Search Results (512)

In today’s volatile supply chain environment, organizations require flexible and collaborative procurement strategies. Swap contracts, originally developed as financial instruments, have recently been adopted to address inventory imbalances—such as the 2021 COVID-19 vaccine swap between South Korea and Israel. Despite its increasing adoption in the real world, theoretical studies on swap-based procurement remain limited. This study proposes an integrated model that combines buyer-to-buyer swap agreements with long-term wholesale contracts under demand uncertainty. The model quantifies the expected swap quantity between parties and embeds it into the profit function to derive optimal order quantities. Numerical experiments are conducted to compare the performance of the proposed strategy with that of a baseline wholesale contract. Sensitivity analyses are performed on key parameters, including demand asymmetry and swap prices. The numerical analysis indicates that the swap-integrated procurement strategy consistently outperforms procurement based on long-term wholesale contracts. Moreover, the results reveal that under the swap-integrated strategy, the optimal order quantity must be adjusted—either increased or decreased—depending on the demand scale of the counterpart and the specified swap price, deviating from the optimal quantity under traditional long-term contracts. These findings highlight the potential of swap-integrated procurement strategies as practical coordination mechanisms across both private and public sectors, offering strategic value in contexts such as vaccine distribution, fresh produce, and other critical products. Full article

Effective water infrastructure planning and management is key to sustainable water supply globally. This research assesses water infrastructure planning and management in Gauteng, South Africa, amid growing challenges from rapid urbanisation, high water demand, climate change, and resource scarcity. These challenges threaten the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 6 and 11; hence, an integrated approach is required for water sustainability. The study responds to a gap in the literature, which often treats planning and management separately, by adopting an integrated, multi-institutional approach across the water value chain. A mixed-methods triangulation strategy was employed for data collection whereby surveys provided quantitative data, while two sets of structured interviews were conducted: the first round to determine causal relationships among the critical success factors and the second round to validate the proposed framework. The findings reveal a misalignment between infrastructure planning and implementation, contributing to infrastructure backlogs and a short- to medium-term focus. Infrastructure management is further constrained by inadequate system redundancy, leading to ineffective maintenance. External factors such as delayed adoption of 4IR technologies, lack of climate resilient strategies, and fragmented institutional coordination exacerbate these issues. Using Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) analysis, the study identified Strategic Alignment and a Value-Driven Approach as the most influential critical success factors in water asset management. The research concludes by proposing an integrated water infrastructure and planning framework that supports sustainable water supply. Full article

Food safety regulations and their implementations are becoming increasingly complex due to various reasons such as diverse food sources, supply chain, processing technologies, distribution systems and environmental concerns. Additionally, it is crucial to address diversified consumers and their preferences. To address these multifaceted challenges, adopting an integrated unified management system is essential. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the progressive food safety governance in the Sultanate of Oman. The country is transitioning from a multi-agency to an integrated food control management system. This integrated approach can enhance the coordination between different government agencies and other stakeholders, avoid duplication, identify required resources and ensure optimum use of the resources. The progress can enhance efficiency and effectiveness in managing food safety in Oman. It addresses the issues of the food safety management system, explores the legislative frameworks, risk-based assessment and their enforcement, and creates public awareness and required research for continuous improvement in food safety. This integration approach is expected to continue strengthening food safety governance in the country. Finally, future challenges in achieving food safety are envisioned, including new food sources and technologies, applications of artificial intelligence, and new sensors for quick identification of risks in foods. Full article

Hydrogen is being increasingly integrated into the international trade system as a clean and flexible energy carrier, motivated by the global energy transition and carbon neutrality objectives. The rapid expansion of the global hydrogen trade network has simultaneously exposed several sustainability challenges, including a centralized structure, overdependence on key countries, and limited resilience to external disruptions. Based on this, we develop a risk propagation model that incorporates the absorption capacity of nodes to simulate the propagation of supply shortage risks within the global hydrogen trade network. Furthermore, we propose a composite sustainability index constructed from structural, economic, and environmental resilience indicators, enabling a systematic assessment of the network’s sustainable development capacity under external shock scenarios. Findings indicate the following: (1) The global hydrogen trade network is undergoing a structural shift from a Western Europe-dominated unipolar configuration to a more polycentric pattern. Countries such as China and Singapore are emerging as key hubs linking Eurasian regions, with trade relationships among nations becoming increasingly dense and diversified. (2) Although supply shortage shocks trigger structural disturbances, economic losses, and risks of carbon rebound, their impacts are largely concentrated in a limited number of hub countries, with relatively limited disruption to the overall sustainability of the system. (3) Countries exhibit significant heterogeneity in structural, economic, and environmental resilience. Risk propagation demonstrates an uneven pattern characterized by hub-induced disruptions, chain-like transmission, and localized clustering. Accordingly, policy recommendations are proposed, including the establishment of a polycentric coordination mechanism, the enhancement of regional emergency coordination mechanisms, and the advancement of differentiated capacity-building efforts. Full article

The enforcement of the European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) may reduce the supply of natural rubber to the European Union (EU), potentially leading to price increases due to the inelastic nature of rubber demand. This study assesses the potential financial implications for smallholder producers in Ghana, considering both the opportunities and risks associated with the evolving regulatory environment under EUDR and local market access conditions. A cost–benefit analysis (CBA) was conducted to evaluate the impact of different EUDR-related export decline scenarios on the net present value (NPV) of a standard 4-hectare plantation. The results suggest that even a minor 2.5% decline in global exports to the EU could increase the NPV by 17% for an independent compliant producer. However, a simulated COVID-19-like crisis in the fifth year of production leads to a 20% decline in NPV, reflecting vulnerability to external shocks. Based on these findings, the study identifies two priorities. This first is improving the coordination and harmonization of compliance efforts across the value chain to enable more producers to benefit from potential EUDR-related price increases. The recent creation of the Association of Natural Rubber Actors of Ghana (ANRAG) presents an opportunity to support such collective mechanisms. Second, minimizing losses during demand shocks requires the Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA) to establish clear rules and transparent reporting for authorizing unprocessed rubber exports when factories reduce purchases due to low international prices—thus preserving market access for vulnerable producers. Together, these approaches would ensure that the potential benefits of the EUDR are realized inclusively, remain stable despite market downturns, and do not undermine value addition in domestic processing factories. Full article

Enhancing the resilience of the oil and gas industry chain is essential for achieving sustainable energy development amid global industrial restructuring and the accelerating low-carbon transformation. This study identifies the core contradictions in the development of China’s OGI and constructs a comprehensive evaluation index system to assess the resilience of the industry from the four sustainability-aligned dimensions of resistance, recovery, innovation, and transformation. Using the entropy weight comprehensive evaluation model, obstacle degree model, and coupling coordination degree model, the resilience performance of China’s OGI chain is evaluated from 2001 to 2022. The results show a significant upward trend in overall resilience, with evident stage characteristics. Resistance remains relatively stable, recovery shows the most improvement, innovation steadily increases, and transformation accelerates after 2019, particularly in response to China’s dual carbon goals. Key barriers include limited CCUS deployment and insufficient downstream innovation capacity. The improved coupling coordination among resilience subsystems highlights enhanced systemic synergy. These findings offer valuable implications for strengthening the sustainability and security of energy supply chains under climate and geopolitical pressures. Full article

As electric multiple unit (EMU) operations and maintenance demands have expanded, spare parts supply chain management has become increasingly crucial. This study emphasizes the supply challenges of EMU spare parts, including inadequate minimum inventory levels and prolonged response times. Redesigning the OEM–railway bureau vendor-managed inventory (VMI) model contract incentive and penalty system is the key goal. Connecting the spare parts supply system with its characteristics yields a game theory model. This study analyzes and compares the equilibrium strategies and profits of supply chain members under different mechanisms for managing critical spare parts. The findings demonstrate that mechanism contracts can enhance supply chain performance in a Pareto-improving manner. An in-depth analysis of downtime loss costs, procurement challenges, and order losses reveals their effects on supply chain coordination and profit allocation, providing railway bureaus and OEMs with a theoretical framework for supply chain decision-making. This study offers theoretical justification and a framework for decision-making on cooperation between OEMs and railroad bureaus in the management of spare parts supply chains, particularly for extensive EMU operations. Full article

In the face of economic, social, and environmental pressures, the issue of sustainable development has garnered widespread attention in the Logistics Service Supply Chain (LSSC) with risk attitudes under Technical Output Uncertainty. In this regard, this paper first constructs an optimal emission reduction investment game model for an LSSC composed of Logistics Service Integrators (LSIs) and Logistics Service Providers (LSPs) against the backdrop of Technical Output Uncertainty. To this end, it quantifies the participants’ risk attitudes using a mean-variance model to analyze optimal emission reduction investment decisions for centralized and decentralized LSSC under different levels of risk tolerance. Subsequently, it designs a joint contract with altruistic preferences for sharing emission reduction costs in the LSSC. This contract analyzes the parameter constraints for achieving Pareto optimization within the supply chain. Finally, the study employs a case simulation to analyze the changes in expected revenues for centralized LSSC and joint contracts under different risk tolerance levels. The study reveals that (1) in a centralized LSSC, under risk-neutral attitudes, there exists a unique optimal emission reduction investment, which yields the highest expected return from emission reduction. However, under risk-averse attitudes, the expected return is always lower than the optimal expected return under risk neutrality. (2) In a decentralized LSSC, the emission reduction investment decisions of the Logistics Service Providers are similar to those in a centralized LSSC. (3) Under risk-neutral attitudes, the cost-sharing and altruistic preference-based joint contract can also coordinate the risk-averse LSSC under certain constraints, and by adjusting the cost-sharing and altruistic preference parameters, the expected returns can be reasonably allocated. Full article

In the context of global e-commerce platform supply chains dominated by Alibaba and Amazon, power reconfiguration among tripartite stakeholders (platforms, manufacturers, and retailers) remains a critical yet underexplored issue in supply chain contract design. To analyze the strategic interactions between platforms, manufacturers, and retailers, as well as how platforms select the contract format within a tripartite supply chain, this study proposes a Stackelberg game-theoretic framework incorporating participation constraints to compare fixed-fee and revenue-sharing contracts. The results demonstrate that revenue-sharing contracts significantly enhance supply chain efficiency by aligning incentives across members, leading to improved pricing and sales outcomes. However, this coordination benefit comes with reduced platform dominance, as revenue-sharing inherently redistributes power toward upstream and downstream partners. The analysis reveals a nuanced contract selection framework: given the revenue sharing rate, as the additional value increases, the optimal contract shifts from the mode RR to the mode RF, and ultimately to the mode FF. Notably, manufacturers and retailers exhibit a consistent preference for revenue-sharing contracts due to their favorable profit alignment properties, regardless of the platform’s value proposition. These findings may contribute to platform operations theory by (1) proposing a dynamic participation framework for contract analysis, (2) exploring value-based thresholds for contract transitions, and (3) examining the power-balancing effects of alternative contract formats. This study offers actionable insights for platform operators seeking to balance control and cooperation in their supply chain relationships, while providing manufacturers and retailers with strategic guidance for contract negotiations in platform-mediated markets. These findings are especially relevant for large e-commerce platforms and their partners managing the complexities of contemporary digital supply chains. Full article

The efficacy of government subsidy programs in agriculture is frequently compromised by internal policy conflicts that arise between competing government departments. This challenge is addressed herein, with a focus on the policy environment in China, through the development of a game-theoretic model of an agricultural supply chain. This model explicitly incorporates two competing government bodies—the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Department (ARAD) and the Development and Reform Commission (DRC)—each with distinct objectives and performance indicators. Within this framework, the strategic interactions of four subsidy types are analyzed: production and cold-chain subsidies (ARAD), and platform operation and blockchain subsidies (DRC). The findings reveal that department-specific performance indicators can significantly distort the overall effectiveness of subsidies. While individual subsidies may achieve their intended departmental goals, their combined impact is shown to be complex and frequently suboptimal in the absence of higher-level coordination. Notably, a subsidy portfolio combining production and platform operation subsidies is found to consistently yield superior performance in maximizing social welfare. Ultimately, this research contributes a new framework for understanding subsidy policies and provides actionable insights for optimizing interdepartmental coordination to enhance supply chain performance. Full article

Healthy peatlands provide valuable ecosystem services. Peat extraction damages peatlands, leading to carbon emissions. One of the main reasons for peat extraction is for use in horticulture. Replacing peat with recycled organic materials in horticulture is critical to preserve the valuable ecosystems provided by peatlands and to establish more circular supply chains that are reliant on recycling rather than extraction. Despite the strong policy commitment and budget allocation to restore peatlands, the demand for peat-based growing media remains high and drives most of the peat demand. In our research, we mapped the growing media supply chain, held semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders representing different interests, and surveyed amateur gardeners in the UK to understand the bottlenecks experienced by each profile in ending peat use and how to overcome them. We employed semi-structured key expert surveys to understand the supply chain dynamics and consumer demand, informed by these early interviews and the previous literature, we prepared and distributed an online consumer survey and interviewed supply-side stakeholders to understand their perspectives. The findings indicate that the barriers of availability, cost, and performance are shared between the supply-and-demand-side stakeholders. A portfolio of financial, educational and logistic interventions is required to simultaneously support the supply side to accelerate the transformation of production and supply patterns and to aid the demand side to adapt to growing with compost of recycled organic materials. The policies promoting recycled organic material use in horticulture must be coordinated within the UK and with other parts of Europe focusing on the elimination of the peat content in products rather than peat extraction to avoid extraction and the associated destruction of peat stocks elsewhere. Full article

The sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) literature does not directly address Scope 3 emissions despite their role as primary drivers of greenhouse gas emissions. This study aims to provide an overview of the main themes through which the SSCM literature has considered Scope 3 emissions and identify further avenues for research. A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted. Scopus and Web of Science were the databases considered. Sixty-one papers were included in the analysis. Most papers focus on assessing and estimating Scope 3 emissions, followed by papers that discuss the reporting of Scope 3 emissions. These papers shed light on how firms may not report Scope 3 emissions if the information is negative to improve investors’ perception of the firm. The last group of papers discusses practices and strategies to manage Scope 3 emissions. The main challenge identified in establishing strategies to manage Scope 3 emissions is engagement with stakeholders, as, generally, only one or two tiers of the value chain cooperate. This study is the first to organize the literature on Scope 3 emissions under the lens of SSCM. If supply chains are to become more sustainable, focal enterprise coordination must be effective and leverage practices such as Scope 3 emissions metrics and measurement, data sharing, and green product development for all stakeholders. Full article

This study examines how contract structures influence coordination and innovation incentives in dual-channel telecommunications supply chains. We consider a setting where a mobile network operator (MNO) supplies services both directly to consumers and indirectly through a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), which competes in the retail market. Using a game-theoretic framework, we evaluate how different contracts—single wholesale pricing, revenue sharing, and quantity discounts—shape strategic decisions, particularly in the presence of investment spillovers between parties. A key coordination problem emerges from the externalized gains of innovation, where one party’s investment generates value for both participants. Our results show that single wholesale and revenue sharing contracts often lead to suboptimal investment and profit outcomes. In contrast, quantity discount contracts, especially when combined with appropriate transfer payments, improve coordination and enhance the total performance of the supply chain. We also find that innovation led by the MVNO, while generally less impactful, can still yield reciprocal benefits for the MNO, reinforcing the value of cooperative arrangements. These findings emphasize the importance of contract design in managing interdependence and improving efficiency in decentralized supply chains. This study offers theoretical and practical implications for telecommunications providers and policymakers aiming to promote innovation and mutually beneficial outcomes through well-aligned contractual mechanisms. Full article

This paper analyses how strategic interactions between actors influence the development of circular economy (CE) initiatives in food systems. Using a case study from Saint-Hyacinthe, a mid-sized and agri-food technopole in Québec (Canada), we investigate how cooperation, competition, and power asymmetries shape CE adoption across the supply chain. Drawing on game theory and a typology of management dynamics, the study identifies four patterns: negotiated management, constrained leadership, hierarchical relationships, and competitive behaviour. Empirical data were collected through two collaborative workshops involving public, private, and community-based actors, resulting in 244 coded entries across 12 boards. These allowed us to assess actors’ interests, attitudes, and capacities in relation to CE strategies at upstream, midstream, and downstream stages. The results show that strategies aligned with dominant interests and existing capacities are more likely to be supported, while those requiring structural change are tolerated or marginalized. Findings highlight the role of incentive mechanisms, institutional flexibility, and coordination in enabling more transformative circular initiatives. By adopting a stage-sensitive perspective, this study also fills a gap in the literature by examining how actor dynamics differ across upstream, midstream, and downstream segments of the food system, contributing to CE research by applying game theory to actor configurations and interaction dynamics in food systems. It calls for further exploration of interdependencies and contextual conditions that either facilitate or hinder the emergence of effective, inclusive, and systemic CE transitions. Full article

Heilongjiang Province, as China’s principal gateway for Russian timber imports, faces structural inefficiencies in the localization of wood-processing enterprises—characterized by ecological sensitivity, resource–industry mismatches, and uneven spatial distribution. To address these challenges, this study proposes a two-stage site selection framework that integrates Geographic Information Systems (GIS) with an enhanced Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II). The model aims to reconcile ecological protection with industrial efficiency by identifying optimal facility locations that minimize environmental impact, reduce construction and logistics costs, and enhance service coverage. Using spatially resolved multi-source datasets—including forest resource distribution, transportation networks, ecological redlines, and socioeconomic indicators—the GIS-based suitability analysis (Stage I) identified 16 candidate zones. Subsequently, a multi-objective optimization model (Stage II) was applied to minimize carbon intensity and cost while maximizing service accessibility. The improved NSGA-II algorithm achieved convergence within 700 iterations, generating 124 Pareto-optimal solutions and enabling a 23.7% reduction in transport-related CO₂ emissions. Beyond carbon mitigation, the model spatializes policy constraints and economic trade-offs into actionable infrastructure plans, contributing to regional sustainability goals and transboundary industrial coordination with Russia. It further demonstrates methodological generalizability for siting logistics-intensive and policy-sensitive facilities in other forestry-based economies. While the model does not yet account for temporal dynamics or agent behaviors, it provides a robust foundation for informed planning under China’s dual-carbon strategy and offers replicable insights for the global forest products supply chain. Full article