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The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyse how different ways of organising transport and logistics activities in construction impact on efficiency. The paper scrutinises three particular transport and logistics configurations: the de-centralised coordinated configuration, the on-site coordinated configuration and the supply network coordinated configuration.

Three configurations are derived from the literature and from case studies. The efficiency of the three configurations is analysed on three levels of analysis: the construction site, the supply chain, and across supply chains and construction sites.

The paper concludes that there are possibilities to enhance efficiency on all three levels of analysis by widening the scope of coordination beyond the individual construction site.

The analysis points to efficiency potentials in applying the supply network coordinated configuration, although this configuration puts high demands on collaboration amongst the actors involved.

The paper provides illustration, and explanation, of the efficiency potentials involved in the three configurations.

Coordinated supply chain is concerned with managing dependencies between various members and joint efforts of all members to achieve mutually defined goals. The purpose of this paper is to identify and prioritize the factors for a coordinated supply chain.

Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used to prioritize the factors for a coordinated supply chain. By using AHP global desirability index of five strategic factors for coordinated supply chain their 23 sub‐factors have been calculated and compared.

In this study 23 factors affecting coordination in a supply chain are considered. These factors are grouped under five strategic factors such as top management commitment, mutual understanding, relationship and decision‐making, flow of information and organizational factors. It is observed that the global weightage of top management commitment is highest among strategic factors and agreed vision and goal of supply chain members among sub factors.

AHP has some limitations. A major limitation is that the rating scale used in the AHP analysis is conceptual and there are chances of bias while giving relative weightage to different factors.

Top management should strive for an agreed vision and a common goal among all members of the supply chain to have effective coordination.

This study prioritizes factors for a coordinated supply chain in the Indian context and the findings will be significant while formulating strategies.

In this chapter, we investigate whether the option contract can coordinate a supply chain when supply chain members have fairness concerns. Specifically, we consider a supply chain consisting of a manufacturer and a retailer where the two members can be either rational or fair-minded, and explore the condition under which the supply chain can be coordinated using an option contract. We follow the traditional newsvendor model by assuming that the market demand is stochastic with a cumulative distribution function and the retail price is exogenous. Under the option contract, the manufacturer’s decision variables include its option price and its exercise price, and the retailer is to decide its order quantity. We derive the equilibrium results for four different scenarios, that is, (i) both the two members are rational, (ii) the supplier is rational but the retailer is fair-minded, (iii) the supplier is fair-minded but the retailer is rational, and (iv) both are fair-minded. While the option contract can coordinate the supply chain when either of the two members is rational, we also find that when both the two members are rational, the option contract can coordinate the supply chain only under some specific conditions. Furthermore, we investigate whether the two members will suffer the disadvantageous or the advantageous inequality in the equilibrium and find some interesting findings.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between product modularity (PM) and supply chain integration (SCI), and to identify factors influencing this relationship.

A case study approach involving in‐depth interviews on three modular and two non‐modular design projects in the Hong Kong and Pearl River Delta region was conducted. Within and cross‐case analyses were adopted.

Results support the current view that modular design is related to a loosely coordinated supply chain, whereas integrated design is associated with a tightly coordinated supply chain. However, this relationship is affected and explained by four contingency factors: new module/component development, technological knowledge leakage and creation, project team size and supply chain efficiency.

The paper used a case study approach so the generalizability of the study is limited. This approach, however, enabled us to examine explicitly the relationship between PM and SCI, where empirical research was lacking. The rich content of each case suggested how and why modular design affects supply chain management.

The findings of this paper increase the understanding of the dynamics of modular product design and supply chain management. The paper also explores four contingency factors affecting the relationship.

There are particularly high fresh agricultural product (FAP) loss rates in actual supply chain operation and the development of FAPs e-commerce is hindered to some extent. The purpose of this paper is to achieve the coordination of three-layer FAP supply chain and maximize profit through the contracts among the supply chain members.

A three-layer FAP supply chain that consists of a fresh produce e-commerce enterprise, third-party logistics service provider (TPLSP) and community convenience store under e-commerce environment is considered. New game models are developed and optimal decisions in centralized and decentralized channel are characterized. Different contract coordination mechanisms are designed to improve the supply chain performance. Finally, computational studies are conducted.

The decentralized supply chain cannot be coordinated by a freshness-keeping cost-sharing contract, and it can be coordinated by a freshness-keeping cost-sharing and revenue-sharing contract. The optimal unit online selling price, unit logistics distribution price, fresh-keeping effort and unit self-collection service price can all be achieved.

The paper provides a practical guideline to managers in fresh produce industry in terms of how to cooperate with other supply chain members so as to maximize total profit and achieve Pareto improvement while also supply the freshest and safest produce to the target market under e-commerce environment.

Few studies have explored the coordination of three-layer FAP supply chain under e-commerce environment with TPLSP and community convenience store’s participation in decisions, especially considering that the market demand for FAPs is affected by freshness and unit online selling price. In this paper, all these scenarios are taken into account and corresponding mathematical models are developed. In particular, different contract coordination mechanisms are designed and examined simultaneously.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the configurations of supply chain integration.

The authors use qualitative data from manufacturers shortlisted for the UK’s Manufacturing Excellence awards over three years. Detailed processes and policies of 68 manufacturers are analysed.

Process structure and product newness require different supply chain configurations, which change as products mature. Supply chain integration is dynamic, and the extent of collaboration between suppliers and customers will be different at different moments in time. The authors define and discuss four key supply chain configurations: customised; ramp-up; recurring; coordinated.

Future studies on supply chain integration should be controlled for the variation in the configurations. A limitation is the use of data which were derived for an award. The paper explains how the authors have mitigated the associated risks.

The configuration of integration will change as the manufacturing plant becomes more familiar with a product. Additionally, different suppliers may provide better support at different stages of a product’s lifecycle. To yield better performance, supply chain integration would need to take different forms. Efforts to integrate with suppliers should not be avoided as, when certain conditions are met, integration can lead to improved performance.

The authors have identified manufacturers’ main process structures and products’ newness as two strategic characteristics that differentiate integration approaches with customers and suppliers, and defined four integration configurations. To the authors’ knowledge this is the first study to argue that these also define the configuration of supply chain integration.

Fresh product loss rates in supply chain operations are particularly high due to the nature of perishable products. The purpose of this paper is to maximize profit through the contract between retailer and supplier. The optimized prices for the retailer and the supplier, taking the fresh-keeping effort into consideration, are derived.

To address this issue, the authors consider a two-echelon supply chain consisting of a retailer and a supplier (i.e. wholesaler) for two scenarios: centralized and decentralized decision making. The authors start from investigating the optimal decision in the centralized supply chain and then comparing the results with those of the decentralized decision. Meanwhile, a fresh-keeping cost-sharing contract and a fresh-keeping cost- and revenue-sharing contract are designed. Numerical examples are provided, and managerial insights are discussed at the end.

The results show that the centralized decision is more profitable than the decentralized decision; a fresh product supply chain (FPSC) can only be coordinated through a fresh-keeping cost- and revenue-sharing contract; the optimal retail price, wholesale price and fresh-keeping effort can all be achieved; and the profit of a FPSC is positively related to consumers’ sensitivity to freshness and negatively correlated with their sensitivity to price.

This research is based on the assumption that demand is relatively stable. It has not addressed when demand is stochastic.

The findings would be useful for managers in fresh food sector in terms of how to deal with suppliers in order to maximize total profit while also provide freshest food to the customers.

Few studies have considered fresh-keeping effort as a decision variable in the modelling of supply chain. In this paper, a mathematical model for the fresh-keeping effort and for price decisions in a supply chain is developed. In particular, fresh-keeping cost-sharing contract and revenue-sharing contract are examined simultaneously in the study of the supply chain coordination problem.

In a decentralized supply chain with one supplier and one retailer, a properly designed contract can lead to supply chain coordination. In this chapter, we model the selection of an appropriate coordinating contract from a menu of contracts including wholesale price, buyback, and markdown money, while allowing both the supplier and the retailer to assume the roles of Stackelberg leader and/or supply chain captain. This work extends previous literature that assumes that the supplier is both the Stackelberg leader and the supply chain captain. In our models, either agent can make stocking and pricing decisions. Our findings suggest that the feasibility of a coordinating contract depends on the addition of Pareto-improving, profit-sharing conditions that motivate agents to take part in the contract. Further, the selection of an optimal contract is based not only on which agent holds the overstock liquidation advantage, but also on the decision structure of the supply chain. For instance, when the supplier is the Stackelberg leader and the retailer is the supply chain captain, as well as holds the inventory liquidation advantage, and controls the stocking level, then a wholesale price contract can coordinate the supply chain under the proposed Pareto-improving profit sharing, termed Pareto-improving coordination. Additional results and managerial implications are presented in the chapter.

The purpose of this paper is to reveal the empirical issues of the implementation of coordination for textile‐apparel supply chains.

Employing case study, the paper examines three different types of coordination practice in three different structures of textile‐apparel supply chains: vertical integration chain, efficiency oriented chain and 3P‐hub chain. The coordinators are three leading Hong Kong based international textiles and apparel companies in these cases. The case sources are published articles, company web sites and some open seminars offered by the case companies.

In textile and apparel industries, brand owners generally coordinate the supply chain. There are also other coordination practices in industries. Through the research observations and analyses in the cases it is found that the integrated company, powerful garment manufacturer and trade agent play the role of coordinators in vertical integration chain, efficiency oriented chain and 3P‐hub chain, respectively. No matter what type of coordination practice, information sharing and product flow coordination should be comprehensive. Coordinators are the information centers of the whole supply chain. They should have power to manage the supply chain. They should actively integrate the whole chain for maximum total profitability.

This paper is just an overview of coordination practice in textile‐apparel supply chains. The case sources are published articles, company web sites and some open seminars made by the case companies. The methodology should be more systematic.

Coordination in textile‐apparel supply chains is still an unresolved question both from the theoretic and practical points of view. This paper fills in some of the gaps.

Forward and reverse supply chains form a “closed loop” when managed in a coordinated way and this “cradle to cradle” responsibility has strong relevance to addressing environmental sustainability in global supply chains. The extensive outsourcing of manufacturing has created highly fragmented supply chains, which is strongly evidenced within the UK clothing industry, and it presents major environmental challenges, particularly around waste and resource use. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how a closed loop supply chain (CLSC) can be successfully developed to address environmental sustainability.

The natural resource-based view (NRBV) acknowledges the importance of a firm’s tangible and intangible resources, as well as socially complex relationships, and provides three path-dependent strategies for achieving environmentally based competitive advantage. Via an in-depth case study of the UK-based clothing firm, the NRBV is employed as a framework for understanding the processes that a focal firm needs to engage in to develop a CLSC, and the contribution that is made by its resources and supplier relationships.

The findings illustrate the key importance of strategic resources and shared vision and principles between the focal firm and its suppliers, in order to progress from a more reactive pollution prevention strategy to a fully embedded CLSC response to environmental sustainability. The case study highlights the need to extend the current CLSC model to integrate the design function and end customer; the design function ensures that appropriate environmental practices can be implemented, and customers represent a key stakeholder as they enable the reverse flows required to maximise value and minimise waste.

The NRBV and its three path-dependent strategies are an established framework for understanding environmentally based competitive advantage, but has not previously been explicitly employed to investigate CLSCs. This research, therefore, provides valuable insight into the applicability of this model in the supply chain field, and the key role of tangible and intangible resources and socially complex supplier relationships in developing and achieving a CLSC.