Alessandro Perego’s research while affiliated with Politecnico di Milano and other places

Cross-sector partnerships (CSPs) can play a prominent role in tackling wicked sustainability problems. In particular, cities are critical venues for testing the potential of CSPs as agents of systemic change. However, the effectiveness of CSPs in orchestrating resources to drive systemic change in urban contexts is still not fully understood. We fill this gap through the longitudinal study of an action research case of a CSP offering urban food assistance. Our process model synthesizes how the resource orchestration activities put in place by the CSP spur phases of systemic change in the urban food system through different yet interrelated lifecycle stages of the initiative. Our results extend the literature on CSPs and systemic change showing the relationship between resource orchestration and the delivery of systemic change in urban contexts by CSPs, with significant implications for the design and management of CSPs dealing with wicked sustainability problems in cities.

Platforms have been studied for their capacity to rapidly expand by harnessing digital infrastructure and network effects, ensuring modularity and zero cost to add new users. Research supports platform evolution through data and relationship exploitation, adding new customers to leverage network externalities. However,non-digital businesses like Poste Italiane claim to adopt platform dynamics to sustain innovation and long-term viability. Furthermore, overlooked by platform literature, business incubators and living labs employ platform characteristics through organizational efforts and physical spaces, detaching from data-driven interactions, labelled as Unconventional Platforms (UPs). If these characteristics define UPs, how do they influence UPs evolution? This study examines the evolution strategies of UPs by analyzing Digital Innovation Observatories through a longitudinal case study. It uncovers the evolution through the 'format' definition, which involves replicating defined dynamics, launching UPs into new or adjacent fields informed by acquired knowledge from previously opened platforms. The organizational infrastructure ensures knowledge sharing among launched UPs, while guiding meaningful customer interactions. UPs can further expand their knowledge by creating a digital platform without being a necessary step for platform growth. This research demonstrates that platform boundaries can be expanded without digital scalability, enhancing the local presence and networks, promoting organizational flexibility through agile culture.

Fruit and vegetables are a core component of healthy diets, but horticultural production and distribution activities suffer from a high incidence of surplus food and food waste. The intrinsic perishability of products as well recurring pests, diseases and contamination events are since long recognized to be primary reasons for fruit and vegetables wastage, but a more thorough knowledge of causes, including external events and internal strategies and practices, is necessary to design and implement waste reduction strategies. However, literature on waste causes in fruit and vegetables supply chains is rather fragmented. Most existing studies focus on single products, single deterioration mechanisms or single reuse or recycling choices, and hardly ever investigate more than one stage of the fruit and vegetables supply chain. The main objective of the paper is to offer an instrument for identifying in a comprehensive way the possible origin points and root issues behind food waste generation in the stages of fruit and vegetables supply chains. The research is conducted through the application of two methods. A first phase consists in a deep literature review, whose results are summarized in the so-called Causes Framework. This qualitative instrument shows the possible sources of fruit and vegetables surplus and waste, highlighting for each supply chain stage the high-priority causes and for each cause the fundamental root issue. The second research phase is a case study that shows how the Framework can be applied to pinpoint the most significant causes for specific supply chains. The unit of analysis is the supply chain of an Italian PGI pear. Primary information is gathered from 6 enterprises through 7 semi-structured interviews. The most critical causes of surplus and waste generation in the focal supply chain are found as the intersection between interview answers and Framework predictions. The paper integrates sparse pieces of knowledge on the processes of food waste generation in fruit and vegetables supply chains, and offers an instrument that may support private and public decision-makers in the reduction of horticultural waste.

Background and aim of the work: The rapid evolution of Covid-19 and the availability of numerous vaccines led countries to set up Massive Vaccination campaign in a very short time. Since December 2020, due to the lack of specific guidelines, multidisciplinary groups started to investigate the minimum requirements for Massive Vaccination Centers (MVC). The aim of the paper is to shed light on the process of development of a scalable model for MVC layout design and implementation. Methods: The methodology included two phases and six steps: 1)Study of MVC with i) acquisition of process data from experimental study on an early set up vaccination hub; ii) review of scientific literature on MVC; iii) review of existing available guidelines and international examples; 2) Design proposal with iv) functional and space requirements collection; v) standard MVC layout design and vi) scalable model definition. Results: The resulting layout is compact, has a good wayfinding and address safety reducing cross-contamination risks. Different vaccine lines have been designed with a central dilution area for process efficiency. Healthcare staff wellbeing is guaranteed by the provision of resting spaces, short distances, and the correct sizing of space for the different activities. To ensure optimal vaccination capacity at the peak of vaccination, a modular and scalable model of different sizes has been designed ranging from 400 to 12000 m2. Conclusions: The modular layout has been used as basic model in the regional legislation, disclosed with the Deliberation n° XI / 4353 of 24/02/2021. Further research is encouraged to compare different national and international layouts.

Food systems are plagued by the grand sustainability challenge of food waste, which represents a urging issue from economic, environmental and social point of view. dThe Circular Economy paradigm can open up different actions which are framed within the so-called Food Waste Hierarchy (FWH). In these regards, scholars recommend to leverage on those practices that are able to prevent the generation of surplus food, preserving a higher share of the sustainable value. For these pre-harvest and post-harvest practices that go under the name of prevention or reuse strategies in different FWH, technology plays a crucial role. Through a set of 34 semi-structured interviews with technology providers as well as with companies in the agri-food supply chain, the present work investigates extensively the range of the available technologies and the detailed objectives of such technologies for food loss and waste prevention (i.e., forecasting, monitoring, grouping, shelf life extension, product quality and value upgrading). Moreover, different forms of collaboration enable to reach these objectives in different ways. Collaboration with technology providers can be based on continuous technical assistance and consulting for data elaboration and data analysis as well as on full data sharing and co-design, allowing to achieve a different impact on food loss and waste prevention. Finally, our study reveals that the adoption of different technological options can represent the engine to establish vertical collaborations between the adopter of the technology and another stage in the agri-food supply chain, in order to fight food waste and loss with a coordinated supply chain effort.

The proliferation of e-commerce in the recent years has been recognized to have a huge impact on transportation owing to the increasing need for last-mile deliveries in urban areas. Further, it is claimed to be responsible for the rising number of vans moving in cities, considerably impacting environmental sustainability. In this context, electric vehicles (EVs) could substitute internal combustion engine vehicles (ICEVs) to mitigate their harmful impact on the environment. This work aims to provide a comparison between the EVs and the ICEVs used to perform last-mile deliveries in business-to-consumers (B2C) e-commerce, considering both economic and environmental perspectives. The life cycle assessment method is adopted for the evaluation of environmental impact. However, economic assessment is based on the total cost of ownership analysis, which allows the comparison between the two types of vehicles throughout the ownership period. The analysis was conducted considering an Italian city (Milan). The use of EVs proved to be economically beneficial when an 8-year timeframe was considered. Even if the initial investment for EVs is high, owing to a purchasing price that is nearly double when compared to ICEVs, the lower operating expenditure makes EVs a competitive option. Considering the environmental perspective, EVs turned out to be the best option in all the scenarios assumed. In particular, EVs lead to a decrease in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 17% (in the 20 km/day case) to by 54% (in the 120 km/day case), or even more if a higher daily mileage is considered.

The last-mile delivery is one of the most challenging logistics issues arising from B2C e-commerce. Companies operating online have to meet stringent requirements in terms of service level; moreover, the features of e-commerce orders – e.g. small dimension – make last-mile delivery the most expensive part of the delivery process. In this context, crowdsourcing logistics emerges as an innovative and promising solution: deliveries are assigned to a network of ‘common’ people through an open call. This solution may imply great advantages for the urban society. Nonetheless, in order to spread, it has to be economically sustainable for companies. In this regard, the paper investigates the economic profitability of a ‘pony express’ crowdsourcing logistics initiative in an urban area. A model has been developed in order to estimate the cost of deliveries using crowdsourced services, and to compare it with the cost of ‘traditional’ pony express couriers.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to support companies’ risk-informed selection of a logistics solution to operate in China via cross-border e-commerce (CBEC). Design/methodology/approach Decision theory is applied to the recent field of CBEC. This theoretic setup involves a decision maker who must choose among a set of alternatives, whose consequences depend on uncertain factors (Savage, 1954). The study develops an activity-based model to calculate logistics costs in a deterministic setting. Simulations and probabilistic sensitivity analyses are later performed to evaluate the impact of uncertainty. Findings There are four main solutions to enter China, determined by the adopted international transport mean and the presence of a local warehouse. The most important risk factors affecting the choice of the logistics solution are change of CBEC regulation, product value, expected service level and demand level. Originality/value From a theoretical perspective, this study improves CBEC literature, so far characterised by descriptive papers, often lacking industry focus or empirical exploration. It also provides new application opportunities for decision theory, whereas previous contributions have proposed different theoretical approaches, such as transaction cost or institutional theory. From a practical viewpoint, the paper is the first to compare the costs of the main logistics solutions to sell online to China, by taking uncertainty into account. The results can be used to better understand the differences among solutions and identify the most critical parameters. Finally, this research provides some observations for policy implementation.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to review and classify scientific publications dealing with those innovative solutions aimed at increasing the efficiency of last-mile delivery in business to consumer (B2C) e-commerce; and, second, to outline directions for future research in this field. Design/methodology/approach The review is based on 75 papers published between 2001 and 2019 in international peer-reviewed journals or proceedings of conferences, retrieved from bibliographic databases and science search engines. Findings Due to its importance in affecting the overall logistics costs and, as a consequence, the economic sustainability of a B2C e-commerce initiative, last-mile delivery process deserves particular attention in order to be optimised. The review highlights that, among the main factors affecting its cost, there are the probability to have failed deliveries, the customer density in the delivery areas and the degree of automation of the process. Innovative and viable last-mile delivery solutions – which may impact the mentioned drivers – include parcel lockers, crowdsourcing logistics, mapping the consumer presence at home and dynamic pricing policies. Eventually, some gaps and areas for further research activities have been identified (e.g. mapping customer behaviour, crowdsourcing logistics). Originality/value This review offers interesting insights to both academics and practitioners. On the academic side, it analyses and classifies relevant literature about innovative and efficiency-oriented last-mile delivery solutions, proposing directions for future research efforts. On the managerial side, it presents a holistic framework of the main factors affecting last-mile delivery cost and of viable innovative solutions that may be implemented to increase efficiency.