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Contemporary literature reveals that, to date, the poultry livestock sector has not received sufficient research attention. This particular industry suffers from unstructured supply chain practices, lack of awareness of the implications of the sustainability concept and failure to recycle poultry wastes. The current research thus attempts to develop an integrated supply chain model in the context of poultry industry in Bangladesh. The study considers both sustainability and supply chain issues in order to incorporate them in the poultry supply chain. By placing the forward and reverse supply chains in a single framework, existing problems can be resolved to gain economic, social and environmental benefits, which will be more sustainable than the present practices.

The theoretical underpinning of this research is ‘sustainability’ and the ‘supply chain processes’ in order to examine possible improvements in the poultry production process along with waste management. The research adopts the positivist paradigm and ‘design science’ methods with the support of system dynamics (SD) and the case study methods. Initially, a mental model is developed followed by the causal loop diagram based on in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and observation techniques. The causal model helps to understand the linkages between the associated variables for each issue. Finally, the causal loop diagram is transformed into a stock and flow (quantitative) model, which is a prerequisite for SD-based simulation modelling. A decision support system (DSS) is then developed to analyse the complex decision-making process along the supply chains.

The findings reveal that integration of the supply chain can bring economic, social and environmental sustainability along with a structured production process. It is also observed that the poultry industry can apply the model outcomes in the real-life practices with minor adjustments. This present research has both theoretical and practical implications. The proposed model’s unique characteristics in mitigating the existing problems are supported by the sustainability and supply chain theories. As for practical implications, the poultry industry in Bangladesh can follow the proposed supply chain structure (as par the research model) and test various policies via simulation prior to its application. Positive outcomes of the simulation study may provide enough confidence to implement the desired changes within the industry and their supply chain networks.

The idea of implementing supply chain management (SCM) principles for the construction industry was embraced by construction stakeholders to enhance the sector's performance. The analysis from the literature revealed that the implementation of SCM in the construction industry enhances the industry's value in terms of cost-saving, time savings, material management, risk management and others. The construction supply chain (CSC) can be managed using the pull or push system. This chapter also discusses the origin and proliferation of SCM into the construction industry. The chapter revealed that the concept of SCM has passed through five different eras: the creation era, the use of ERP, globalisation stage, specialisation stage and electronic stage. The findings from the literature revealed that we are presently in the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) era. At this stage, the SCM witnesses the adoption of technologies and principles driven by the 4IR. This chapter also revealed that the practice of SCM in the construction industry is centred around integration, collaboration, communication and the structure of the supply chain (SC). The forms and challenges hindering the adoption of these practices were also discussed extensively in this chapter.

Blockchain, in general, diversifies supply chain management in record-keeping and maintains authenticity. In addition, traditional issues and challenges like overflow and information overload press down mysteriously whenever the blockchain steering wheel of the supply chain turns. Factually, the miracle and twists in supply chain resilience have not been incorporated under systematic review homogeneously. As a result, this study reviews the potential impact of blockchain on logistics and supply chain (LSC) efficiency. The methodology of this study provides a subjective assessment of the utility of blockchain-based LSC performance.

On the other hand, the review reveals new insights on its current acceptance and applications, with a particular emphasis on the Limit Redundancy Mechanism and Core Information-based Direct Comparison. Prospectively, the identified facts under the research paradigm and extensive literature survey will subsidize the practices of blockchain technology and possible areas of extension in supply chain resilience in luminous fashion in the future. After all, this study materializes new solid magnitudes, adaptability, and a realistic overview of blockchain-based LSC movements.

The objective of this study is to investigate how country risk, different political actions from the government and bureaucratic behavior influence the activities in industry supply chains (SCs) in emerging markets. The main objective of this study is to investigate the influence of these external stakeholders’ elements to the demand-side and supply-side drivers and barriers for improving competitiveness of Ready-Made Garment (RMG) industry in the way of analyzing supply chain. Considering the phenomenon of recent change in the RMG business environment and the competitiveness issues this study uses the principles of stakeholder and resource dependence theory and aims to find out some factors which influence to make an efficient supply chain for improving competitiveness. The RMG industry of Bangladesh is the case application of this study. Following a positivist paradigm, this study adopts a two phase sequential mixed-method research design consisting of qualitative and quantitative approaches. A tentative research model is developed first based on extensive literature review. Qualitative field study is then carried out to fine tune the initial research model. Findings from the qualitative method are also used to develop measures and instruments for the next phase of quantitative method. A survey is carried out with sample of top and middle level executives of different garment companies of Dhaka city in Bangladesh and the collected quantitative data are analyzed by partial least square-based structural equation modeling. The findings support eight hypotheses. From the analysis the external stakeholders’ elements like bureaucratic behavior and country risk have significant influence to the barriers. From the internal stakeholders’ point of view the manufacturers’ and buyers’ drivers have significant influence on the competitiveness. Therefore, stakeholders need to take proper action to reduce the barriers and increase the drivers, as the drivers have positive influence to improve competitiveness.

This study has both theoretical and practical contributions. This study represents an important contribution to the theory by integrating two theoretical perceptions to identify factors of the RMG industry’s SC that affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. This research study contributes to the understanding of both external and internal stakeholders of national and international perspectives in the RMG (textile and clothing) business. It combines the insights of stakeholder and resource dependence theories along with the concept of the SC in improving effectiveness. In a practical sense, this study certainly contributes to the Bangladeshi RMG industry. In accordance with the desire of the RMG manufacturers, the research has shown that some influential constructs of the RMG industry’s SC affect the competitiveness of the RMG industry. The outcome of the study is useful for various stakeholders of the Bangladeshi RMG industry sector ranging from the government to various private organizations. The applications of this study are extendable through further adaptation in other industries and various geographic contexts.

With the world gradually evolving into a global economy, Africa is playing an increasing role both as a major supplier of commodities and a huge consumer market for products from other parts of the world. Hence, it has become necessary for organisations to understand logistics and supply chain management (SCM) practices in Africa. For organisations that operate in Africa or have business dealings in Africa, it has become a strategic competitive priority to understand the current state of logistics in Africa and identify the challenges and opportunities inherent in the system. Finally, it is essential to learn how to overcome the challenges and maximise the opportunities. This chapter provides a historical and contextual basis for some of the logistics and SCM practices in sub-Saharan Africa. It reviews the current state of logistics management in Africa and identifies the challenges and opportunities that confront anyone interested in doing business in Africa. We reviewed the indigenous management practices that pervade the logistics discipline and highlighted cultural, unique and anecdotal evidence of practices and characteristics peculiar to the African countries. In addition, a comparative analysis of the logistic performance of countries in the region was provided to help readers situate the discussion. We concluded the discussion with some practical suggestions on how to get the best out of the African logistics system.

Since the sixteenth century, Panama has been an important logistic node for communication between South America, North America, and Europe for trade and load transit. Panama ports move more than 700 million tons per year while Panama Canal moves 325,428,407 tons, according the statistics of 2014. Most of the maritime cargo moved through Panama is transit and transshipment cargo. Consequently, and due to the geographical position and future opportunities based on the expansion of the Panama Canal, Panama could be a strategic hub of global trade flows. This is an opportunity to develop value-added logistics services (VALS) in Panama Canal. Thus, this research aims to present a preliminary analysis of VALS industry in Panama, identifying critical variables that could enhance these services. This is a survey-based research, using interviews with the main suppliers of VALS in Panama and some of their customers. The methodology applied to analyze the data is means-end value hierarchy model (MEVHM), which was used to understand VALS industry in Panama and identify what is valuable to customers. Results showed that each VALS provider serves a mean of 20 companies, 22% of them are national clients while 78% are international clients, which recognized the geographical position as their main reason to work with logistics experts from Panama. Furthermore, 92% of them were very satisfied or satisfied with the service received. Main VALS in Panama are labeling, tagging, and packaging. In contrast, areas to be improved are customs procedures, national logistics processes, product’s traceability, competitive prices, and human resources training.

Outsourcing of business-logistics services is a well-established business practice that allows an outsourcer to obtain the services or products from a logistics-service provider (LSP). The outsourcer can order a range of logistics services, including but not limited to warehousing, transportation, and forwarding. The outsourcers had traditionally focused on service-provider selection criteria such as costs, quality, and responsiveness while having devoted considerably less attention to how sustainably the practices are carried out. Past research identified different external and internal motivators that facilitate consideration of sustainability in selection of the service providers, whereas the current study investigates the outsourcers’ perception of importance of environmental sustainability in adoption of green logistics practices and selection of LSPs. We use a vantage point of outsourcers (“buyers”) to conduct the quantitative research based on a survey conducted on large manufacturing companies. The findings reveal a (mis)match between the perception of importance and realized inclusion of environmental-sustainability criteria. Ultimately, this study finds a link between the levels of perception and rate of adoption, and provides recommendations for the future adoption of environmental-sustainability criteria in the selection of the LSPs.

Overconsumption of resources has become a global issue. To deal with resource depletion and mitigate these impending crises, the circular economy (CE) holds some promise. A wide range of performance measurements for CE have emerged over the years. However, with increasing complexity of supply chains, appropriate and potentially new performance measurements are needed for effective CE management. Blockchain is an innovative technology that may advance CE development. This chapter provides an overview of the potential linkages between blockchain technology and CE from sustainability perspectives – the specific focus will be on the performance measurement of reverse logistics activities. One of the main findings indicates that both blockchain and CE performance measurements – especially reverse logistics processes – are still evolving in both theory and practical developments. Future directions with a critical analysis including research and theoretical applications will conclude this chapter.