theory.
... The third theme of this special issue deals with articles about the behavioural perspectives of entrepreneurial internationalisation during the crisis, shock and high levels of uncertainty. The recent COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the necessity of entrepreneurs' appropriate reaction to the uncertainty as necessary for the survival of the fragile SMEs (Riahi Dorcheh et al., 2021;Thukral, 2021). This special issue includes three papers that discuss the behavioural aspects of IE against shocks, uncertainty and crisis. ...
... This, once again, highlights that supply chain disruptions are not highly visible, since the issues are not clearly detected or defined. In terms of context, the agriculture and food industries were the most highlighted, as they were affected more severely by the disruptions [15,34,35]. The disruptions also affected the manufacturing industry, which is the main pillar of the global supply chain [36]. ...
The supply chain and its management are the hidden engines that drive the economy. The COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated an unprecedented sustained challenge to supply chain management around the world, which has highlighted the importance of research on the effects of COVID-19 on supply chain management. Most of the scholarly articles were mainly focused on content analysis to discuss aspects of the research related to COVID-19 and supply chain management. The literature reviews with the bibliometric method involving supply chain management in the COVID-19 context are still scarce. In this paper, we undertook a bibliometric analysis of the research on COVID-19 and supply chain management, finding a total of 257 papers published in 2020 and 2021 to determine the thematic direction of the related flourish of research. The analysis used a combination of bibliographic and network analysis to capture the direction the research has been taking. The study identified the most highly productive authors, prominent journals, and geographic centers of publications about this phenomenon. It also examined networks related to co-authorship, countries of collaboration, co-citations and highly cited authors, and co-wording. The examination identified four thematic clusters, comprised of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on supply chains, the improvement of supply chain resilience for viability, technology and innovation for supply chain sustainability, and supply chain risk management in response to COVID-19. These findings support the need for further investigation into supply chain management, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on supply chains, and, more broadly, supply chain resilience.
... Understanding the necessity to design the ideal environment that reinforces entrepreneurs, researchers have discovered a new paradigm lately in entrepreneurship called the EE (Grigore and Dragan, 2020;Mokhtarzadeh et al., 2020a, b). The metaphor ecosystem originally stems from ecology but is adopted by management scholars in organizational theories, where it is used in a systemic approach to study complex social phenomena (Hern andez-Chea et al., 2021;Dorcheh et al., 2021). This metaphor has received much popularity among academics, practitioners and policymakers as a concept that describes, explains and presents thoughts, frameworks and viewpoints on how economic agents interact with their environment (Audretsch et al., 2019). ...
Purpose
The study aims to identify the dynamic complexities and development points of the entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) in the agricultural sector of Iran to improve production factors' productivity, including arable land, water resources and human capital.
Design/methodology/approach
First, the EE of the agricultural sector in Iran was designed following Isenberg's framework. Then, the main variables and interrelationships of the variables in each context of the ecosystem, called subsystems, were formulated using the system dynamics (SD) approach. Next, the model was simulated and validated. Afterward, different policy options were identified, embedded into the model structure and simulated. Finally, the best policy group was selected.
Findings
According to Isenberg's EE model, three groups of policies were identified and evaluated, including “entrepreneurship development financing and investment policy,” “agricultural ecosystem's supportive services development policy” and “production factors productivity development policy.” According to the simulation results, the best combination of the solution strategies was recognized. The presented SD-EE model has a generic nature in the agricultural sector and could be modified to be applied in different regions for policy-making purposes.
Originality/value
The main contribution of the study is twofold. First, Isenberg's EE framework is applied to structure the main subsystems and interrelationships of the subsystems in the agricultural sector that has previously received limited attention. Second, the research is the first to operationalize the basic theory of Isenberg's EE in practice applying a robust systemic modeling methodology like SD.
... Hence, we try to fill this gap. Researchers in COVID-19 found that the supply chain will increase the competitiveness of relevant businesses in a competitive world economy (Dorcheh et al., 2021). The RBV theory supported this relationship as a firm's resources (i.e. ...
Purpose
The authors observe the influence of intellectual capital (IC) on innovation performance with the mediating role of interorganizational learning (IOL) in the Pakistani automotive industry. Besides, industrial Internet of things (IoT) technology is used as moderating variables between IOL and innovation performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Structural equation modeling (SEM) presents scholars with extra flexibility and enhanced research conclusions. SEM is described as a statistical methodology and the best tool used for hypothesis testing. The authors used partial least squares SEM for testing hypotheses. The simple random sampling technique followed to collect data from respondents, and 492 questionnaires were used for analysis.
Findings
The outcomes reveal that IC enhances innovation performance and IOL. Moreover, IOL increases innovation performance. IOL significantly mediates between IC and innovation performance. Industrial IoT technology improves innovation performance. Finally, industrial IoT technology strengthens the positive association between IOL and innovation performance.
Practical implications
This study concentrates on the issue of how managers use IOL and industrial IoT technology to take higher advantage of IC that increases innovation performance.
Originality/value
This is the initial study that builds a theoretical framework to integrate IC, IOL, industrial IoT technology and innovation performance. Although prior researchers observe the association between IC and innovation performance, less concentration was paid to understand the role of interorganizational leadership and industrial IoT technology in leveraging organizational IC.
... Ultimately, energy consumption targets set at national and regional levels need to be cascaded to industrial sectors and households for realisation through national energy efficiency action plans [in the case of the EU] (Monti and Romera, 2020;Trotta, 2020) or similar programmes. For the food sector, agriculture, logistics, catering and manufacturing activities have intensified and exponentially increased global energy consumption in terms of Mtoe [1] (Ma et al., 2012;Dorcheh et al., 2021). Yet, when food firms are incentivised to set energy targets explicitly addressing the megawatt-hours of electrical energy, cubic metres of gas, kilolitres of fuel oil or tons of steam coal conserved, they are also likely to directly pursue energy efficiency and monitoring, and indirectly improve their domestic sales performance. ...
Purpose
While pursuing energy management, firms simultaneously strive to boost sales as a path towards economic performance. Also, the literature suggests that family firms exhibit greater environmental commitment than their non-family counterparts. To examine these contentions, this review espouses contingency theory to interrogate the correlations of (1) energy consumption targets, (2) energy efficiency enhancing measures, (3) energy consumption monitoring and (4) the domestic sales performance of small family firms in Turkey's food sector.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were sourced from the World Bank Enterprise Survey. A sample of 137 family firms in food production, processing and retail was analysed using non-linear structural equation modelling. Path coefficients were determined to estimate the extent to which energy management practices predict domestic sales.
Findings
The path analysis revealed that although energy consumption targets do not directly increase sales performance, they stimulate firms' energy efficiency enhancement measures and energy consumption monitoring to produce this effect by 21%.
Research limitations/implications
The contingency lens espoused leaves room to capture further antecedents in small family food firms' technical, managerial, ownership, operational and architectural configuration that may also interact with or predict the propensity for energy management.
Practical implications
For practitioners, the inherent findings demonstrate that there are firm-specific material benefits arising from adopting energy management practices. And, although small firms such as family food businesses may have low energy intensities, they can improve their sales performance by setting energy targets, installing energy efficiency enhancing measures and embarking on energy consumption monitoring.
Social implications
Public stakeholders in Turkey such as the Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources, the General Directorate of Energy Affairs and affiliate institutions can reflect on these findings to develop a coherent national energy management policy for small firms. Such initiatives are especially relevant to Turkey and its ambitions to join the EU which requires member states to set up a national energy efficiency action plan.
Originality/value
This inquiry is one of the first to examine energy management in the food sector at the family firm level through the contingency lens. Theoretically, the results draw attention and shed new light on disparate energy management practices and their discrete yet substantial contribution to sales performance.
... In COVID-19 pandemic the significant role of agriculture, particularly the consumption of red meat increased (Dorcheh et al., 2021). In the last few decades, researchers paid much concentration on customer perceived value since more customers have become the valuedriven (El-Adly, 2019), and customer perceived value is used as an antecedent of various behavioral outcomes like attitude toward local food (Choe and Kim, 2018), customer satisfaction (Konuk, 2019) and customer loyalty (El-Adly, 2019). ...
Purpose
This study explored the relationship between local food consumption value and satisfaction with local food, leading to behavioral intention. Moreover, tourist's involvement is used as a mediator, and COVID-19 fear moderates between satisfaction with local food and behavioral intention.
Design/methodology/approach
Structural equation modeling (SEM) technique presents researchers with extra flexibility and better research conclusions. This study used Partial Equation Modeling SEM to test the proposed hypotheses. The convenience sampling technique was used to collect data, and 339 questionnaires were part of the final analysis.
Findings
The results reveal that local food consumption value is positively associated with local food satisfaction except for emotional value. Satisfaction on local food significantly determined tourist's involvement and behavioral intention. Tourist's involvement is positively related to behavioral intention. Despite this, COVID-19 fear significantly decreases behavioral intention. Tourist's involvement significantly mediates, and COVID-19 fear moderates between satisfaction with local food and behavioral intention significantly.
Practical implications
The results of our research will support scholars and practitioners to recognize the importance of factors that influence people's intention to eat local food. Besides, our research offers a significant policy to get maximum benefits for the tourism industry in Pakistan.
Originality/value
To the author's knowledge, our study initially incorporates a research model in the COVID-19 pandemic and covers local food consumption value, satisfaction on local food, tourist's involvement and COVID-19 fear to determine the behavioral intention of people to eat local food. Besides, consumption value theory was used to build a research framework.
... Numerous models with varying purposes exist in expert-based MCDM techniques. Specific models are geared towards multi-attribute decision-making (MADM), while others are geared towards multi-objective decision-making (MODM) (Mokhtarzadeh et al., 2021;Dorcheh et al., 2021). This article aims to apply MADM methodologies to the research Guide for IEs investing in agrifood objectives stated in the introduction section. ...
Purpose
Due to the political, economic and infrastructure barriers and risks that international entrepreneurs (IEs) face when researching an emerging economy's agrifood sector, this research aims to identify the major barriers, analyse their relationships, quantify their importance, classify and rank them. Thus, the IEs will gain a better understanding and vision of their decision-making processes in this era.
Design/methodology/approach
To do this, the authors first created a list of barriers to entry for IEs into Iran's rising economy's agrifood industry. Following that, a multi-layer decision-making approach was developed and implemented to accomplish the research objectives. The first stage utilized a hybrid of interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) to depict the level-based conceptual model and classification of the IEs’ obstacles to entry into the agrifood sector. Following that, a hybrid decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL), and analytic network process (ANP) called DANP was utilized to present a causal relationship between the barriers, identify their causes and effects, and also quantify the relevance of each barrier.
Findings
After employing the multi-layer decision-making approach, the results demonstrated that fundamental limitations, including infrastructure and technology limitations, are the most critical barriers alongside policy factors encompassing governmental support and access to global or regional economy/market. According to the results, innovation and economic sustainability of the agrifood supply chain also matter. All of these critical barriers are intertwined and should be planned and solved simultaneously. Furthermore, based on DANP results, the sustainability pillars (economy, environment, society), besides the low efficiency of the agrifood sector in Iran, should be investigated further for future policy makings.
Originality/value
A hybrid multi-layer decision-making approach has been used for analysing the barriers of investment in the agrifood sector of the emerging economy of Iran for the international entrepreneurs. Moreover, the authors provide implications and insights for IEs and officials for decision-making in the future.
... For example, portfolio agility is the capability of organisations to transfer resources between business quickly and effectively among business entities, and operational agility assists firms to identify and seize opportunities within their current business model, whereas strategic agility refers to firms' capability to explore and exploit both internal and external opportunities (Mensah et al., 2021;Sull, 2010). In particular, strategic agility helps firms to sense strategic information within the firm, and go beyond the organisational boundaries to identify and seize potential opportunities (Heiligtag et al., 2015;Riahi Dorcheh et al., 2021). ...
In the era of digitalisation, agility is considered a crucial factor for the successful operations of small and medium businesses in the intricate international markets. That is, this research aims to explore and evaluate the drivers that foster agility in international high-tech small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In this regard, building on dynamic capabilities, a total of nine capabilities have been identified that assist high-tech SMEs to become agile in their cross-border activities. Taking advantage of an expert-based method, we relied on Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) approach to synthesise the opinion of six Italian international entrepreneurs (ex-perts). In doing so, Grey DEcision-MAking Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (G-DEMATEL) method has been employed to investigate the cause-effect relationship between capabilities and propose conceptual frameworks for agility in international high-tech SMEs. This is followed by the DEMATEL based Analytical Network Process (DANP) to assess the importance and ranking of explored factors. Consequently, the research proposes several theoretical and practical contributions.
BAZNAS Langkat Regency distributes zakat to facilitate and expedite the distribution of zakat funds from muzakki to mustahik so that it is right on target and in accordance with the needs of mustahik, so the aim of the research is to develop a strategy for the zakat distribution system so that it can help distribute zakat funds better at BAZNAS Langkat Regency . This research uses a descriptive qualitative approach with the SWOT matrix and Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM), for SWOT respondents namely Amil zakat, Muzakki, Mustahik, and Langkat Regency Community, while for QSPM respondents namely Distribution Experts, HR Experts, and Experts in the field Finance. Based on the research results, alternative strategies obtained are creating a team to evaluate and supervise the empowerment of zakat distribution, increasing socialization and regional reach to increase fund collection, collaborating with local government to increase distribution reach, increasing the use of technology by utilizing social media and personalizing, maintaining image and quality of Baznas, creating a new program, namely productive distribution of zakat, improving the quality of human resources with training programs, creating a public complaint box, improving service quality to increase networks and relationships and holding weekly meetings for evaluation. Results The recommended strategy from this analysis is to create a team to evaluate and supervise the empowerment of zakat distribution at BAZNAS Langkat Regency with a Total Attractive Score of 15,358.
This research was aimed to (1) determine the internal and external factors for the development of the tofu and tempeh industry in Tahoa Village, Kolaka District, Kolaka Regency (2) formulate a strategy for developing the tofu and tempeh industry in Tahoa Village, Kolaka District, Kolaka Regency. This research was conducted from April to May 2023 in Tahoa Village, Kolaka District, Kolaka Regency. The method used in this research is SWOT analysis. The research results were obtained from an analysis of the internal strength factors of UD Bandung Jaya, resulting in the following strategies. (1) SO Strategy: a) maintain and improve product quality and continuity, and b) increase production by utilizing labor and technological developments. WO Strategy: a) establish institutions to facilitate access to information, markets, capital, raw materials and technology, and b) improve production management and development of food processing technology. ST Strategy: a)optimizing the availability of raw materials, and b) maintaining consumer loyalty by maintaining price and product quality. WT Strategy: a) establish good communication between entrepreneurs and the government in developing the soybean tempeh home industry, and b) improve the quality of human resources by providing training in the form of production management, finance and technology adoption to improve skills. Abstrak Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk (1) mengetahui faktor internal dan eksternal pengembangan industri tahu dan tempe di Kelurahan Tahoa Kecamatan Kolaka Kabupaten Kolaka (2) merumuskan strategi pengembangan industri tahu dan tempe di Kelurahan Tahoa Kecamatan Kolaka Kabupaten Kolaka. Penelitian ini dilaksanakan pada bulan April sampai dengan Mei Tahun 2023 di Di Kelurahan Tahoa Kecamatan Kolaka Kabupaten Kolaka. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah analisis SWOT. Hasil penelitian didapatkan dari analisis faktor internal kekuatan dari UD Bandung Jaya sehingga menghasilkan sejumlah strategi berikut. (1) Strategi SO : a) menjaga serta meningkatkan kualitas dan kontinuitas produk, dan b) meningkatkan produksi dengan memanfaatkan tenaga kerja dan perkembangan teknologi. Strategi WO : a) membentuk lembaga untuk mempermudah akses informasi, pasar, permodalan, bahan baku dan teknologi, dan b) memperbaiki manajemen produksi dan perkembangan teknologi pengolahan pangan. Strategi ST : a) mengoptimalkan ketersediaan bahan baku, dan b) menjaga loyalitas konsumen dengan mempertahankan harga serta kualitas produk. Strategi WT : a) menjalin komunikasi baik antara pengusaha dan pemerintah dalam mengembangkan industri rumah tangga tempe kedelai, dan b) memperbaiki kualitas SDM dengan memberikan pelatihan berupa manajemen produksi, keuangan dan adopsi teknologi untuk meningkatkan keterampilan. Kata Kunci : Tahu, Tempe, Strategi, SWOT PENDAHULUAN Industri makanan pokok di Indonesia mengalami perkembangan yang sangat pesat. Salah satu industri makanan pokok memiliki prospek bisnis cukup baik dan selalu dibutuhkan adalah industri pengolahan tahu 97
In the European Union (EU), the cattle sector is made up of meat and dairy farming. These sectors are closely interlinked, as a significant proportion of dairy cows are slaughtered for meat. In the mid-1990s, as market conditions changed in Latvia's agricultural sector, the development of specialised breeds of beef cattle began, so the aim of the research is to examine trends in the development of beef cattle breeding in Latvia. Dairy farming is still one of the largest agricultural sectors in Latvia, but between 2003 and 2023 the total number of specialised beef cattle herds in Latvia has decreased by 46.9%, while the number of specialised beef cattle themselves has increased almost four times compared to 2003. The results of the study show, in 2023, the most popular beef cattle breeds were Charolais, Limousine, Hereford and Aberdinangus, and these breeds accounted for 87% of the total number of beef cattle. The beef cattle industry showed a positive trend in the development of specialized beef cattle breeds with an increase in the number of herds of 3-49 and 50-199 cattle in 2023, which accounted for 86% of the total number of beef cattle. In Latvia, beef cattle are concentrated in certain districts in the eastern, western, and northern parts of the country where favourable conditions (pastures) are available for rearing them. Authors conclude that in the future, farms producing cattle of specialized beef breeds will have to review their production practices in order to adapt to environmentally friendly solutions and contribute to the achievement of the objectives of the European Green Deal.
Special attention to the Agri-food closed-loop supply chain is more critical during global crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The main reason for this issue is the importance of food security in different communities during various crises. On the other hand, strategic analysis helps Agri-food organizations to be more prepared to face threats and use the opportunities of these crises. Consequently, the combination of supply chain management and strategic analysis can be utilized for better planning in this situation. In the present study, the closed-loop supply chain of canned food in uncertain conditions is investigated. One of the main features of the problem is to use the canned food waste to increase profitability during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the Robust Probabilistic Chance Constrained Programming (RPCCP) approach is presented to face the uncertainty of the problem. One of the main features of the approach is to determine the confidence level of the system proactively to add the concept of robustness to the problem. After using the combined approach and prioritizing strategies for the case study from an emerging economy, "Increased export share of canned food products through virtual marketing and exhibitions" was selected as the superior strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the comparison of the results with the organization's current conditions, it was found that the income from the sales of primary products and recycled products increased by 39.8% and 10.79%, respectively. Implementing this strategy indicated that the values of other essential criteria of the closed-loop supply chain also increased.
Sustainable transportation has become a central issue for scholars around the world. It is now well established that the transportation sector is one of the few industrial segments escalating greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, Tehran as one of the most populous cities in the world has been constantly confronting environmental challenges, particularly the motor vehicles’ pollution. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to (1) determine the optimal capacity of slaughterhouses, (2) identify the best routes for transporting, and (3) reduce the number of vehicles used, transportation costs, and greenhouse gas emission costs. The model is presented in two phases that solved using the general algebraic modeling system (GAMS) software for data set of the real instance. The results of phase 1 indicated that using the designed transportation model might reduce transportation costs by 0.3 and 9.8%. In addition, as slaughterhouse capacity increased, the average cost per period decreased by 8.5%. The results of phase 2 demonstrated that using the designed transportation model might reduce costs of transportation for 3 days by 29.56, 27.91, and 32.58%, respectively. In addition, the costs of greenhouse gas emissions would decrease by 17.29, 22.82, and 23.08%, respectively.
In recent years, decision-making regarding business growth has attracted the attention of many researchers. Also, considering the importance of scale in startups for their survival and the development of economies, investigating the scalability of startups in emerging markets that are booming, can be useful. Scaling for international business has taken on a new meaning: they must be leaders in both emerging as well as advanced markets; they must be responsive to customers in both departments, which require tremendous innovation and agility; they have to build the competency needed in designing, developing, and marketing the opposite for advanced world markets; and they need to demonstrate rapid decision-making, innovation, and opportunism in delivery to the cost-sensitive underdeveloped markets. As a result, decision-making about the scale of start-ups at the international level plays an important role. The internationalisation of start-up activities is an extremely important and attractive topic among researchers, entrepreneurs, and practitioners. But there is very little research and also projects on the internationalisation of start-up venture activities, particularly after the gain of scaling and exponential growth.
On the one hand, supply chain management of agri-food products under uncertain conditions has a significant impact on food security and, on the other hand, increases the profits of supply chain components. Moreover, considering the sustainability concepts leads to more social and environmental benefits. The present study investigates the canned food supply chain under uncertain conditions and sustainability concepts by considering strategic and operational decisions and different characteristics. The proposed model is a multi-echelon, multi-period, multi-product, multi-objective location-inventory-routing problem (LIRP) in which the vehicle fleet is considered heterogeneously. The objectives of this model are to (1) minimize costs, (2) minimize customer dissatisfaction, (3) maximize production throughput, and (4) maximize job opportunities. In this study, carbon cap and trade mechanism are used to minimize environmental damage. Robust fuzzy stochastic programming (RFSP) is employed to cope and control uncertainties. The multi-objective optimization problem is implemented on a real case and solved using the Torabi and Hassini (TH) method. The results of this study showed that with increasing confidence levels, the severity of the problem increased and the values of the objective functions worsened. Also, using the relative value of stochastic solution (RVSS) criterion demonstrated that the effect of utilizing the RFSP approach on the first and second objective functions was higher than that the nominal approach showed itself. Finally, sensitivity analysis is performed on two parameters: the selling price of products to foreign customers and the cost of purchasing products from farms. The results of this study showed that changing these two parameters had a significant effect on the first and second objective functions.
Purpose
The Russia–Ukraine war has disrupted the wheat supply worldwide. Given that wheat is one of the most important agri-food products in the world, it is necessary to pay attention to the wheat supply chain during the global crises. The use of resilience strategies is one of the solutions to face the supply chain disruptions. In addition, there is a possibility of multiple crises occurring in global societies simultaneously.
Design/methodology/approach
In this research, the resilience strategies of backup suppliers (BS) and inventory pre-prepositioning (IP) were discussed in order to cope with the wheat supply chain disruptions. Furthermore, the p-Robust Scenario-based Stochastic Programming (PRSSP) approach was used to optimize the wheat supply chain under conditions of disruptions from two perspectives, feasibility and optimality.
Findings
After implementing the problem of a real case in Iran, the results showed that the use of resilience strategy reduced costs by 9.33%. It was also found that if resilience strategies were used, system's flexibility and decision-making power increased. Besides, the results indicated that if resilience strategies were used and another crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic occurred, supply chain costs would increase less than when resilience strategies were not used.
Originality/value
In this study, the design of the wheat supply chain was discussed according to the wheat supply disruptions due to the Russia–Ukraine war and its implementation on a real case. In the following, various resilience strategies were used to cope with the wheat supply chain disruptions. Finally, the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the wheat supply chain in the conditions of disruptions caused by the Russia–Ukraine war was investigated.
Pandemic crises like the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have severely influenced companies working in the Agri-food industry in different countries. Some companies could overcome this crisis by their elite managers, while many experienced massive financial losses due to a lack of the appropriate strategic planning. On the other hand, governments sought to provide food security to the people during the pandemic crisis, putting extreme pressure on companies operating in this field. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop a model of the canned food supply chain under uncertain conditions in order to analyze it strategically during the COVID-19 pandemic. The problem uncertainty is addressed using robust optimization, and also the necessity of using a robust optimization approach compared to the nominal approach to the problem is indicated. Finally, to face the COVID-19 pandemic, after determining the strategies for the canned food supply chain, by solving a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem, the best strategy is specified considering the criteria of the company under study and its equivalent values are presented as optimal values of a mathematical model of canned food supply chain network. The results demonstrated that "expanding the export of canned food to neighboring countries with economic justification" was the best strategy for the company under study during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the quantitative results, implementing this strategy reduced by 8.03% supply chain costs and increased by 3.65% the human resources employed. Finally, the utilization of available vehicle capacity was 96%, and the utilization of available production throughput was 75.8% when using this strategy.
Entrepreneurs' decision-making for detecting, evaluating and utilising opportunities across international borders is one of the main subjects of international entrepreneurship research. This study aims to argue that recognising and classifying international entrepreneurship opportunities facilitate the decision-making process. To do such a thing, a multi-layer decision-making approach focusses on the industrial sector of the Kish free zone. In the first stage, the data will be collected by a questionnaire survey of entrepreneurial companies in the industry field and the main international entrepreneurship opportunities will be identified. In the second stage, the importance and relationship between the opportunities will be evaluated based on the identified opportunities. Eventually, in the last stage, the relationship and the importance of the opportunities will be determined by proposing and using a multi-layer decision-making approach. In conclusion, the prioritised international entrepreneurship opportunities will be presented.
COVID-19 has had an impact on the entire humankind and has been proved to spread in
deadly waves. As a result, preparedness and planning are required to better deal with the
epidemic’s upcoming waves. Effective planning, on the other hand, necessitates detailed
vulnerability assessments at all levels, from the national to the state or regional. There
are several issues at the regional level, and each region has its own features. As a result,
each region needs its own COVID-19 vulnerability assessment. In terms of climate, ter-
rain and demographics, the state of Uttarakhand differs significantly from the rest of India.
As a result, a vulnerability assessment of the next COVID-19 variation (Omicron BA.2) is
required for district-level planning to meet regional concerns. A total of 17 variables were
chosen for this study, including demographic, socio-economic, infrastructure, epidemio-
logical and tourism-related factors. AHP was used to compute their weights. After apply-
ing min–max normalisation to the data, a district-level quantitative SWOT is created to
compare the performance of 13 Uttarakhand districts. A COVID-19 vulnerability index
(normalised R i) ranging between 0 and 1 was produced, and district-level vulnerabilities
were mapped. Quantitative SWOT results depict that Dehradun is a best performing district
followed by Haridwar, while Bageshwar, Rudra Prayag, Champawat and Pithoragarh are on
the weaker side and the normalised Ri proves Dehradun, Nainital, Champawat, Bageshwar
and Chamoli to be least vulnerable to COVID-19 (normalised R i ≤ 0.25) and Pithoragarh
to be the most vulnerable district (normalised Ri > 0.90). Pauri Garwal and Uttarkashi are
moderately vulnerable (normalised Ri 0.50 to 0.75).
Keywords COVID-19 · Quantitative SWOT · Vulnerability assessment · Vulnerability
index
Purpose
Existing literature demonstrates the important role of information transparency in enterprise development and market surveillance. However, little empirical research has examined the information transparency effect in supply chain management. This study aims to fill this gap by exploring the significant role of information transparency on supply chain financing and its mechanism, taking trade credit as the starting point.
Design/methodology/approach
From the data set comprising 3,880 Chinese firms with A-shares listed on the Shenzhen and Shanghai Stock Exchanges from 2011 to 2020, we obtain the basic picture of information transparency and trade credit. Panel fixed effects regression is used to test the hypotheses concerning the antecedents to trade credit.
Findings
The empirical results show that: first, information transparency can significantly support corporate access to trade credit and is found to facilitate financing by mitigating perceived risk. Second, among companies with higher levels of financing constraints, weaker market power and more concentration of suppliers, information transparency promotes trade credit more markedly. Third, the outbreak of COVID-19 causes a substantial increase in uncertainty and risk in external circumstances and then the effect of information transparency is weakened. Fourth, the contribution to trade credit is likely to be stronger for disclosures containing management transparency elements compared to single financial transparency.
Originality/value
To the best of our knowledge, this study is one of the first to explore the positive role of information transparency to supply chain financing, which to a certain extent makes up for the lack of information transparency research in the supply chain. It provides new ideas for enterprises to obtain trade credit financing and promote the improvement of supervision departments’ disclosure policies.
Purpose
This paper examines the socio-ecological co-evolution and transformation of organic pioneers and the organic food market from a politically structuring actor perspective. It aims to identify strategies and activities used to contribute to the change of structures in the organic market and how the companies, in turn, reacted to the structural influence of the changing environment to position their company successfully in the market.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on interviews with four managing directors who were responsible over several decades for the strategic corporate management of the pioneer companies they founded as (or converted to) organic. Content analysis was used to analyse the data.
Findings
Strategic challenges regarding building up, maintaining and using resources, shaping actor constellations, and professionalising management are explained. The analysis demonstrates that also small pioneers have the possibilities and scope to influence and change markets and structures.
Originality/value
The results are significant for developing sustainable transformation strategies for markets, considering the interaction of the micro and meso-levels over time and the role of small businesses that might be struggling with growth and loss of values. The study answers recent calls in the literature to empirically investigate sustainability transformations from a practice perspective and gain insights into the roles of corporate actors.
Following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a serious need for the pharmaceutical industry to combat the disease more quickly and effectively. In this regard, numerous companies set out to repurpose current drugs. The noticed decision has major challenges in various dimensions, including the creation and management of an efficient supply chain. The present study attempts to examine the significance and relationships of the repurposing challenges and analyze the effectiveness of supply chain coordination contracts confronting them. In this regard, a combination of Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and Analytic Network Process (ANP) named DANP method is applied to investigate the relationships and extracting the weights of the mentioned challenges and the multi-criteria optimization and compromise solution technique called VIKOR is employed to prioritize the supply chain coordination contracts found on their impact facing with repurposing challenges. The mentioned techniques have been conducted under the condition of linguistic Z-numbers. The results demonstrated that financial support and digitalization are the most influential challenges. Moreover, collaboration and data availability have the most weight. In addition, four contracts including effort sharing, cost-sharing, credit option and buyback are the best contracts that companies in the merging economy of Iran should concentrate on them. This research proposes a novel framework of decision-making by integrating DANP and VIKOR with linguistic Z-numbers. Additionally, this study takes a new look at the use of coordination contracts from the viewpoint of repurposing challenges which is highlighted particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The paradigm generated on world systems and models by COVID-19 has led to the search for new solutions. The European Commission has generated and strengthened the previously defined sustainability and Green Deal policies. The NextGenerationEU fund could incentivize the application and adoption of the actions. The analysis intends to analyze how COVID-19 changed policies undertaken before the pandemic and how these were redefined. A content analysis (CA) technique, through LEXIMANCER software, is adopted to answer the research questions considering articles collected by the Business Source Ultimate platform from February 2020 to June 2021 in Europe. The analysis identified 35 key concepts that describe the path and approach that influenced and guided the new Green Deal policies. The analysis identifies the main areas on which an impact is expected and the confirmation or variation of the approach.
This paper proposes a novel approach for identifying the best implementation situation for each activity in a project by optimizing and balancing time, cost, quality, and risk criteria under uncertain circumstances. A hesitant fuzzy linguistic term set (HFLTS) approach is proposed to determine the status of project activities in the presence of quality and risk criteria alongside time and cost. Afterwards, a multi-objective linear programming (MOLP) model is formulated for time, cost, quality, and risk trade-off (TCQRT). To validate the model, a research and development project in the food industry is investigated. The results indicate that the project's time compared to the deterministic approach was reduced by 20%. Completing the R&D project earlier than other competitors brings a higher profit for the company than trade-off expenses, even without considering the quality and risk trade-off benefits of the proposed approach. Considering uncertainty in the risk and quality of activities in a project via HFLTSs and optimizing all four elements of time, cost, quality, and risk simultaneously are the main values of this research. The proposed approach can be employed by managers to adopt and optimize project planning and scheduling while optimizing the trade-offs among TCQR factors in uncertain circumstances.
Purpose: The aim of this paper focuses on advancing the entrepreneurial literature by enhancing the understanding of the connections between personal behavior and cognitive skills in decision making under uncertainty. Methodology: The method of this research has been adapted the framework used by Garrett and Holland (2015), who developed propositions from the conceptual narratives of how environmental uncertainty and complexity differentially affect the motivations and cognition of independent entrepreneurs and corporate entrepreneurs to engage in entrepreneurial action. Findings: The findings of this research provide a conceptual basis for a broader perspective on behaviors and cognitions that motivate or hinder entrepreneurial actions while at the same time, positioning the entrepreneur’s decision at the core of decision theory. Implications for theory and practice: Theoretically, this research contributes to a holistic view of opportunity decisions. It redirects the traditional analyses path of entrepreneurial decisions discussed distinctively from the personal behavior or cognition paradigm, which does not provide a complete view into the larger entrepreneurial decisions under uncertainty. Practically, our argument provides further insight into the black box of entrepreneurial opportunity decisions under uncertainty and thus highlights the need for a broader perspective for the entrepreneur, especially in the early stage of venture formation, where some cognitions and required personal attributes are needed in consonance for entrepreneurial action. Originality and value: Entrepreneurship research on decision making under uncertainty has mainly focused on the effect of uncertainty on entrepreneurial actions, while an attempt at the individual level, particularly, from the cognitive framework seeks to explain why actions differ. Scholarly efforts have also been made on what informs entrepreneurial actions from the perspective of the entrepreneur’s personal attributes. However, no integrated approach is offered in the literature to study how cognitive skills and personality traits complement each other.
The global economy involves enormous internationalization activities that provide untapped opportunities for entrepreneurs and businesses. This study sets out to improve the understanding of the role of the home country human capital on entrepreneurial internationalization. To advance this understanding, we conducted an analysis of data from 28 European countries using structural equation modeling (SEM) with partial least squares (PLS). The result of an empirical analysis revealed that the entrepreneurial intentions of the country’s non-entrepreneurs has a positive and significant impact on effective business creation and the latter consequently has a positive and significant impact on the level of internationalization. Also, our findings indicate that the level of education has a negative impact on entrepreneurial readiness/awareness.
Nowadays, a huge amount of data is generated due to rapid Information and Communication Technology development. In this paper, a digital banking strategy has been suggested applying these big data for Iranian banking industry. This strategy would guide Iranian banks to analyse and distinguish customers’ needs to offer services proportionate to their manner. In this research, the balances of more than 2,600,000 accounts over 400 weeks are computed in a bank. These accounts are clustered based on justified RFM parameters containing maximum balances, the most number of maximum balances and the last week number with the maximum balance using k-means method. Subsequently, the clusters are prioritised employing Best Worst Method- COmplex PRoportional ASsessment methods considering the diverse inner value of each cluster. The accounts are classified into six clusters. The experts named the clusters as special, loyal, silver- high interaction, silver- low interaction, bronze, averted- low interaction. silver- low interaction cluster and loyal cluster are picked in order by experts and BWM-COPRAS as the most influential clusters and the digital banking strategy is developed for them. RFM parameters are modelled for customers’ accounts singly. The aggregation of the separate accounts of a customer should be considered.
European agriculture should meet new increasing internal and contextual challenges. For example, the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy in 2003 introduced the cross-compliance, among other novelties, as compulsory for farmers. To better meet this and other requirements, Member States had to set up the so-called Farm Advisory System, operational across the European Union in 2007. From a sample of actors involved in the provision of farm advisory services in the region of Valencia (Spain), the present study aimed to identify the most appropriate strategies to implement such services. SWOT method has been applied to examine the internal and external environment. Based on this diagnosis, dominance of strengths and opportunities resulted in a set of four prioritised main ‘aggressive’ strategies (using SPACE and QSPM methods), which in turn may help public decision makers and advisers in a more effective implementation of advisory services.
This paper introduces a multi-period, multi-product green inventory routing problem with transshipment option, where capacitated vehicles distribute products from multiple suppliers to one customer to meet the given demand of products. The demand associated with the customer is assumed to be time-varying and deterministic. Greenhouse gas emissions from transport activities in a supply chain are a main reason for global warming. One of the main types of greenhouse gas is CO2 from vehicles and its impact on the environment. Inventory and routing decisions can help in the reduction of CO2 emissions if these emissions are taken into account by researchers. Also, as one of the main topics of this paper, the transshipment option is considered in the proposed model. The model is a mixed-integer programming (MIP) which has been solved and validated by General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS). Finally, small and large-scale test problems are randomly generated and solved by the simulated annealing algorithm (SA). The computational results for different test problems showed that the proposed SA performs well and converges fast to reasonable solutions compared with GAMS. According to the results, it is determined that the transshipment option reduces CO2 emissions and costs by shortening the distance traveled.
High-tech companies are rapidly growing in the world. Research and development (hereafter R&D) department strength is the main asset that allows a firm to achieve a competitive advantage in high-tech businesses. The allocated budget to this sector is finite; thus, integration, human resource, risk and budget limitations should be considered to choose the most valuable project in the best portion of time. This paper investigates a case study from a high-tech company in Iran to prioritize the most attractive technologies for the R&D department. The case consists of twenty three technology options and the goal is to find the most attractive projects to sort them out for implementation in the R&D department. In this research, scholars proposed the best–worst method (henceforth BWM) to find the weight of the criteria of the attractive technologies in first step and utilize the newly developed method total area based on orthogonal vectors (henceforward TAOV) to sort the selected technologies based upon the identified criteria. Project integration is one of the least-noticed subjects in scientific papers; therefore, the researchers presented a zero or one linear programming (ZOLP) model to optimize and schedule the implementation procedure on the project risk, budget and time limitation simultaneously. The results indicate that starting few but attractive projects in the first years and postponing the rest to the future, helps a firm to manage funds and gain profit with the least amount of risk.
When considering today’s uncertain atmosphere, many people and organizations believe that strategy has lost its meaning and position. When future is predictable, common approaches for strategic planning are applicable; nonetheless, vague circumstances require different methods. Accordingly, a new approach that is compatible with uncertainty and unstable conditions is necessary. Fuzzy logic is a worldview compatible with today complicated requirements. Regarding today’s uncertain and vague atmosphere, there is an absolute requirement to fuzzify the tools and strategic planning models, especially for dynamic and unclear environment. In this research, an extended version of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) fuzzy approach has been presented for strategic planning based on fuzzy logic. It has solved the traditional strategic planning key problems like internal and external factors in imprecision and ambiguous environment. The model has been performed in an information technology corporation to demonstrate the capabilities in real world cases.
Internationalization is a complex process, in which firms face various challenges that
may lead to opportunities or threads. One of these challenges is export compliance.
The objective of this paper is to disentangle the nature of export compliance and its
function in international entrepreneurship. This study outlines a perspective on the
export control system, discusses the most relative legislation, reveals the
consequences of non-compliance and provides a case study and finally explains the
function of export compliance in the international activities of firms.
Islam is the second largest religion in the world. Muslims are the target of most of the homeland and foreign businesses in their market. Islamic finance is also is an international solution to promote the entrepreneurship. The objective of this paper is to explore the international entrepreneurship from Islamic view. This study argues shariah-compliant entrepreneurship in international context. For doing so, we explore entrepreneurship in Islam, offer potential opportunities for conducting Islamic-oriented business and investigate the performance European countries in Islamic finance and entrepreneurship.
ABSTRACT. Designing organizational strategies in various businesses is a commonly employed practice; nevertheless, nowadays the strategy portfolio optimization is one of the major controversial issues. This research proposes an inclusive model to evaluate and select organizational strategies based on the boundaries of its resources. In order to achieve such a model, first of all, a grey COPRAS model is applied to evaluate organizational strategies under uncertain circumstances. Subsequently, on the basis of the aforementioned method, a mixed integer multi-objective linear programming model is depicted to optimize the strategy selection process according to COPRAS-G strategy significance results and with regard to time, cost and other structural constraints as well as organizational policies. Ultimately, a mixed COPRAS G-MODM is transformed to a binary goal programming model and the suggested approach is employed in Iran Mercantile Exchange for strategy portfolio optimization .
The economical crisis affected in particular regions focused on manufacturing specializations. Considering the important role played by Italy in this industry, this paper aims at providing a measure of the competitiveness of the manufacturing industry at regional level, focusing on positioning of Piedmont, a manufacturing vocation region. Despite the important role played by Italian manufacturing, literature concerning the creation of a synthetic regional index of this type of competitiveness is practically nonexistent. The paper bridges this gap throughout the development of a global index of regional competitiveness of the manufacturing industry. Methodology consists in a systematic analysis of drivers supported by literature at the base of the competitiveness of the regional manufacturing industry and in the validation of results by means of three focus groups composed of 30 stakeholders belonging to different organizations in two phases (Delphi method). Results show a system of measure based on eight competitive drivers, and its application to the Italian and Piedmont system highlights a strong heterogeneity among regions; this shows how Italian manufacturing industry depends on a few highly competitive regional systems and emphasizes the first position of Piedmont in this field. The creation of a ranking of the Italian regional systems on the base of the competitiveness of their manufacturing industry allows to draw important developing strategies. Main limits of this research involve the level of exhaustiveness of drivers and indices, chosen throughout criteria of relevance, transferability, and accessibility.
One of the key concerns in meat supply chains is to provide chain-wide transparency, whereby food operators capture and share transparency data across the supply chain. To meet this concern a chain-wide transparency software system is needed that is able to address the desired stakeholder requirements. Unfortunately, designing and implementing a chain-wide transparency system is not straightforward. In this paper we provide a systematic approach for designing and implementing chain wide transparency systems. To this end, we first present a reference architecture that represents a generic design of such systems. Secondly, we discuss the systematic approach for deriving concrete architectures from the reference architecture based on stakeholders’ requirements. Finally, we illustrate our approach with the design and implementation of a transparency system for beef supply chains.
The rapid development of science and technology severely is affected or will be affected on organizations. Municipalities as well as other organizations are required to align with the changes due to adapt to the social and technological changes. To align with the changes, organizations should put their base on the learning, learning how to learn and, how to elevate their employee's ability and this will not be possible unless organizations go forward to being the learning. This paper is based on five Senge's learning disciplines that identified organizations with personal mastery, mental models, building shared vision, team learning and systems thinking. For this reason, to assess the five components in current status, a descriptive-survey research have been conducted in the municipality of Saveh. A data collection tool has been questionnaire using Cronbach's alpha each question validity is extracted. Statistical society is 400 person, by using Cochran's formula 67 samples were selected. Eke for data analysis, T-test and SPSS software was used. The result obtained of data analysis indicate that the current status of Saveh Municipality base on principles of in Peter Senge's learning organization is relatively desirable.
The objective of this research is to addresses the effects of digital transformation on value creation through the study of technology entrepreneurship and technological market expansion. This is particularly important since both of these concepts are part of the dynamic capabilities that help in embracing digital innovation at a national level. Relevant data from 28 European countries representing development indicators and ease of doing business over a timeframe of 7 years from 2009 to 2015 were analysed to formulate and investigate a new perspective of digital entrepreneurship driven by the concepts of digital transformation and entrepreneurship. To do this, digital transformation has been broken into three categories, namely technology readiness (e.g. ICT investments), digital technology exploration (e.g. research and development) and digital technology exploitation (e.g. patents and trademarks). This research identifies several significant relationships between such constructs, which contribute to the literature and provide key implications for business management and practitioners.
Purpose
This paper aims to address the association between the quality and quantity of information in supply chains and the costs and benefits of generating, using and sharing it.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors’ conceptual framework draws on multiple disciplines and theories of the value and use of product information. Controllable aspects of information, its quality and quantity, are the focus of the study as drivers of firm and chain performance. Structural equation models of constructs at two stages of the Australian red meat supply chain are employed, using data from a survey of 81 sheep and cattle breeders and commercial producers.
Findings
Information quality influences performance more for some product attributes than others and is more influential than is information quantity. Information sharing for many attributes generates benefits only at high cost. Investment in measurement and transmission technologies is supported for intrinsic and extrinsic measures of quality. Differences in respondents' evaluation of information quality are interpreted as evidence of persistent chain failure.
Originality/value
To the authors' knowledge, this is the first attempt at quantifying and comparing the benefits and costs of information sharing across multiple stages of a supply chain and the first to assess quantitatively the role played by information quality and quantity in generating costs and benefits.
There are various factors in Dili’s water system responsible for the water scarcity problem in the city. Hence, there is a need for strategic plans which could be used as guidelines in improving its water system. The objective of this study was to formulate a strategic plan for water resource management in Dili. The process commenced with the identification of external and internal factors. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to weight the score at the input stage. The alternative strategies were formulated with the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) matrix. Furthermore, the Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrix (QSPM) was used to select the priority strategy at the decision stage. Based on the results, a total of 13 internal and 13 external factors were identified, while five alternative strategies formulated. Moreover, the selected strategy as the priority for implementation has the capacity of developing the water resource management infrastructure in Dili, as well as improving the water supply system performance in meeting the urban water demand.
Purpose. To design a novel hybrid approach to illustrate a reciprocal alignment to integrate future products and technologies. This mixed qualitative-quantitative method aims to optimize the final product portfolio and production technologies alignment in the food industry.
Design. A list of products and technologies is extracted and evaluated by experts employing Market Attractiveness and Ease of Implementations Matrix (MA-EI) for products and Attractiveness and technological Capability Matrix (A-C) for technologies. Weights of high-scored alternatives are attained applying the Z-number extension of Best Worst Method (ZBWM). After the Product-Technology matrix is formed and the alignment scores of each pair are determined by experts. Subsequently, final scores are computed and a framework is proposed by electing high-ranked products and technology of each cluster to form the aligned product and technology portfolios of a food and hygiene industry company.
Finding. By employing an uncertain multi-criteria decision-making approach besides product and technology matrices in a food industry corporation, among 40 technology and product, 13 products by 6 technologies are proposed. Thus, only six technology are necessary to manufacture the highly important and effective products.
Originality. The combination of product and technology analysis matrixes with an uncertain decision-making approach is considered as a novel approach in this research. Moreover, the distinctness between the present study and other researches is the concurrent unified aspect of product portfolio and technology optimization and its implementation in the planning discussion, especially in the food industry.
Purpose
The experience of successful firms has proven that one of the most important ways to promote co-learning and create successful networked innovations is the proper application of inter-organizational knowledge mechanisms. This study aims to use a resource-action-performance framework to open the black box on the relationship between networking capability and innovation performance. The research population embraces companies in the Iranian automotive industry.
Design/methodology/approach
Due to the latent nature of the variables studied, the required data are collected through a web-based cross-sectional survey. First, the content validity of the measurement tool is evaluated by experts. Then, a pre-test is conducted to assess the reliability of the measurement tool. All data are gathered by the Iranian Vehicle Manufacturers Association (IVMA) and Iranian Auto Parts Manufacturers Association (IAPMA) samples. The power analysis method and G*Power software are used to determine the sample size. Moreover, SmartPLS 3 and IBM SPSS 25 software are used for data analysis of the conceptual model and relating hypotheses.
Findings
The results of this study indicated that the relationships between networking capability, inter-organizational knowledge mechanisms and inter-organizational learning result in a self-reinforcing loop, with a marked impact on firm innovation performance.
Originality/value
Since there is little understanding of the interdependencies of networking capability, inter-organizational knowledge mechanisms, co-learning and their effect on firm innovation performance, most previous research studies have focused on only one or two of the above-mentioned variables. Thus, their cumulative effect has not examined yet. Looking at inter-organizational relationships from a network perspective and knowledge-based view (KBV), and to consider the simultaneous effect of knowledge mechanisms and learning as intermediary actions alongside, to consider the performance effect of the capability-building process, are the main advantages of this research.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide a thorough empirical investigation of the potential link between corporate innovations and corporate competitiveness in the context of the UK IT industry.
Design/methodology/approach
This research uses a panel of 216 UK IT firms for the period from 2000 to 2016. The sample data for this study were extracted from the Worldscope, extracted from the Datastream database from Thomson Reuters. For the analysis of the data, the generalised method of moments model is applied.
Findings
The results of this study provide empirical evidence that there exists a strong, positive link between corporate innovations and corporate competitiveness. Such evidence further reinforces the common view in the current literature of strategic management that because of the nature of their business, firms in the IT industry need to enhance their innovative capacities on a continual basis because of their critical role on these firms’ success and survival. Also, it is found that when the proxies for corporate innovations are lagged by two periods, their impact on corporate competitiveness becomes relatively more significant. However, when they are further lagged, i.e. by three periods, such an impact turns out to be relatively less pronounced.
Research limitations/implications
The data gathered for this paper was restricted to IT-oriented firms in the UK. Using a secondary database (Datastream), the paper considered the period of 2000-2016.
Originality/value
The research makes a significant contribution to the current debate on the relationship between information technology, innovation and performance, referred to in the literature as the productivity paradox, by studying the problem in the IT industry. It supports organisations from the sector in their efforts to deal with the dynamic nature of technological innovations and of the context where they operate. Methodologically, the way the study has measured the concepts of innovation and performance and the lessons learned from their analysis has also brought value to the research.
Purpose
In this paper, multi-period location–inventory–routing problem (LIRP) considering different vehicles with various capacities has been investigated for the supply chain of red meat. The purpose of this paper is to reduce variable and fixed costs of transportation and production, holding costs of red meat, costs of meeting livestock needs and refrigerator rents.
Design/methodology/approach
The considered supply chain network includes five echelons. Demand considered for each customer is approximated as deterministic using historical data. The modeling is performed on a real case. The presented model is a linear mixed-integer programming model. The considered model is solved using general algebraic modeling system (GAMS) software for data set of the real case.
Findings
A real-world case is solved using the proposed method. The obtained results have shown a reduction of 4.20 per cent in final price of red meat. Also, it was observed that if the time periods changed from month to week, the final cost of meat per kilogram would increase by 43.26 per cent.
Originality/value
This paper presents a five-echelon LIRP for the meat supply chain in which vehicles are considered heterogeneous. To evaluate the capability of the presented model, a real case is solved in Iran and its results are compared with the real conditions of a firm, and the rate of improvement is presented. Finally, the impact of the changed time period on the results of the solution is examined.
Purpose: The main objective of this research was to identify the key critical determinants of internationalisation business processes that entrepreneurs adopted in under-supported policy contexts.
Design/methodology/approach: This research utilised a case-study design, incorporating multiple case examples, applying non-probability purposive selection criteria. A total of five in-depth, structured 90-min to two-hour case interviews were conducted with Italian entrepreneurs, in which four out of the five cases selected are goods-oriented, and one is services oriented.
Findings: Regarding internal entrepreneurial motives, four crucial determinants were recognised: (1) Making more profit, (2) Expanding market, (3) Personal tendency to export and (4) Obtaining social respect. Regarding external networking capabilities, two key factors were identified: (1) Developing relationships with an international partner or representative and (2) Maintaining relationships with industry-relevant authorities.
Research limitations/implications: The data gathered for this paper depends on self-announcing, expanding the likelihood of being one-sided for social desirability answers. The sample of research is also limited to small and medium businesses and has covered a limited number of companies.
Originality/value: An under-supported policy context forces international entrepreneurs to make their own arrangements and tailor their business process through personal initiative and interactions with network partners. Taking advantage of field-based data, this paper is probably one of the earliest research studies to identify several internal and external factors impacting on firm internationalisation business processes in the low policy support context for entrepreneurship.
Purpose
This paper aims to consider the role and influence of social capital (SC) on knowledge management (KM) and sets out to develop an understanding of the importance of the impact of the cross-cultural environment on this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
According to the notion, in this study, the relationship between two essential aspects in management and business, SC on KM practices, has been analyzed. By applying a descriptive and correlational method, the impact of various dimensions of SC on KM in a cross-cultural setting has been investigated, and required data has been obtained through questionnaires consist of 30 items, which is prepared for a sample of 232 people.
Findings
Although the findings are varied, the results indicated that there is an important relationship between SC dimensions and KM in the research environment, which is cross-cultural.
Research limitations/implications
First, as the data derived from different branches of a big company in Iran, its results cannot be easily extended to other contexts. Therefore, future streams of research can expand the scope of this paper into other contexts with different characteristics. Moreover, the sample of this paper is taken from different communities (branches) which increase the variety of personality features in distinct cultures. Thus, further research can stress a particular organization/ branch to avoid the problem of cultural variation and focus on a more homogenous sample. Finally, this study targeted a big organization in the IT sector. However, future studies can investigate another type of firm (e.g. small and medium firms) in different sectors (e.g. manufacturing, food sector, etc.).
Practical implications
In this research, using scientific and practical methods, the impacts have been examined carefully and deliberately to assist the managers of organizations in theoretically and managerially as these outcomes contribute to the development of a new concept called cross-cultural in knowledge management and social capital, and support organizations to cope with the implications of this concept.
Originality/value
There is not much empirical research on cross-cultural settings and its effects on management, finance and business, especially on correlations between KM and SC. This investigation tries to fill this gap and explain the ways, which companies can use SC for enhancing their effectiveness of KM by considering culture diversity impacts.
The motives behind self-employment and the differences between women and men are a hot topic in entrepreneurship debate. This paper empirically explores the interaction of three types of motivation on the entrepreneurial activities of women and men in 24 European countries: opportunity-driven motivation, necessity-driven motivation and mixed motivation. Employing a dynamic method, a panel data analysis in the timeframe from 2009 to 2012 is conducted. In this regard, the paper explores entrepreneurship at the two levels of established businesses (EBs) and total early-stage entrepreneurial activities (TEAs). The findings suggest that all three motivational dimensions positively influence females’ self-employment at both levels. Also, the findings reveal that, at the established business level, there is a significant and positive relationship between entrepreneurship by men and opportunity-seeking motivation.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumer’s attitude towards cause-related marketing (CRM). In detail, it aims to assess the relationship between CRM and consumer’s brand loyalty, and whether this relationship is moderated by consumer’s perception of corporate social behaviours. Moreover, the research looks for differences in the above relationship on two samples of consumers born and living in different countries and therefore with different cultural backgrounds.
Design/methodology/approach
The research adopts a quantitative methodology using a survey conducted among Italian and Japanese consumers. Ordinary least square regressions models are developed to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The findings of this paper indicate a positive relationship between the consumers’ perception of CRM and their brand loyalty perception, regardless the country of origin. Accordingly, the authors found a similar pattern of CRM perception among Italian and Japanese consumers. In addition, the authors found that CRM and the consumers’ perception of corporate social behaviours are not complementary, in the sense their joint effect does not affect consumer’s brand loyalty.
Originality/value
This is one of the first studies addressing the issue concerning the CRM perception of people with in different cultures. In this regard, this study suggests that CRM impacts on brand loyalty regardless the country of origin (Italy and Japan), and consumers’ characteristics such as age, gender, background. In addition, the study indicates that the perceived corporate social responsibility does not increase the effect of CRM on brand loyalty.
Traditional logistics management has not focused on environmental concerns when designing and optimizing food supply chain networks. However, the protection of the environment is one of the main factors that should be considered based on environmental protection regulations of countries. In this paper, environmental concerns are considered in formulating a mathematical model to design and configure a multi-period, multi-product, multi-echelon green meat supply chain network. We develop a multi-objective mixed-integer linear program- ming formulation to optimize three objectives simultaneously: minimization of the total cost, minimization of the total CO2 emissions released from transportation, and maximization of the total capacity utilization of fa- cilities. To demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed optimization model, we design a green meat supply chain network for Southern Ontario, Canada. A solution approach based on augmented -constraint method is em- ployed to solve the proposed model. As a result, a set of Pareto-optimal solutions is obtained. The set of Pareto- optimal solutions gives decision-makers the opportunity to make a trade-off between economic, environmental, and capacity utilization objectives. Our example shows that it is possible to keep emissions reasonably low without incurring high total costs. Finally, the impacts of uncertainty on the proposed model are investigated using several decision trees. Optimization of a food supply chain, particularly a meat supply chain, based on multiple objectives under uncertainty using decision trees is a new approach in the literature.
The objective of this paper is to investigate the institutional characteristics of different geographic contexts that affect the internationalisation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The study focuses on three categories of factors: (a) sociocultural, (b) political/legal, and (c) economic. Under economic factors, it examines competitive pressures in international markets, the nature of demands in international markets, domestic resources advantages, and domestic general economic characteristics. The paper identifies universal factors that influence the internationalisation of SMEs regardless of the location of the firm. These universal factors are distinguished from context-based factors, which are specific to the particular conditions of the people/location of the firm. A comparative analysis of cases from Italy and Iran allow us to find factors that are universal, others that are Iranian context-based, and one factor specific to the Italian context. Also, our analysis suggests the existence of some factors without significant influence in either country.
According to the recent gigantic development in the agricultural section, Agricultural Supply Chain (ASC) management has attracted both researchers and agronomic practitioners. In this regard, rice as one of the important agricultural products is generally cultivated by rural farmers in small farmlands. Due to the high demand, high price, type of products, and also wide geographic range of production and consumption, the rice supply chain has special characteristics in ASC. In this regard, this paper not only firstly considers rice supply chain and but also proposes a bi-level optimization model for rice supply chain. The proposed model aims to minimize total cost with respect to the two decision makers' opinions. Since, the bi-level programming is NP-hard, to solve the proposed model, two well-known meta-heuristic algorithms including Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) along with two hybrid algorithms (PSO-GA and GA-PSO) and a modified algorithm (GPA) are utilized. In order to fill the literature gaps and to get closer to real-world applications, an applicable example in Iran is studied. Based on the results and managerial insights, the GPA is chosen as the best method and its allocated value of the variable are reported. The results show that the proposed model and solution methods are valid, practical, and effective. Also, in order to provide an insight to the functionality of the model and the results of the case, some sensitivity analyses on the major model parameters such as the demand are provided.
In the last two decades, supply chain management has been studied in many aspects and professionals were looking forward to improving the sustainability, overall profit, reduce cost and risk simultaneously. Coordination contracts are beneficial to make a better relationship between supply chain members. Many different forms of SC contracts have been applied in recent years. This article evaluates three forms of coordination contracts in a two-level supply chain where seller-buyer's agreement on products exchange makes a flexible relationship that likely supports supply chain profit overall. This paper has collated three forms of the rebate, quantity flexible and buyback contracts based upon uncertain demand using a game theoretic approach to clarify the value of implementing each format despite the formation of industries. The proposed approach has been employed in experimental designs. The investigation illustrates that coordination is beneficial in assuaging supply chain's profit overall. However, the rebate contract has remarkable outcome rather than other contract forms
Incorporation of local people in different places into value creation through the establishment of new businesses is perceived as an entrepreneurial behaviour that promotes the internationalisation. Building on the wealth of material on internationalisation theory and regulation theory, this paper broadens the understanding of universal determinants of international entrepreneurial orientation and performance. Our results reveal that education, household income, and gender significantly contribute to the IE while we could not find any evidence to support the influence of age categories. To do so, we employed a binomial logistic regression modelling covered the data from evolving economies including Italy, Iran, and Canada.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe and analyze how the integration between knowledge management and dynamic capacities in contexts that demand organizational agility contributes to the management by objectives.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve the proposed objective, the present paper adopts the single case study in the startup Effecti. For data collection, semi-structured interviews were carried out, analyzed a posteriori through the technique of content analysis. From the loads of evidence observed, a model was presented that consists of different management theories and that guides the management by objectives process of a startup.
Findings
The proposed model proves to be able to describe the modus operandi of a startup and enables it to develop the cycles of testing, measurement and seizure of knowledge, largely stimulated and inherent to the creation process of new businesses in dynamic and uncertain contexts.
Practical implications
It is expected that the research results presented in details can illustrate concrete examples of application of the main concepts: agile organization, dynamic capabilities, knowledge management, performance assessment, enterprise risk management and management by objectives.
Originality/value
The originality of this study is focused on the integration of conceptual triad and its application in the case study of a startup: agile organization, dynamic capabilities and knowledge management.
Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a popular method for evaluating a set of homogeneous decision-making units (DMUs). One of the main shortcomings of DEA is the weights flexibility where each unit can take its desirable weights. Several methods have been developed for finding a common set of weights (CSWs) and overcoming this drawback. The CSWs methods are used to evaluate the relative efficiency of the DMUs in a single time-period. However, single period DEA models cannot handle organizational units performing in a continuum of time. We propose a novel method for determining the CSWs in a multi-period DEA. Initially, the CSWs problem is formulated as a multi-objective fractional programming problem. Subsequently, a multi-period form of the problem is formulated and the mean efficiency of the DMUs is maximized while their efficiency variances is minimized. A fuzzy set-based approach is used to solve the multi-period CSWs problem. We present a real-world case study to demonstrate applicability and exhibit the efficacy of the proposed method. The results indicate a significant improvement in the discrimination power of the proposed multi-period method.
This article constitutes the first of two parts of a research aiming to investigate innovation in family businesses (FBs) and to present a consumer-focused conduit to agility in the strategic marketing multicultural context. The current article studies FBs’ innovativeness in the context of their “familiness,” focusing on the question of how FBs’ human, social/multicultural, and marketing capitals fare in comparison to non-FBs. The research findings are supportive of FBs’ potentialities, indicating an inherent “genetic” disposition towards agile innovation. The research further underlines the need for a new agility framework for FBs, to bear into consideration their transformed (agile) innovation factors and the marketing realities of contemporary business, a task undertaken by the second part of this study. Methodologically, the research retains a scientifically founded exactitude, balancing the primary, the theoretical, and the conceptual countenances through a mixed inductive-deductive approach. The current article is based on a narrative theoretical and quantitative primary data (survey) analyses. The research’s contribution relates to its uncovering of the true FBs’ innovation potentialities; its theoretical linkage to the subjects of agility, strategic marketing and consumer behavior; and their conceptual incorporation into a unified framework (the “Agile Innovation Pendulum”) with explicit scholarly and executive implications.
This article constitutes the second of two parts of a research project aiming to investigate innovation in family businesses (FBs) and to present a consumer-focused conduit to agility in the strategic marketing multicultural context. The current article explores theoretically the notion of Agile Innovation giving birth to the idea of the Dynamic Equilibrium of Agile Innovation. It subsequently introduces the “missing link” of the Agile Consumer to construct the FB Strategic Marketing Multicultural Agility Pendulum, conceptually and conclusively, while drawing in parallel significant theoretical and executive insights and implications. The research findings and contribution are supportive of family firms’ potentialities, indicating that these organizations have an inherent disposition towards agile innovation, with multicultural management acting as the agent of equilibrium. Caution, however, is demanded in developing the proper value propositions and “softer” agility features that will not perturb the often-delicate balances and unique bundle of features defining FBs. Methodologically, the research retains a scientifically founded exactitude, balancing the primary, the theoretical, and the conceptual countenances through a mixed inductive-deductive approach. The current article is conceptual and is based on a combination of narrative literature review, meta-synthesis literature review, and qualitative primary data (interviews).
Purpose
This study aims to identify halal risk events, halal risk agents, measure halal risk level and formulate the halal risk control model (mitigation) in all stages in the beef supply chain from Australia to Indonesia.
Design/methodology/approach
This research combines qualitative and quantitative method. It elaborates nine variables as the Halal Control Point: halal animal, animal welfare, stunning, knife, slaughter person, slaughter method, invocation, packaging, labeling and halal meat. This study uses house of risk, a model for proactive supply chain risk.
Findings
The main mitigation strategies to guarantee the halal beef status in the abattoir is the obligation of vendor or the factory to issue a written manual of stunning tool. The priority of halal risk mitigation strategies for the retailing to avoid the meat contamination is the need of a halal policy for transporter’s companies and supermarkets.
Research limitations/implications
Every actor must be strongly committed to the application of halal risk mitigation strategies and every chain must be implemented in the halal assurance system.
Originality/value
This model will be a good reference for halal meat auditing and reference for halal meat import procurement policy.
Purpose
This paper aims to disseminate the knowledge integration process modelling throughout the phases of the early contractor involvement (ECI) procurement methodology, to optimise the benefit of ECI procurement method. The development of the model was aimed at taking advantage from the associated benefits of integrating knowledge and of ECI procurement. ECI provides contractors with an alternative means to tendering, designing and constructing projects. Thus, this paper explores knowledge interconnectivity and its integration involving numerous disciplines with various stakeholders to benefit from the collaborative environment of ECI.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology implemented in the research includes a thorough literature review to establish the characteristics of the ECI tender stage as well as the characteristics of knowledge to be integrated in an ECI setting. Following this, an embedded case study research methodology was used involving three healthcare ECI projects undertaken by a Western Australian commercial contractor through 20 semi-structured interviews and project archival study, followed by the development of knowledge integration process models throughout the ECI process of the studied cases.
Findings
The research findings provide the basis to develop a knowledge integration process model throughout the ECI stages. The tender stage was found to be the most crucial stage for knowledge integration, particularly from the main contractor’s perspective to impart change and to influence the project outcome. The outcome of this research identifies the richness and interconnectivity of knowledge throughout the knowledge integration process in an ECI project starting from the intra-organisational knowledge integration process followed by the inter-organisational process of knowledge integration. This inside-out perspective of knowledge integration also revealed the need for mapping the implementation of knowledge integration from instrumental to incremental approach throughout the ECI stages in optimising the intended benefits of integrating knowledge.
Originality/value
This paper reports the development of a knowledge integration process model with the view to optimise the management effectiveness of integrating knowledge in ECI projects. Although knowledge integration and ECI can be considered existing and widely accepted concepts, the novelty of this research lies in the specific use of the knowledge integration process to analyse the knowledge flow, transformation and, hence, management in ECI projects. As it has been acknowledged that knowledge integration is beneficial but also a complex process, the methodology implemented here in modelling the process can be used as the basis to model knowledge integration in other ECI projects to further capitalise from ECI as a collaborative procurement method.
Focusing on the importance of going for global and building a network theory, we propose and test a framework of international trade antecedents of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Whilst the internationalization of firms has been investigated immensely, there is a little study about what drives of international trades of MSMEs which has a crucial role in the food sector of the Italian economy. These firms survive and operate under the variety of circumstances, resulting in particular manners they leverage their capabilities and competencies. The analysis of survey data from 1157 MSMEs in three Italian industries of food sector reveals that the international trade intensity not only is positively related to their sunk costs ratio, financial slack intensity, and technological capabilities but also has a U-shaped linkage with the number executive managers. Our study finds evidence that many MSMEs in Italian food sector do have potential to go global and internationalize their business if they leverage their competencies.
This study proposes designing the integrated supply chain of wheat products that includes long-term decisions of supplier selection and locating new silos and mid-term decisions of assignment and distribution of the wheat and its products. The proposed model aims at selecting the suppliers, determining amount of the import, distribution of wheat, and production of its products. The model is developed by considering blending of different types of the wheat for producing different products, locating new silos and different modes of transportation in all levels of the chain, and also adding the export sector. Unlike the most of previous researches, the current research proposes an integrated planning model that is able to consider all effective levels and factors on the chain. The application of this model is surveyed in a case study for Iran that demonstrates considerable cost savings. By solving the model, the results illustrate the significant reduction in transportation costs. Meanwhile, the sensitivity analysis has been performed on changing of the most important parameter values of the model to show the effect of them on objective function. Finally, practical suggestions from the output results are brought in conclusion.