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Cold supply chain technology is critical for extending the shelf life of perishable leafy green vegetables. This study aims to investigate the concept of managing leafy green products using cold supply chain technology and visualise the findings.

Using expert interviews and data visualisation approaches, this study examines how organisations deal with the complexity of cold supply chain processes and networks. Thematic data analysis was conducted. Two types of software were used to accomplish the research objectives. The first software used AntConc version 3.5.8 with word frequency (N-gram) analysis, whereas the second software, VOSViewer offered co-occurrence network visualisation and cluster analysis.

The findings show that the appropriate design of cold chain technology is critical in ensuring the freshness and quality of leafy green vegetables. The primary goal of managing the complexity of the cold supply chain is to achieve product freshness and energy efficiency. Regardless of the importance of energy efficiency, cold supply chains require warehouse management solutions for transportation and storage.

This study found that proper design and selection of appropriate technology in the cold supply chain have driven the companies to improve the firms’ competitive advantage while delivering the best quality of perishable leafy green food products. In addition, the freshness, quality, safety, and health of leafy green vegetables will be determined by the company’s capacity to handle long-distance transportation and select the appropriate distribution channels and storage. Warehouse management system technology was found to be secondary compared to cold chain technology, although distribution and warehousing practices are critical for supply chain performance.

This study has established the conceptual indicators based on best practices and outcomes for the cold supply chain. This study argued that cold supply chain management and performance should be monitored independently. Furthermore, the theory of technological adoption can be expanded to include product nature as a driver. Finally, this study has established cold chain best practices based on a perishable supply chain perspective. The findings of this study can promote healthy foods to solve zero hunger and achieve sustainable development goals. Although this study demonstrates that technology improves supply chain practises, cold storage and logistics benefit the most from technological advancements. In contrast, non-cold supply chains benefit from technology-driven improvements in performance.

The cold supply chain industry is still emerging and digital transformation is in the nascent stage in this industry. This paper argues that there are various barriers to implementing blockchain technology in the cold supply chain and aims to develop and validate a model for overcoming key barriers to implementing blockchain technology in the cold supply chain.

The adoption of blockchain technology was proposed through interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and further it is validated using structural equation modeling (SEM).

In this study, ten key barriers to implementing blockchain technology in the cold supply chain were identified, modelled and analysed. Poor leadership style of top management was found to be the most important barriers to implementing blockchain technology in the cold supply chain. The results of SEM indicate that all the paths are supported. The findings showcase the barriers responsible for the lack of blockchain technology infrastructure that ultimately impacts the cold supply chains.

This study highlights the fact that the fate of blockchain technology infrastructure development depends on the leadership style of top management. Demonstrating good leadership style by top management can help overcome the barriers. A good leader pulls the entire team instead of pushing the team. A good leader can guide the entire team to improve IT governance, financial investment, digital footprint, digital readiness, skills and collaboration with service providers to implement blockchain technology. Not only that, a good leader provides mental strength to the team and helps overcome the fear of implementing blockchain in the cold supply chain. A good leader demonstrates good administrative skills and focus on security and privacy policies.

This is a novel contribution towards analysing the key barriers to implementing blockchain technology in the South African cold supply chain using the integrated ISM–MICMAC and SEM approach.

This study focuses on identifying potential challengers affecting cold chain performance in the pharmaceutical industry. Considering the history of humanity, every pandemic experienced could only be controlled with the vaccine found. While the world is fighting the unforgettable epidemic called COVID-19, scientists are also working to find the therapeutic vaccine. The vaccines studied have different temperature storage and transport properties. In the pharmaceutical industry, it is necessary to know and analyse every step of the cold supply chain to provide the most appropriate and safe cooling level. In addition, it is important to understand the relationship between all the facilities, equipment, tools and materials needed to avoid mistakes along the chain.

Hence, this study focuses on identifying potential challengers affecting sustainable cold supply chain performance in the pharmaceutical industry and proposing a conceptual framework that involves these main challengers. In this study, firstly, different main and sub-factors are defined from the literature, and fuzzy Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory method is applied to analyse the causal link between these factors for an effective application.

Results showed that packaging, transportation and shipping, storage specifications and handling practices, inventory management, technical issues and delivery delay are the most affected factors during the sustainable cold supply chain performance in the pharmaceutical industry. This study offers both managerial implications and a roadmap that are designed with a holistic view to guide manufacturer, logistics parties and even policymakers.

Some of the studies related to the pharmaceutical industry are monitoring and controlling the temperature in the cold supply chain steps; the other part is the studies where the chain steps are examined with a focus on production or transportation. While these issues are the focus, the requirements and conditions of each stage of the supply chain must be studied for a safe, effective and sustainable cold chain beyond the current global pandemic crisis. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that highlights identifying the potential challengers that affect cold supply chain performance for the pharmaceutical industry both theoretically and empirically, solving the causal relationships among these challengers and designing a holistic framework.

Generic business process models for the supply chain do not cover the specific requirements of the cold chain catering to the needs of temperature-sensitive, perishable goods. The purpose of this paper is to draft a reference model specific to the cold chain.

Following an object-oriented modeling approach, conceptual elements that have been synthesized from a literature review are transferred into the static view (object model) of the reference model. In addition, the reference model’s dynamic properties representing the business process view are outlined.

While a few atomic process steps are sufficient to model the cold chain’s dynamic properties, the complexity of the cold chain lies in the object model. The classes of the object model are highly interrelated and cover four domains: perishable product, information technology, infrastructure/equipment and regulatory framework. This technical approach is more adequate to the complex nature of cold chains than typical business process models.

In the present draft status, the reference model is limited by the pure conceptual approach of this paper. As it is in the nature of things for a draft of a reference model, case studies to challenge the draft and a discourse of experts are required before detailed specifications can be added or any software implementation can be started. It is expected that the reference model is able to substantially support further research on cold chain design and optimization.

The cold chain reference model is intended to be a standard toolbox for planning and evaluating cold chains. By integrating the technical, information technology and regulatory objects behind the business processes, it allows to design and analyze cold chains from a more holistic perspective.

To the best knowledge of the author, this paper is the first to outline a reference model for the cold chain that goes beyond the business processes.

The objective of the present study is to identify and analyze a set of critical success factors (CSFs) for ice-cream industry [cold chain management (CCM)] that helps in increasing the efficacy, quality, performance and growth of the supply chain organization.

A questionnaire survey with companies in ice-cream sector and a panel study with experts were conducted to identify and validate CSFs and their associated sub-factors. Eight CSFs identified from the cold chain domain vetted for the ice-cream industry and then prioritized by using one of the most well-known decision-making frameworks, Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory. The general verdicts of the modelling and its application to the real-world case have been tested through an ice-cream company supply chain.

The result shows that the significant CSFs accountable for the growth of the ice-cream industry are the infrastructure and capacity building, consistent product improvement and operational efficiencies of the value chain. Subsequently, it was identified that the use of IT and related technologies and improved processes for operations also play a considerable role in the performance of ice-cream industry.

The study successfully outlines the effective CCM practices for critical issues. The proposed methodology and factor modelling case demonstration might be useful in analyzing the logistic chains of products such as fruits, drugs and meat.

The meritorious identification of critical areas and executing mitigation plans bring notable benefits to the firms such as improved operational efficiencies, improved time to market performance and product innovation, which bring additional benefits to the producers.

Since the handling of environmentally sensitive products requires close monitoring under prescribed conditions throughout the supply chain, it is essential to manage specific supply chain risks, i.e. maintaining good environmental conditions, and ensuring occupational safety in the cold environment. The purpose of this paper is to propose an Internet of Things (IoT)-based risk monitoring system (IoTRMS) for controlling product quality and occupational safety risks in cold chains. Real-time product monitoring and risk assessment in personal occupational safety can be then effectively established throughout the entire cold chain.

In the design of IoTRMS, there are three major components for risk monitoring in cold chains, namely: wireless sensor network; cloud database services; and fuzzy logic approach. The wireless sensor network is deployed to collect ambient environmental conditions automatically, and the collected information is then managed and applied to a product quality degradation model in the cloud database. The fuzzy logic approach is applied in evaluating the cold-associated occupational safety risk of the different cold chain parties considering specific personal health status. To examine the performance of the proposed system, a cold chain service provider is selected for conducting a comparative analysis before and after applying the IoTRMS.

The real-time environmental monitoring ensures that the products handled within the desired conditions, namely temperature, humidity and lighting intensity so that any violation of the handling requirements is visible among all cold chain parties. In addition, for cold warehouses and rooms in different cold chain facilities, the personal occupational safety risk assessment is established by considering the surrounding environment and the operators’ personal health status. The frequency of occupational safety risks occurring, including cold-related accidents and injuries, can be greatly reduced. In addition, worker satisfaction and operational efficiency are improved. Therefore, it provides a solid foundation for assessing and identifying product quality and occupational safety risks in cold chain activities.

The cold chain is developed for managing environmentally sensitive products in the right conditions. Most studies found that the risks in cold chain are related to the fluctuation of environmental conditions, resulting in poor product quality and negative influences on consumer health. In addition, there is a lack of occupational safety risk consideration for those who work in cold environments. Therefore, this paper proposes IoTRMS to contribute the area of risk monitoring by means of the IoT application and artificial intelligence techniques. The risk assessment and identification can be effectively established, resulting in secure product quality and appropriate occupational safety management.

Most of the extant literature on resilience builds on normative, conceptual or silo approaches, thereby lacking an integrative approach to cold chain logistics risks (CCLRs) and resilience. The purpose of this paper is to bridge the current research gap by developing a model, based on broad empirical evidence, of the interplay between CCLRs, resilience and firm performance (FP) in perishable product supply chains (PPSCs).

A mixed method approach is used with qualitative data from interviews and quantitative data from a survey across the supply chain. The analysis is framed by contingency theory and resource-based theory.

Four significant sources of CCLRs and six resources used to build resilience are identified. Then, supply chain resilience (SCR) as a moderator of the negative relationship between CCLRs and FP is corroborated.

The findings will help improve managerial understandings of critical sources of risks in cold chain logistics and resources indispensable to build resilience. The scope of the research is cold chain logistics for PPSCs, which has relevance to other cold supply chains as well.

While some theoretical frameworks suggest resilience being a moderator in the negative relationship between cold chain risks and a firm’s performance, this study empirically tests this relationship using the survey across the entire supply chain. A new empirically and theoretically driven definition of SCR is also developed.

This article aims to evaluate published food cold chain (FCC) literature against risk management and supply chain sustainability concepts.

The article uses the theory refinement logic proposed by Seuring et al. (2021) to analyze the contents of FCC management-related literature published over the past 20 years. A sample of 116 articles was gathered using Web of Science and subsequently analyzed. The respective articles were then systematically coded against the frameworks of Beske and Seuring (2014) and Vlajic et al. (2012), which focused on building sustainable and robust supply chains, respectively.

The literature review revealed that debates around managing contemporary sources of disruptions/vulnerability and making FCCs more sustainable and resilient are gradually developing. However, an overarching risk management perspective along with incorporating social and environmental dimensions in managing FCCs still needs the adequate attention of the respective research community.

The deductive internal logic of theory refinement approach used in this paper could have been further strengthened by using additional frameworks. This limitation, however, opens avenues for further research. The findings of the paper will stimulate the interest of future researchers to work on expanding our understanding related to sustainability and risk management in FCCs.

The paper is the first attempt to organize published FCC literature along dimensions of supply chain sustainability and risk management. The paper thus provides the respective researchers with a foundation that will help them adopt a focused approach to addressing the research gaps.

Cold chain has become an integral part of the supply chain domain. The purpose of this paper is to consider all the significant factors in a single study. This will result into a better model to study the effectiveness of a cold chain because there has been absence of such an integrated study.

The basis of the factors is justified by performing extensive literature review. Inter relations are drawn based on critical analysis of each factor and its implications on cold chain. Bayesian Network is used to develop the model.

The end result is an established model, depicting the interdependencies of the factors. The model ultimately provides effectiveness of a given cold chain when the corresponding values of factors are put in.

The findings will be helpful for government and non-government bodies to analyse the effectiveness of a cold chain. This can be used to increase the performance of different stages in the cold chain. From a business perspective, an investor can analyse the cold chains of various geographies in order to make an investment decision.

The value lies in developing and introducing new factors which were not considered in the related literature previously. To identify the inter relations among the factors in order to build a causal model is another contribution of the present paper. This would assist in decision-making process with respect to any given cold chain. It can be applied to any cold chain as proposed model is not specific to a particular country or material.

There is a large number of perishable foodstuffs produced, stored, distributed and delivered daily around the world. Almost all except for root vegetables are sensitive products to temperature. Thus, adopting uninterrupted and appropriate logistics activities with predetermined range of temperature from production site until end-user is critical for ensuring required quality and safety. If a mistake is made during either transport or storage, it not only becomes risky for human health, but also generates huge food waste for the environment and negative economic impact for food providers. Therefore, this study aims to identify all potential factors affecting the cold chain performance in the food industry and to design a framework that includes these factors. This framework is also a roadmap for managers, food providers and logistics parties for sustainable cold chain management.

Considering, tangible and intangible potential criteria, the ultimate goal of this study is to identify potential criteria affecting cold food chain performance and propose a conceptual framework including 12 main criteria. Next, the importance order of each criterion and the causal relationships between them are determined. In this study, this relationship among criteria is analyzed by using fuzzy Decision-making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) approach because of its ability to solve complex problems by ensuring causal relationship among factors, additionally to determine importance order. Finally, suggestions for administrative implications are presented.

Fuzzy DEMATEL was used to explain the causal link and importance order among identified drivers. The analysis shows that five criteria (C1, C3, C8, C9 and C12) belong to cause (influential) groups and remaining seven criteria belong to effect (influenced) groups. The highest influential criterion is staff (C8) and is followed by technical issues (C9) as the second most influential factor. Additionally, top three most important factors are traceability (C7), staff (C8) and cold transportation (C5). According to the numerical results of fuzzy DEMATEL implementations, suggestions for managerial implementations are presented.

The main contribution of the study is to propose meaningful suggestions for managerial implications about sustainable cold chain in food industry for businesses and to examine causal relations between criteria and to rank criteria in descending importance order.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that focuses on determining the potential criteria affecting cold supply chain performance both theoretically and empirically in the sustainability environment. What are the enablers that affect the cold food supply chain stages is the research question of this study.