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Sustainability Performance and Resilience in Supply Chain Design and Management of Perishable Food and Healthcare Supply Chains

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (17 July 2023) | Viewed by 15452

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Special Issue Editors

Dr. Surya Prakash Singh

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Guest Editor

Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi 110016, India
Interests: decision science; AI/ML in operations; operations and supply chain management; big data analytics; Industry 4.0

Dr. Ankur Chauhan

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Guest Editor

Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida 201309, Uttar Pradesh, India
Interests: healthcare delivery systems; agri-food supply chains; sustainable supply chains; multi-criteira decison making

Dr. Harpreet Kaur

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Guest Editor

Indian Institute of Management Amritsar, Amritsar 143005, Punjab, India
Interests: procurement; logistics; sustainability; supply chain resilience; mathematical modelling; heuristics and stochastic modelling

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Supply chains are inherently complex due to their multi-echelon, multi-stakeholder structure, which are difficult to manage in the turbulent and rapidly evolving global business scenario (Bode and Wagner, 2015). Specialized supply chains such as healthcare and food supply chains face additional challenges such as perishability, special storage, transportation and handling requirements, traceability, and ensuring availability for all in a responsive and efficient manner (Yakovleva et al., 2012; Pishvaee et al., 2014; Dau et al., 2019; De and Singh 2021a, 2021b; Gupta et al. 2021). The design of such supply chains has to be resilient in order to handle any kind of disruption in ever-changing business scenarios. At the same time, business organizations must also take accountability of the environmental and social outcomes of their activities (Wolf, 2014; Fahimnia et al., 2018). This has further increased the design complexity and performance assessment of supply chains multifold (Jabbarzadeh et al., 2018; Jadhav et al., 2019).

In order to deal with these challenges, many researchers have emphasized jointly addressing supply chain sustainability and resilience in business decision making and the overall design of supply chains (Fahimnia and Jabbarzadeh, 2016; Fahimnia et al., 2018; Ivanov, 2018; Shin and Park, 2019; Zavala-Alcívar et al., 2020). There are some significant contributions in the form of frameworks for designing and assessing sustainable supply chains for humanitarian operations and food networks, considering agility, adaptability, and alignment, along with environmental, social, and economic dimensions of sustainability (Dubey and Gunasekaran 2016; Tsolakis et al., 2018; Jabbarzadeh et al., 2018). The role of disruptive technologies in designing more sustainable and resilient supply chains is also being studied (Saberi et al., 2019). The use of disruptive technologies can improve the traceability for food and healthcare supply chains and can improve the inventory visibility and responsiveness of the chain (Bai and Sarkis, 2020). Despite the increased research contributions in the areas of sustainable supply chain management and supply chain resilience, challenges and opportunities remain for both researchers and practitioners, especially for issues related to perishable food and healthcare supply chains (including blood supplies, vaccines, and drugs, among others).

This Special Issue seeks to enhance the state-of-the-art research on sustainable supply chain management and supply chain resilience in the contemporary context of perishable food and healthcare supply chains. In this call for papers, the objective is to invite authors to contribute their original work in some of the following topics, although the list is not exhaustive:

How can the sustainability and resilience dimensions be effectively embedded into perishable food supply chains?;
What are the fundamental differences in designing and assessing the performance of various food supply chains?;
Can there be a comprehensive framework which may help managers in improvising the performance of supply chains which are sustainably designed to handle uncertain events and disruptions?;
How can the blood, oxygen, and vaccine supply chains be sustainably designed without sacrificing supply chain performance?;
How does the adoption of disruptive technologies in food and healthcare supply chains influence supply chain sustainability and performance?;
What may be the ways of designing and managing the performance and resilience of healthcare supply chains in times of disruption?;
How may various factors impact the qualitative and quantitative performance metrics of sustainably designed, resilient supply chains?;
What are the main drivers and barriers for sustainable supply chains to achieve resilience?;
How can the risks associated with the design and management of supply chains be mitigated while maintaining performance and resilience?

This Special Issue looks forward to receiving papers using empirical or analytical methodologies to address the sustainability and resilience concerns in perishable food and healthcare supply chains. We also welcome papers analyzing the current literature in the relevant areas, identifying the gaps and suggesting future opportunities for research.

References

Bai, C., & Sarkis, J. (2020). A supply chain transparency and sustainability technology appraisal model for blockchain technology. International Journal of Production Research, 58(7), 2142-2162.

Bode, C., & Wagner, S. M. (2015). Structural drivers of upstream supply chain complexity and the frequency of supply chain disruptions. Journal of Operations Management, 36, 215-228.

Dubey, R., & Gunasekaran, A. (2016). The sustainable humanitarian supply chain design: agility, adaptability and alignment. International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications, 19(1), 62-82.

Daú, G., Scavarda, A., Scavarda, L. F., & Portugal, V. J. T. (2019). The healthcare sustainable supply chain 4.0: The circular economy transition conceptual framework with the corporate social responsibility mirror. Sustainability, 11(12), 3259.

De, A., & Singh, S. P. (2021a). Analysis of fuzzy applications in the agri-supply chain: A literature review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 283, 124577.

De, A. and Singh, S.P. (2021b). A resilient pricing and service quality level decision for fresh agri-product supply chain in post-COVID-19 era. The International Journal of Logistics Management, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLM-02-2021-0117

Fahimnia, B., & Jabbarzadeh, A. (2016). Marrying supply chain sustainability and resilience: A match made in heaven. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 91, 306-324.

Fahimnia, B., Jabbarzadeh, A., & Sarkis, J. (2018). Greening versus resilience: A supply chain design perspective. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 119, 129-148.

Gupta, M., Kaur, H. & Singh, S.P. (2021) Multi-echelon agri-food supply chain network design integrating operational and strategic objectives: a case of public distribution system in India. Annals of Operations Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-021-04240-8

Ivanov, D. (2018). Revealing interfaces of supply chain resilience and sustainability: a simulation study. International Journal of Production Research, 56(10), 3507-3523.

Jabbarzadeh, A., Fahimnia, B., & Sabouhi, F. (2018). Resilient and sustainable supply chain design: sustainability analysis under disruption risks. International Journal of Production Research, 56(17), 5945-5968.

Jadhav, A., Orr, S., & Malik, M. (2019). The role of supply chain orientation in achieving supply chain sustainability. International Journal of Production Economics, 217, 112-125.

Pishvaee, M. S., Razmi, J., & Torabi, S. A. (2014). An accelerated Benders decomposition algorithm for sustainable supply chain network design under uncertainty: A case study of medical needle and syringe supply chain. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 67, 14-38.

Saberi, S., Kouhizadeh, M., Sarkis, J., & Shen, L. (2019). Blockchain technology and its relationships to sustainable supply chain management. International Journal of Production Research, 57(7), 2117-2135.

Shin, N., & Park, S. (2019). Evidence-based resilience management for supply chain sustainability: an interpretive structural modelling approach. Sustainability, 11(2), 484.

Tsolakis, N., Anastasiadis, F., & Srai, J. S. (2018). Sustainability performance in food supply networks: Insights from the UK industry. Sustainability, 10(9), 3148.

Wolf, J. (2014). The relationship between sustainable supply chain management, stakeholder pressure and corporate sustainability performance. Journal of business ethics, 119(3), 317-328.

Yakovleva, N., Sarkis, J., & Sloan, T. (2012). Sustainable benchmarking of supply chains: the case of the food industry. International journal of production research, 50(5), 1297-1317.

Zavala-Alcívar, A., Verdecho, M. J., & Alfaro-Saíz, J. J. (2020). A conceptual framework to manage resilience and increase sustainability in the supply chain. Sustainability, 12(16), 6300.

Dr. Surya Prakash Singh
Dr. Ankur Chauhan
Dr. Harpreet Kaur
Guest Editors

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Keywords

sustainable supply chain
resilient supply chain
healthcare supply chain
food supply chain
logistics modelling
decision science models for resilience supply chain

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Research

22 pages, 690 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Holistic View on the Adoption and Cost-Effectiveness of Technology-Driven Supply Chain Management Practices in Healthcare

by Christos Bialas, Dimitrios Bechtsis, Eirini Aivazidou, Charisios Achillas and Dimitrios Aidonis

Sustainability 2023, 15(6), 5541; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065541 - 21 Mar 2023

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3434

Abstract

Healthcare supply chains are complex systems facing challenges in delivering high-quality care while maintaining cost-effectiveness. Research on inventory management and control, the heart of the healthcare supply system, has demonstrated that these targets can be reached by managing inventories efficiently while aiming at desired service levels. Although this can be enabled by adopting various supply chain management practices, the healthcare sector appears to lag compared to other industries. Seeking to investigate these aspects, this study draws on operations management literature, identifies and categorizes technology-driven supply chain management practices that are applied in hospital operations, develops a holistic conceptual framework delineating the key factors influencing their adoption in healthcare facilities, and examines their aggregated impact on financial performance. The research model is tested using structural equation modeling with survey data collected from Greek public hospitals. The study results indicate that technological readiness, organizational readiness, perceived benefits, and hospital size significantly influence the adoption of these practices in hospital supply chains. Moreover, they show a statistically significant association between the supply chain management practices applied and improved hospital cost performance, suggesting greater urgency for hospitals to exploit them fully. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Performance and Resilience in Supply Chain Design and Management of Perishable Food and Healthcare Supply Chains)

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28 pages, 2265 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modeling to Factor Productivity of the United Kingdom Food Chain: Using a New Lifetime-Generated Family of Distributions

by Salem A. Alyami, Ibrahim Elbatal, Naif Alotaibi, Ehab M. Almetwally and Mohammed Elgarhy

Sustainability 2022, 14(14), 8942; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148942 - 21 Jul 2022

Cited by 19 | Viewed by 1382

Abstract

This article proposes a new lifetime-generated family of distributions called the sine-exponentiated Weibull-H (SEW-H) family, which is derived from two well-established families of distributions of entirely different nature: the sine-G (S-G) and the exponentiated Weibull-H (EW-H) families. Three new special models of this [...] Read more.

_{x}

), the sine-exponentiated Weibull Rayleigh (SEWR) and sine-exponentiated Weibull Burr X (SEWBX) distributions. The useful expansions of the probability density function (pdf) and cumulative distribution function (cdf) are derived. Statistical properties are obtained, including quantiles (

Q_{U}

), moments (

M_{O}

), incomplete

M_{O}

(

I M_{O}

), and order statistics (

O_{S}

) are computed. Six numerous methods of estimation are produced to estimate the parameters: maximum likelihood (

M_{L}

), least-square (

L_{S}

), a maximum product of spacing (

M P_{R} S_{P}

), weighted

L_{S}

(

W L_{S}

), Cramér–von Mises (

C_{R} V M

), and Anderson–Darling (

A_{D}

). The performance of the estimation approaches is investigated using Monte Carlo simulations. The total factor productivity (TFP) of the United Kingdom food chain is an indication of the efficiency and competitiveness of the food sector in the United Kingdom. TFP growth suggests that the industry is becoming more efficient. If TFP of the food chain in the United Kingdom grows more rapidly than in other nations, it suggests that the sector is becoming more competitive. TFP, also known as multi-factor productivity in economic theory, estimates the fraction of output that cannot be explained by traditionally measured inputs of labor and capital employed in production. In this paper, we use five real datasets to show the relevance and flexibility of the suggested family. The first dataset represents the United Kingdom food chain from 2000 to 2019, whereas the second dataset represents the food and drink wholesaling in the United Kingdom from 2000 to 2019 as one factor of FTP; the third dataset contains the tensile strength of single carbon fibers (in GPa); the fourth dataset is often called the breaking stress of carbon fiber dataset; the fifth dataset represents the TFP growth of agricultural production for thirty-seven African countries from 2001–2010. The new suggested distribution is very flexible and it outperforms many known distributions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Performance and Resilience in Supply Chain Design and Management of Perishable Food and Healthcare Supply Chains)

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19 pages, 3109 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sustainable Agro-Food Supply Chain in E-Commerce: Towards the Circular Economy

by Dhirendra Prajapati, Fuli Zhou, Ashish Dwivedi, Tripti Singh, Lakshay Lakshay and Saurabh Pratap

Sustainability 2022, 14(14), 8698; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148698 - 15 Jul 2022

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3500

Abstract

The continuous decline in the sustainable agro-food supply chain (AFSC) towards a Circular Economy (CE) has become a matter of great concern for the key stakeholders, including government organizations, businesses, end-users, and farmers. In line with this, the main purpose of this study is to develop a sustainable food Supply Chain Network (SCN). The SCN enables the collection of agro-food grains from different farmers’ locations and delivers the same to food processing units. To design an efficient and effective sustainable pickup and delivery network, a Mixed-Integer Non-Linear Programming (MINLP) mathematical model is formulated. The proposed model achieves the sustainability goal by minimizing the collection costs. The developed MINLP model is solved by using an exact optimization approach in LINGO 18 software. Further, to test the efficacy of the developed model, various computational experiments are performed, varying from small to large size data. The results of these experiments reflect that our model can support businesses in designing an efficient and effective sustainable pickup and delivery network. Lastly, it has been shown that innovative packaging materials can help to minimize the wastage of food. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Performance and Resilience in Supply Chain Design and Management of Perishable Food and Healthcare Supply Chains)

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33 pages, 4457 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Analysis of Competitiveness in Agri-Supply Chain Logistics Outsourcing: A B2B Contractual Framework

by Arkajyoti De and Surya Prakash Singh

Sustainability 2022, 14(11), 6866; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14116866 - 4 Jun 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3255

Abstract

COVID-19 has left some permanent effects on the Regional Agri-Supply Chain (RASC). It has single-handedly accelerated the RASC’s performance through the globalization of local products and increased e-agri-business, virtual retailing trends, and smart logistics and warehousing services. The post-COVID worldwide growing demand for regional agri-products has increased the competitiveness in logistics outsourcing. Motivated by these changing notions, this paper addresses two major questions—whether the competitiveness in logistics outsourcing allows the supply chain drivers (supplier, retailer, and 3PL) to form a sustainable B2B pricing supply chain model, and what will be 3PL firms’ strategic decisions to secure sustainable profit under this competitiveness? In the light of competitive literature, this paper proposes two decision-making approaches, optimistic and pessimistic, models them using the Stackelberg game theory, and solves them using the subgame perfect Nash equilibrium. The result shows that, even after competitiveness in logistics outsourcing, the supply chain drivers agree to form a contractual supply chain. However, the competitive strategy-making of 3PL firms is a little tricky. Each focal 3PL firm must have perfect information about the peer firm’s strategic movement to choose its preferable strategy. Further, they can preferably constrain their core competencies (service price and quality level) to assure a sustainable profit. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Performance and Resilience in Supply Chain Design and Management of Perishable Food and Healthcare Supply Chains)

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18 pages, 1758 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Design of a Multi-Period and Multi-Echelon Perishable Goods Supply Network under Uncertainty

by Ieva Meidute-Kavaliauskiene, Figen Yıldırım, Shahryar Ghorbani and Renata Činčikaitė

Sustainability 2022, 14(4), 2472; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14042472 - 21 Feb 2022

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2612

Abstract

The value of superior supply network design is becoming increasingly important, especially in the perishable supply chain. Due to the recent developments in perishable products, perishable product supply chain (PPSC) management has attracted many researchers. The purpose of this study was to present a multi-period and multi-echelon perishable supply chain with regards to procurement time, cycle cost, and customer satisfaction. This study presented a new form of location-routing in a supply chain network for perishable products, accounting for environmental considerations, cost, procurement time, and customer satisfaction, such that the total costs, delivery time, and the emission of pollutants in the network were minimized while customer satisfaction was maximized. We formulated the problem as a multi-objective, nonlinear, mixed-integer program and the hybrid approach was proposed to solve the model. The mean error of the proposed algorithm for the objective function compared to the exact method in solving the sample problems was less than 3.4%. The computational results revealed the efficiency of the proposed algorithm for a wide range of issues of various sizes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability Performance and Resilience in Supply Chain Design and Management of Perishable Food and Healthcare Supply Chains)

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