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This chapter explores the potential economic advantages and disadvantages of reusable plastic containers (RPCs) in the transport of fresh produce from growers to retail stores. The empirical research linking packaging to quantifiable economic and social benefits is reviewed. This study answers the question – what are the economic and social impacts of increased standardization of bulk packaging in the North American fresh produce supply chains? Implications for the potential use of RPCs and its impact on sustainability are explored.

The chapter describes data from grocery retailers who have implemented both one-way and reusable plastic containers for fresh produce distribution. A Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing (TD-ABC) analysis was conducted to capture and evaluate process times and product damage associated with the typical deployment of bulk containers in the grocery retailers’ distribution centers (DC), retail stores, and asset recovery centers of the supply chain. Economic measures were implemented and together with the social dimensions provided insights about sustainability-based implications.

Fresh produce shipments using the RPC technology had significantly less waste and damage representing potential social and economic benefits. The empirical findings included results about the economic impact of RPCs on the sustainability level of a typical supply chain for fresh food products.

The quantification of the economic and potential social sustainability for the explored packaging types constitutes an important contribution. Much of the previous research did not contain comprehensive assessments. The impact of technological change – the introduction and use of RPC in packaging – is examined. In addition, the supply chain scope for this research included most of the major activities that involve the packaging of fresh produce commodities in its practical dynamics.

This chapter compares and discusses the 10 sustainability-oriented food supply chain innovations described in the previous chapters. Our purpose is to address and reflect on the questions and challenges introduced in the first chapter.

The cases are first analyzed in terms of the extent to which the innovations were motivated and impacted the social, environmental, and economic dimensions of sustainability. The various sustainable food supply chain practices adopted are compared. The third section explores the innovation strategies used in the cases, including the type of strategy, the breadth and level of innovativeness of the strategy, the governance approach, and the extent of capability development required. The final section presents our conclusions.

The results suggest that to become truly sustainable, companies need to adopt a broad set of practices that address all three dimensions of sustainability, and develop strategies to make the sustainability-oriented innovation economically viable. The more radical and systemic the innovation, the more difficult it is to generate these outcomes.

India's agri-food industry is rapidly expanding to keep up with the country's growing population. With the help of the fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), modernization is creating a new revolution in the agri-food sector. Its applications in the food supply chain as a supply chain 4.0 (SC 4.0) have made it convenient to deliver products efficiently from farms to consumers. The various technologies such as the internet of things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), big data analytics and blockchain, etc., have impacted emerging supply chains. But many challenges are perceived by stakeholders toward the adoption of SC 4.0 technologies in India. The authors identified the challenges of adopting SC 4.0 for the agri-food sector and used the Total Interpretive Structural Modeling (TISM) tool to analyze those challenges. Based on literature research, nine major issues were diagnosed and then simulated using expert opinion. Primary data were also gathered with the help of a questionnaire to identify the status of acceptance level of these technologies. This study highlights the importance of government support, availability of sources of funds, customer orientation toward food safety, the commitment of management toward modernization, aware and well trained and motivated employees are a few of the major factors impacting the adoption of SC 4.0 technologies.

This study deals with the examination, classification and ranking of the food industry supply chain in Mazandaran Free Economic Zone from a sustainability perspective and its effect on international entrepreneurship. The findings can help international decision-makers and entrepreneurs better understand their decision-making processes. Interpretive structural modelling (ISM) and Matrix-based Multiplication Applied to Classification (MICMAC) methods is an export-oriented method. The indicators are determined based on the definitive opinion of experts. Indicators in this research were selected using fuzzy Delphi with 99% accuracy. A combination of ISM–MICMAC methods were used based on sustainable facts in the food supply chain. The developed classify the factors practical on the sustainable supply chain. The findings showed that minimising the total cost, improvement of health and safety, environmentally friendly packaging, use of environmentally friendly materials and minimising the use of synthetic fertilisers were among the linkage factors. Factors that reduce energy costs, the possibility of immediate customer response and social services were among the dependent factors. Since free economic zones have been established to attract international investment, exploit new technologies, create new job opportunities and increase export capacity, the focus on reducing costs and the ability to respond immediately to customers and providing social services can result in the creation of a suitable business position for international investment and attracting international entrepreneurs.

This chapter introduces the volume’s theme by describing the challenges of sustainability in the agri-food industry and the critical role of agri-food supply chains. Following a description of traditional and sustainable supply chain management practices, we discuss the likely characteristics of sustainability-oriented innovations and how organizations pursuing higher levels of economic, social, and environmental performance will need to adapt their capabilities.

Drawing on the emerging concepts and practices from sustainable supply chain management as well as traditional and emerging concepts from innovation, we develop general propositions and expectations about how organizations might address sustainable effectiveness in their supply chains. The importance of the agri-food industry to all three pillars of sustainable effectiveness and predictions about the inability to feed future populations gives the discussion a certain urgency.

Sustainability-oriented innovations in the agri-food supply chain are different from traditional innovations. We develop propositions regarding the driving motivations, their nature and scope (i.e., more radical and systemic than incremental and focused), and the importance of a multi-stakeholder approach. The 10 cases presented in the volume are summarized.

The Agri-Food supply chain (AFSC) conventionally suffers from multifaceted transparency, integration, traceability, product quality, and many more. Recently, various digital technologies have emerged, which reflect the potential to address the majority of such concerns. This chapter is an effort toward developing a vision for the future of the agri-food supply chain through digitalization. The technologies prominently covered in the chapter are the internet of things (IoT), blockchain, and artificial intelligence (AI). Different challenges the agri-food supply chain participants perceived in implementing digital technologies were identified through literature review and primary survey. The significant challenges are trained workforce, funds availability, and clarity on economic gains from digitalisation. In conclusion, few strategies toward the implementation of digital technologies in agri-food supply chains are discussed.

Food supply chain transparency and traceability is very important to address the issue regarding quality and safety. In traditional tracing system, with increasing the complexity of supply chain making product recalls difficult to manage and putting human lives at risk. To eliminate such types of risks, blockchain technology gives more efficient and reliable system for food tracing. Recently, there is an exponential rise in adoption of blockchain technology and most disparate IOT (Internet of things) devices in agriculture and food supply chain. It is an evolving technology that comforts the food supply chains by providing transparent data records and manage the food movement in the chain using distributed (P2P) network. That is more secured and there's no need for third party verifications. Our focus in this research will be on the Indian wheat supply chain and issues related to food losses caused by a lack of transparency and traceability. In order to improve the transparency of the wheat supply chain, we created an end-to-end smart wheat supply chain solution that combines blockchain technology, NFC tags, IoTs, and smart contracts. The solution is supported by entity relationship diagrams, information and money flow sequence diagrams, and a blockchain network diagram. We also used a security algorithm and the “NFC-Tag writer by NXP” program to validate and assess our system. This work could serve as a springboard for more in-depth research in this area. Depending on the existing situation in the industry, this research can also advise corporate procedures to deploy blockchain-based applications in the supply chain and logistics industry.

The world is experiencing technological disruptions due to the dynamic business environment, technological advancements, customer preferences, increasing competitive pressure, globalization of supply chains, and environmental disruptions. Industry 4.0 technologies are paving the way for increased production efficiency and worker safety while optimizing resource utilization and improving sustainability. Industry 4.0 technologies find their applications in almost all sectors, but few studies explore industry 4.0 technologies in agriculture. The agri-food sector has experienced an upward trend in digitalization projects. The digital agri-food supply chains will help in the autonomous decision-making process, leading to enhanced visibility in the agri-food supply chains through real-time traceability solutions, thereby leading to improved food quality. It is anticipated that industry 4.0 technologies in the agri-food supply chains will impact climate change disruptions and improve the unequal distribution of resources in the agricultural sector. The present study highlights various industry 4.0 technologies and their applications in the agri-food supply chains. Based on the findings from a literature review, the study establishes 10 key performance indicators that will benefit decision-making in a digital, data-centered environment.

This chapter presents the case study of Origin Green, the Irish food industry’s national program that committed the entire supply chain to meet sustainability targets and simultaneously branded the efforts and outcomes to increase demand for Irish food products. The brand creation is discussed under headings of building predictability, creating innovative capacity, and facilitating an intimate relationship.

The chapter describes supply chain risk mitigation, brand development, and the relationship between the two, proposing that they should be regarded as simultaneous rather than separate processes. This is followed by the case history of Origin Green.

The literatures on risk mitigation and brand equity development are extended by suggesting that the development of each should be regarded as simultaneous rather than consecutive activities.

The chapter outlines a program for national branding and sustainability and an insight on risk mitigation and branding that should be of interest to policymakers designing such programs and senior leaders considering involvement.

This chapter will be useful to policymakers considering national or industry-wide initiatives. Further, the chapter demonstrates the opportunity and challenges of systemic approaches to sustainability. The opportunity to brand nations and systems and the need to simultaneously build supply chain and brand for such is an original insight that is of value to strategy and planning. Similarly, at firm level, removing risk from the supply chain and building a brand would be of value.

This chapter explores two business and innovation strategies to increase sustainability in a small-medium enterprise. The two strategies, one addressing the improved sustainability of an existing product line and the other addressing the development and implementation of a new product line, employ different supply chain sustainable practices and utilize different dynamic capabilities.

The chapter describes how sustainable supply chain management practices, sustainable new product development processes, and theories of dynamic capabilities interact to support a sustainable and differentiated strategy in the Alcass organization.

The models of sustainable supply chain management and sustainable new product development are applied to “more sustainable” products and “new sustainable” products, by raising different relevant practices as well as different supporting dynamic capabilities.