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Food manufacturing supply chain systems are the most relevant wheels of the world economy since they provide essential products supporting daily life. Nevertheless, various supply inefficiencies have been reported to compromise food safety in different regions. Sustainable supplier management and digitalization practices have become cornerstone activities in addressing these shortcomings. Therefore, this paper proposes an integrated method for sustainability management in digital manufacturing supply chain systems (DMSCS) from the food industry.

The Intuitionistic Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (IF-AHP) was used to weigh the criteria and subcriteria under uncertainty. Second, the Intuitionistic Fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (IF-DEMATEL) was applied to determine the main DMSCS sustainability drivers whilst incorporating the expert's hesitancy. Finally, the Combined Compromise Solution (CoCoSo) was implemented to pinpoint the weaknesses hindering DMSCS sustainability. A case study from the pork supply chain was presented to validate this method.

The most important criterion for DMSCS sustainability management is “location” while “manufacturing capacity” is the most significant dispatcher.

This paper presents a novel approach integrating IF-AHP, IF-DEMATEL, and CoCoSo methods for sustainability management of DMSCS pillaring the food industry.

Grounded in contingency theory and strategic fit theory, the goal for this research was to determine if managers differentiate in terms of the degree of partnership when allocating resources for planning, joint operating controls, communication and other management components to relationships and if this differentiation is based on the Partnership Model (Lambert et al., 1996).

In total, 381 managers representing 31 relationships participated in one-and-a-half-day partnership meetings, and the authors analyzed how the management components were implemented in each relationship compared to the recommendations in the Partnership Model.

Managers did not differentiate types of partnerships which led to over-resourcing relationships with low potential and under-resourcing those with the highest potential for creating value. The principles of contingency theory and strategic fit were not used for managing relationships.

Contingency theory combined with the relationship view suggests that management components should not be implemented at the same level for all relationships, but in the 31 relationships studied different partnership types were not managed based on their potential.

The research reinforces the need for a formal structure like the Partnership Model to establish joint goals for a relationship and guide management in implementation.

Effective supply chain management depends on the ability of managers to differentiate among partnership types and fit relational mechanisms that are appropriate. However, researchers tend to generalize their findings to all partnerships regardless of potential. The authors found support for the Partnership Model published in IJLM in 1996 as a method to resource different types of partnerships following the contingency perspective and strategic fit theory.

This paper aims to deal with a real-life strategic conflict in joint operations (JOs) for facility location decision and planning in an oil and gas field that stretches over two countries and tries to develop a basis for mitigating such conflict.

This paper develops a novel approach using integer linear programming (ILP) to determine optimal facility location considering technical, economic and environmental factors. Strategic decision-making in JOs is also influenced by business priorities of individual partner, sociopolitical issues and other covert factors. The cost-related quantitative factors are normalized using inverse normalization function as these are to be minimized, and qualitative factors that are multi-decision-making criteria are maximized, thus transforming both qualitative and quantitative factors as a single objective of maximization in ILP model.

The model identifies the most suitable facility location based on a wide range of factors that would provide maximum benefit in the long term, which will help decision-makers and managers.

The model can be expanded incorporating other quantitative and qualitative factors such as tax incentives by the government, local bodies and government regulations.

The applicability of the model is not limited to JOs or oil/gas field, but is applicable to a wide range of sectors.

The model is transparent and based on rational and scientific basis, which would help in building consensus among the dissenting parties and aid in mitigating strategic conflict. Such type of model for mitigating strategic conflict has not been reported/used before.

The purpose of this study is to show how strategic planning can play multiple roles in the context of conflict between two controlling shareholders in a new joint venture.

This study conducted a five-year qualitative case study of a large financial services joint venture co-owned by a Latin American state bank and a European financial company.

The authors found that over time, budgeting and strategic planning had intertwining use to guide strategic decisions, but unexpectedly, strategic planning eventually developed three distinct roles beyond the merely functional, as it also contributed to complex symbolic and political functions.

This study provides guidance on considering different roles taken by strategic planning, as a utilitarian practice, as a symbolic narrative and as a conflict-mediating routine.

Unprecedented levels of investment in transit and transit-oriented development in Los Angeles County have not resulted in gains for transit-dependent populations or overall higher ridership for that matter. They have instead saddled them with inordinate cost burdens and displacement pressures. Yet racialised, low-income communities that rely on transit are far from passive victims. Rather, they are participating in advocacy campaigns that penetrate decision-making venues and procedures and co-create institutional practices, policy priorities, and public and private investments that serve their interests and build a Los Angeles that is more widely accessible and affordable. This chapter presents a case study of the Alliance for Community Transit-Los Angeles (ACT-LA), a regional coalition of over 40 community-based organisations at the helm of direct-action policy campaigns and participatory planning initiatives to advance transit justice and equitable transit-oriented communities (TOC). After examining ACT-LA's origins in the LA-based movement for community benefits agreements, the analysis focuses on how ACT-LA has combined political mobilisation for ballot-box measures with participatory policy-making and planning processes to advance just, equitable, sustainable transit systems, and TOC. The concluding discussion considers the implications of the ACT-LA case for reformulating participatory policy-making and planning around transportation and land use to further equity and climate goals.

This study aims to compare the expectations of non-collaborating professionals and the actual opinions of collaborating professionals regarding success factors of horizontal logistics collaboration (HLC) and investigates the reasons behind the observed differences.

This study employs a mixed-method approach. First, a survey is conducted to collect data from two samples representing collaborating and non-collaborating industry professionals. Second, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is used to compare the measurement models from the two samples and identify their similarities and differences. Third, a Delphi study is conducted to identify factors limiting collaborative behavior.

The results show that collaborating professionals exhibit lower levels of joint relationship efforts and trust than expected. This is primarily due to inadequate information sharing, poor collaboration formalization and the absence of a clear costs and benefits allocation mechanism.

The findings indicate that, in HLC, managers should give high importance to facilitating timely and complete information exchange, putting in place an acceptable costs/benefits allocation mechanism, formalizing the collaboration and prioritizing integrity over competency when selecting partners.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that shows the existence of differences between industry professionals' pre-collaboration expectations and the actual experiences in HLC. This is also the first study that points to the exact HLC enablers that fail in practice and the barriers responsible for it.

This paper aims to optimize the maintenance scheduling of emergency rescue wagons in railway companies using a genetic algorithm (GA). It offers an integrated model for simultaneously solving maintenance planning, preventive maintenance, prognostic information and resource planning from which optimal levels of the system performance in terms of cost and repair time could be determined.

This study initially evaluates the previous types of research in presenting the optimal model of the rescue train wagon for maintenance and repair planning and lists the identified criteria based on experts' opinions using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) and stepwise weight assessment ratio analysis (SWARA) techniques. Then, the final weight of the desired criteria is calculated. Later, the final decision matrix is evaluated by the experts. The final normal decision matrix is formed to select the optimal maintenance and repair planning plan based on the GA. Finally, two strategies including joint optimization strategy of preventive maintenance planning are compared with the independent preventive maintenance planning strategy.

According to the primary results, three primary parameters, including technology, human damage caused by negligence and the average failure rate, should be considered for launching the GA model. Based on the results of the second part; by comparing the preventive maintenance planning strategy independently, the joint optimization strategy reduces the total cost of production up to 8.25%. Comparison results show that the total cost of joint optimization production is less than independent preventive maintenance and repair planning. Moreover, the value of total process time in joint optimization strategy was reduced by 1.2% compared to independent preventive maintenance (PM) planning (from 137.90 to 136.20 h).

The novelty of this paper lies on the application of the GAs to develop an optimized PM scheduling to localize the maintenance planning for maximizing productivity, avoid train accidents, reduce costs and increase efficiency and capacity.

The American agricultural economist Marion Clawson advised the Israeli government during 1953–1955. Clawson, a protégé of John D. Black and Mordecai Ezekiel, criticized the government for ignoring economic considerations, and stated that Israel’s national goals – defense, Negev Desert irrigation, immigrant absorption via new agricultural settlements, and economic independence – were mutually contradictory. His major recommendations were to improve the realism of Israel’s agricultural plan; end expensive Negev irrigation; enlarge irrigated farms eightfold; freeze new settlements until the number of semi-developed settlements falls from 300 to 100; and limit new Negev settlements to 10 over 5–7 years. Thus, Clawson ignored political feasibility and made value judgments. Minister of Finance Levi Eshkol and Minister of Agriculture Peretz Naphtali rejected Clawson’s recommendations because they ignored Israel’s national goals. By September 1954, Clawson shifted towards greater pragmatism: He acknowledged that foreign advisors should not question the national goals or make value judgments, and sought common ground with the Ministry of Agriculture. At his initiative, he wrote Israel Agriculture 1953/54 in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture. Israel Agriculture was a consensus document: Clawson eschewed recommendations and accepted that the government might prioritize non-economic goals. In proposing Israel Agriculture, Clawson made a pragmatic decision to relinquish some independence for (potentially) greater influence. Ultimately, Clawson was largely unsuccessful as an advisor. Clawson’s failure was part of a general pattern: Over 1950–1985, the Israeli government always rejected foreign advisors’ recommendations unless it was facing a severe crisis.