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Intermediate short food supply chains (SFSC) have been presented as a possible solution to unsustainable global food supply chains. There is currently a knowledge gap about intermediate SFSC. Thus, this review synthesizes the available literature to identify prominent themes and their main considerations.

This research is based on a systematic literature review including peer-reviewed journal articles until December 2021. Inductive data coding resulted in the identification of four themes related to intermediate SFSC.

The identified themes illustrate the complex landscape intermediate SFSCs operate in and focus on the key relationships within these supply chains. The established relationships have implications for the governance of intermediate SFSCs. The organization of intermediate SFSCs affects numerous sustainability indicators.

Future research should focus on the position intermediate SFSCs have in food systems and the roles intermediaries have in intermediate SFSCs. There is furthermore an opportunity for researchers to investigate different types of intermediaries and explore the factors influencing them.

Creating sustainable food supply chains is one of the major societal challenges of today. The current state of the art suggests that intermediate SFSCs could play an important role in achieving this. So far, this area is underdeveloped and this review highlights knowledge gaps in the literature and suggestions for a future research agenda are proposed.

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often operate in environments marked by high levels of turbulence. Such firms adopt digital technologies and platforms that provide access to external real-time information and establish digital connectivity between firms to remain competitive. This study aims to focus on SMEs’ downstream and upstream platform-based digital connectivity (PDC).

This study examines the effects of PDC on SMEs’ operational performance under conditions of environmental turbulence. The data was gathered from 192 SMEs operating in the manufacturing arena.

The results show that the adoption of PDC does not directly affect an SME’s operational performance. However, in highly turbulent environments, PDC can improve operational performance. The results indicate that the performance effects of PDC vary according to the level and type of environmental turbulence.

This research offers insights into the relationship between PDC among SMEs and operational performance and encourages future research examining other possible conditional effects that could explain the contradictory results found in previous research.

This study contributes to the knowledge of supply-chain digitalization among SMEs and its performance effects in varying environmental conditions. Further, this study contributes to the prior research by focusing on the interorganizational aspects of digitalization in SMEs.

This study aims to document students’ supply chain solutions developed through the internship hackathon program. The study profiled innovative solutions developed by university students in Kenya to solve health supply chain logistics challenges during and beyond COVID-19. This is done by exploring students’ experience in developing sustainable logistics and supply chain management capacity-building programs in a low-middle-income country (LMIC).

This study used a qualitative approach to explore the experiences and perceptions of students and mentors who participated in a hackathon program. The study followed a cross-sectional descriptive survey design, collecting data from the participants through online questionnaires. The data were analyzed and presented using thematic analysis and narrative techniques.

Findings provide preliminary evidence for narrowing the gap between theory and practice through a hackathon internship blended with a mentorship program. Assessment of this program provides evidence for developing solutions toward ensuring the availability of essential medicine in LMICs during a pandemic such as COVID-19 by students. The profiled solutions demonstrate a broader perspective of innovative solutions of university students, mentors and potential opportunities for a triple helix approach to innovation for health supply chain system strengthening.

This original study provides evidence for advancing contribution to developing innovative solutions through partnerships between investors, universities and industry practitioners interested in mentoring students in the health-care supply chain during COVID-19 in LMICs. Specifically, contingency factors that affect the implementation of innovative programs during and beyond global pandemics such as COVID-19 by students’ innovators are identified, and implications for policy action are discussed based on the praxis of sensemaking.

This study examines a novel approach that combines internship, mentorship and hackathon projects for logistics and supply chain students in LMICs. The approach aims to bridge the gap between theory and practice and to create innovative solutions for essential medicines during and after COVID-19. The study urges more resources for supporting such programs, as they benefit both academia and industry. The study also argues that hackathon internship programs can help the logistics and supply chain industry adapt to the post-pandemic era. The study offers insights for investors, universities and practitioners in the health-care industry.

This study shows how to develop innovative solutions for the health-care supply chain during COVID-19 in an LMIC through partnerships between investors, universities and industry practitioners who mentor students. The study identifies the contingency factors that influence the success of such programs during and beyond global pandemics such as COVID-19 and discusses the policy implications based on the sensemaking praxis of the student innovators.

This study aims to develop a hierarchical model that uncovers the relationships between challenges confronting Africa's organ transplant supply chain systems.

Eleven challenges (variables) were identified after a comprehensive review of the existing literature. The contextual interactions among these variables were analysed from the perspectives of health-care stakeholders in two sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries (Nigeria and Uganda), using Delphi-interpretive structural modelling-cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) techniques.

The findings reveal that weak regulatory frameworks, insufficient information systems and a lack of necessary skills make it challenging for critical actors to perform the tasks effectively. The interaction effects of these challenges weaken organ supply chains and make it less efficient, giving rise to negative externalities such as black markets for donated organs and organ tourism/trafficking.

This paper establishes a solid foundation for a critical topic that could significantly impact human health and life once the government or non-profit ecosystem matures. The MICMAC analysis in this paper provides a methodological approach for future studies wishing to further develop the organ supply chain structural models.

The study provides valuable insights for experts and policymakers on where to prioritise efforts in designing interventions to strengthen organ transplantation supply chains in developing countries.

This study is one of the first to empirically examine the challenges of organ transplant supply chains from an SSA perspective, including theoretically grounded explanations from data collected in two developing countries.

One of the leading factors that shape product and service delivery are data collected in databases and other repositories maintained by companies. The transformation of such data into knowledge and wisdom may constitute a new source of income. This paper aims to explore how small/medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) advance their business models (BMs) around data to handle data-driven products and how this contributes to their innovativeness and performance.

To investigate the phenomenon, the as-is BM of a multinational SME was mapped and its limitations were revealed through a qualitative study. The BM canvas was used. Then the data-driven approach was innovated within the facility management (FM) industry, where a high volume of operational and sensor-based data being collected creates added value in terms of new data-based products.

A data-driven business model (DDBM) blueprint for the FM industry that supports the need to complement service-driven operations with the data-driven approach is delivered. Enhanced BM equips a facility manager with additional managerial tools that enable decreasing property utilization costs and opens up new opportunities for generating revenue. This paper drafts the way to evolve from service to data-driven business and point out the attitudes that managers should adopt to promote and implement DDBM.

The DDBM constitutes a guideline that supports FM organizations in focusing their activities and resources on generating business value from data and monetizing data-driven products.

The research expands knowledge regarding BMs and their evolution. The gap regarding the DDBM innovation within the FM industry is filled.

In this paper, the authors integrate the psychological ownership theory with the concept of commitment to contribute to the discussion on agricultural supply chain management. The purpose of this study is to examine how farmers experience their commitment to the business relationship with the processor and how this is conveyed through the routes of psychological ownership.

The empirical data are based on 14 in-depth face-to-face Finnish farmer interviews. To understand the farmers’ routes to psychological ownership, the critical incidents technique was used.

According to the three routes to psychological ownership – control, profound knowledge and self-investment – the authors argue that farmers mainly consider their routes to be more or less blocked because of the asymmetrical power and information distribution in the business relationship with the processor. Furthermore, based on farmers’ perceptions of psychological ownership, the authors provide a farmer typology that reflects in the farmers’ willingness to commit to the business relationship. The identified types are named as satisfied, captives and leavers.

By integrating the theory of psychological ownership with the concept of commitment, this study provides a more robust understanding of how farmers experience their commitment to the business relationship, thus, contributing to the literature on supply chain management in the agri-food business context. Implementation of these findings can help business partners to proactively improve their business relationships through the perceived level of commitment and to deal with critical incidents influencing the effectiveness of the whole chain.