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The paper aims to reappraise efficient consumer response (ECR) in the grocery and food industry to determine whether financial and operating performance improves with ECR adoption.

The paper uses a time‐series multiple regression model. The methodology overcomes historical shortcomings in ECR and supply chain management research related to small sample size, one‐tier investigation, and short‐longitudinal focus.

ECR adoption has beneficial impacts for both financial and operational performance.

Two limitations exist. First, determining the actual time of implementation for supply chain management strategies by firms in the food industry is extremely difficult. The method used to classify firms as ECR adopters in this paper is believed to be sound and unbiased, but errors may exist. Second, this analysis does not account for differences in the implementation level for ECR. For simplicity, a binary variable is used to distinguish firms adopting or not adopting supply chain management strategies (ECR). Further study is needed to determine how differences in the level of ECR implementation impacts firm performance.

The paper overcomes historical shortcomings in ECR performance research. The paper provides academics and practitioners in the food and grocery industry definitive evidence that ECR has beneficial impacts for both financial and operational performance in the food and grocery industry.

By placing greater attention on overcoming historical shortcomings in supply chain management research related to small sample size, one‐tier investigation, and longitudinal study, the paper improves upon previous evaluations of ECR.

This special “Anbar Abstracts” issue of the International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management is split into eight sections covering abstracts under the following headings: Distribution and supply chain management; Logistics; Air/road/rail transport; Retail/wholesale; Freight and delivery services; International; Purchasing; Accounting.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent and types of fraud victimization in small economies or specific industries in such economies. In addition, the paper identifies the state of the art in a small economy and considers policy implications.

Drawing on an extensive literature review, a questionnaire was developed, pilot tested and administered to individuals working in 600 randomly selected organizations in Cyprus. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized to analyze the collected data and address the postulated research questions.

It is found that no industry or size of company is immune from fraud. Whilst executives are well aware of fraud, they do not seem to be able to prevent it in their organizations since 85.8 percent are victimized in the last five years. The deterrent impact/effect of both the code of conduct and the audit committee has been investigated. In addition, findings revealed the types of fraud least tolerated as well as those who pose the greatest risk to the local economic environment. Finally, the paper explores the actions taken by local companies when fraud is identified.

Owing to the very sensitive nature of the research topic, many respondents felt reluctant to participate, resulting in an 18.83 percent response rate.

The findings have a practical relevance to both industry stakeholders and academic scholars who wish to further explore fraud victimization in small economies. Numerous practical implications for the local industry and regulatory authorities are raised regarding fraud precaution and the need for a specialized fraud investigation team as well as forensic accountants is emphasized.

Fraud victimization studies have been carried out in bigger economies (G7 or E7) but not in smaller economies. This is the first in‐depth attempt to investigate fraud in a small economy in such detail, thus the paper adds to existing knowledge of interest to stakeholders.

This chapter integrates two separate branches of the law and economics literature to demonstrate the two-sided risk of market exclusion by a vertically integrated firm (VIF) with upstream and downstream market power. The ratio of downstream (retail) to upstream (wholesale) price-cost margins is key. A margin ratio that is “too low” can result in a vertical price squeeze, whereas one that is “too high” can create incentives for the VIF to engage in non-price discrimination or sabotage. A price squeeze occurs when a rival is inefficiently foreclosed because the upstream (input) price is too high relative to the downstream (output) price. Sabotage arises when the VIF raises its rivals' costs which, in turn, raises their prices and diverts demand from the rivals to the VIF. Displacement ratios delineate the range of safe harbor margin ratios within which neither form of market exclusion arises. The admissible range of these margin ratios is decreasing in the degree of product substitutability and reduces to a single ratio in the limit as the competing products approach perfect substitutes. The policy challenge is to apply these pricing constraints judiciously to prevent market exclusion in accordance with a consumer-welfare standard, while recognizing the risk that these protections can be appropriated and used strategically in the errant pursuit of a competitor-welfare standard. These issues may take on greater prominence in light of the recent release of the DOJ/FTC draft vertical merger guidelines.

Everybody knows something about shopping, but unless one is closely connected with distribution the sheer size and complexity of the industry—and its range of opportunities—is not apparent. Distribution is the word which over the last few years has come to mean the retailing, wholesaling, mail order, and credit trading industries. Taken together they represent Britain's second largest industry, employing 2¼ million people in over half a million establishments. One in five of the country's school‐leavers works in the industry at some stage within 12 months of completing schooling.

Distribution research was an important field of research in Germany especially in the 1920s and 50s. After that, the major research interests in the area of marketing and internal trade shifted to other topics. Retailing and wholesaling institutions became more powerful and new technologies supporting physical distribution activities began to attract researchers to deal with distribution problems. Distribution as treated in this synopsis covers the areas of retailing, wholesaling, industrial selling and physical distribution.

This paper aims to inform strategies to enhance public procurement opportunities for women-owned small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). To do so, the study examines two research questions: To what extent are women-owned enterprises under-represented among SME suppliers to government; and Do barriers to public procurement – as perceived by SME owners – differ across gender?

The study draws on the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm and on theories of role congruity and social feminism to develop the study’s hypotheses. Empirical analyses rely on comparisons of a sample of 1,021 SMEs that had been suppliers to government and 9,376 employer firms that had not been suppliers to government. Data were collected by Statistics Canada and are nationally representative. Logistic regression analysis was used to control for systemic firm and owner differences.

Controlling firm and owner attributes, majority women-owned businesses were underrepresented as SME suppliers to government in some, but not all sectors. Women-owned SMEs in Wholesale and Retail and in Other Services were, ceteris paribus, half as likely as to be government suppliers as counterpart SMEs owned by men. Among Goods Producers and for Professional, Scientific and Technical Services SMEs, there were no significant gender differences in the propensity to supply the federal government. “Complexity of the contracting process” and “difficulty finding contract opportunities” were the obstacles to contracting cited most frequently.

The limitations of using secondary analyses of data are well documented and apply here. The findings reflect only the perspectives of “successful bidders” and do not capture SMEs that submitted bids but were not successful. Furthermore, the survey did not include questions about sub-contractor enterprises, data that would likely provide even more insights about SMEs in government supply chains. Accordingly, the study could not address sub-contracting strategies to increase the number of women-owned businesses on government contracts. Statistics Canada’s privacy protocols also limited the extent to which the research team could examine sub-groups of small business owners, such as visible minorities and Indigenous/Aboriginal persons. It is also notable that much of the SME literature, as well as this study, define gender as a dichotomous (women/female, men/male) attribute. Comparing women/female and men/males implicitly assumes within group homogeneity. Future research should use a more inclusive definition of gender. Research is also required to inform about the obstacles to government procurement among the population of SMEs that were unsuccessful in their bids.

The study provides benchmarks on, and directions to, enhance the participation of women-owned SMEs or enterprises in public procurement. Strategies to support women-owned small businesses that comply with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are advanced.

The study offers insights to reconcile economic efficiency and social (gender equity) policy goals in the context of public procurement. The “policy-practice divides” in public procurement and women’s enterprise policies are discussed.

The study is among the first to use a feminist lens to examine the associations between gender of SME ownership and public procurement, while controlling for other salient owner and firm attributes.

Examines food distribution in Hungary as a case study for changes occurring in Eastern European food markets. The analysis is based on models of evolution of food distribution structures. Data for the study was assembled from a wide range of Western and Eastern publications. This information is supplemented by means of extensive interviews with both state and private experts in Hungary. The outcome is a comprehensive statement of the structure of food distribution at retail, wholesale, processing, and farm levels. The estimates presented here are believed to be considerably more accurate than in earlier reports. This is employed to locate both food manufacturing and food distribution within the evolutionary model; and to forecast its likely evolution. Concludes that Hungary will develop in the direction of Western food distribution patterns, and that while it is estimated to be currently approximately 25 years behind the West, will rapidly catch up. The country still needs to restructure agricultural production but will also have to change its product mix to include foods that appeal to the Western world, increase the quality and range of foods currently offered, and develop high‐value niche markets.

A startegic management approach is used to assess the nature of business environments affecting seafood distribution in Japan. Notions of environment ‘textures’ described in an influential paper by Emery and Trist are used to determine the current degree of environmental turbulence and the implications for export strategies. The environment as a whole is found to exhibit ‘medium turbulence’, and the sectors of importing, wholesaling, and food retailing/service are ‘medium’ to ‘high’ turbulence'. To cope with such environments, firms must undertake extensive real‐time market research (e.g. using POS information accessed via computer); develop flexible structures and operating systems (to become more responsive); and focus on improving communication and meeting the changing customer needs.