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The purpose of this paper is to systematically review and critically examine food losses and waste quantification in supply chain, especially in studies that tackle all the supply chain activities in a real context.

This work employed a systematic literature review methodology on the extant literature focusing on peer-reviewed journal articles published from 2000 to 2019.

A systematic analysis of 117 articles reveals that downstream supply chains are studied to a greater extent than upstream supply chains, with an emphasis on consumer waste. The findings also highlight more than half of the articles focus on only one supply chain activity. In terms of the methodologies, surveys and modelling methods are the most used to measure food losses and wastes, adopt monetary, carbon emission and calorific metrics. This study highlights that while food losses and waste research remains a relevant field of study, it has yet to been fully explored.

The main limit is the adoption of a systematic review method for food losses and waste quantification in supply chain.

The results suggest that supply chain managers should invest in acquiring more knowledge about food losses in the global network. Upstream supply chains should be more studied and integrated with the downstream supply chains. Using combined direct and indirect methods has the potential to deal with the contradictions of quantification, the lack of data and reduce losses over time and space.

Based on this review as the first one focusing exclusively on quantification of food losses and waste in supply chain context, the authors develop an aspiring research agenda that proposes opportunities for future research.

Headings

1. We analyse 117 studies addressing food losses and waste quantification.

2. Downstream food supply chains are more studied than upstream food supply chains.

3. Case studies of food supply chains in developed countries are more prolific.

4. The main metric to quantify food losses and waste is weight.

We analyse 117 studies addressing food losses and waste quantification.

Downstream food supply chains are more studied than upstream food supply chains.

Case studies of food supply chains in developed countries are more prolific.

The main metric to quantify food losses and waste is weight.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the social opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men created through Men’s Groups/Sheds across urban, regional and remote areas of Australia. Men’s Sheds are a safe space, resembling a work-shop setting or backyard shed, where men are encouraged to socialise and participate in health promotion, informal learning and engage in meaningful tasks both individually and at the community level.

Explore five case study sites through Wenger’s (1998) active communities of practice (CoP). Qualitative methods are presented and analysed; methods comprise semi-structured interviews and yarning circles (focus groups). Five Indigenous leaders/coordinators participated in semi-structured interviews, as well as five yarning circles with a total of 61 Indigenous men.

In a societal context in which Indigenous men in Australia experience a number of social and health issues, impeding their quality of life and future opportunities, the central finding of the paper is that the effective development of social relations and socially designed programs through Men’s Groups, operating as CoP, may contribute to overcoming many social and health well-being concerns.

Contributions will provide a better understanding of how Indigenous men are engaging with Men’s Sheds, and through those interactions, are learning new skills and contributing to social change.

The purpose of this paper is to offer clarity on a central concept introduced in Porter’s The Competitive Advantage of Nations, i.e. the cluster. The authors situate the concept introduced by Porter (1990) relative to two of its antecedents, the industrial district and industrial complex. Placing the cluster in a historical context permits consideration of the extent to which it, as a concept for analysis, may be differentiated from other geography-based approaches to economic phenomena. In this way, this paper examines the added value of the cluster concept derived from economic factors.

The paper provides a detailed literature review tracing the evolution of theories of location and agglomeration into which Porter’s cluster fits. The evolution of Porter’s own conceptualisation of the cluster and how this relates to theoretical clarity surrounding the concept is explored. Comparative analysis of theories of location, agglomeration and clustering is provided to identify similarities and differences across the approaches and identify the added value of the cluster concept in relation to other approaches.

Clustering represents a process associated with spatial organisational form which may offer advantages in efficiency, effectiveness and flexibility. Cluster benefits can be appreciated through the lens of Young’s (1928) identified sources of increasing returns. A key aspect in clustering is revealed in terms of its role in enabling four sources of increasing returns. The authors outline how these sources of increasing returns are related to “soft” processes of networking, interaction and individual and collective learning. Porter’s Diamond is a self-reinforcing system which can permit increasing returns and reinforce such tendencies of economic activity within agglomerations.

Added value from Porter’s cluster concept is identified in the context of both its locational anchoring and in terms of its potential for understanding the role of exploitation of increasing returns for development. This points to the importance of focusing on clustering as a process rather than on cluster within typologies of organisational form. This implies that the nature of relationships (and how they change) within and across markets, institutions and actors lies at the heart of clustering because of their roles in knowledge-generation, including innovation, knowledge sharing and upgrading.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate older people’s views and experiences of getting help from neighbours in order to consider whether such help is situated within neighbourliness and the implications for social care policy which seeks to harness help from neighbours.

A qualitative study in which 15 older people from the North of England were interviewed to explore relationships with neighbours, managing day to day life and experiences of getting help from neighbours.

Relationships with helper neighbours were reciprocal, dynamic and preceded the start of getting help. The help offered was not negotiated but evolved in response to changes in circumstances and was commensurate with normative views of neighbourliness, i.e. reciprocated sociability and helpfulness but also respect for privacy. Respondents were reluctant to ask for help. Underpinning such reluctance were perceptions of imposing on neighbours, suggestive of anticipated asymmetry in the give-and-take of neighbourliness.

Policy makers who see the help from neighbours as an output of household production and available as a source of informal care for older people must appreciate that whether help is offered or taken up is dependent on the development of a reciprocal relationship which itself depends on observing and respecting normative boundaries, such as in relation to help giving or receiving and due respect for privacy.

There has been little research into older people’s perspectives on getting help from neighbours despite diminishing public services and neighbours viewed as a potential source of care.

Using Porter’s need satisfaction questionnaire, measures and compares the degree of importance that managers and non‐managers from Saudi Arabia and some western countries attach to five categories of need: security, social, self‐esteem, autonomy and self‐actualization. The results indicated that the two groups unanimously attached the highest ranking to self‐actualization. Security needs was ranked second highest. Regarding other needs, Saudis rated social needs as the third most important, followed by self‐esteem, and then by the need for autonomy. Westerners, on the other hand, ranked autonomy as third in importance, followed by social needs and self esteem. Discusses possible explanations for the findings in light of previous research.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on some policy possibilities and outcomes for three countries of interest suggested in Porter’s The Competitive Advantage of Nations.

This research was both exploratory and qualitative in nature and utilized an in-depth case study approach of three major international economies reflecting previous observations in The Competitive Advantage of Nations. Personal contemporaneous observations of individuals in the countries of interest were complemented by current secondary information. The three countries selected for analysis, South Korea, Sweden and the USA, reflected different stages of development at the time The Competitive Advantage of Nations was published and certainly different progress since then.

The Competitive Advantage of Nations advocated new, constructive and actionable roles for government and business. These observations can now be tested after a reasonable time of development. In terms of development, Korea would appear to be the star of the group; Sweden has made strong progress in comparison with other members of the European Union. Although there are areas of strength, the USA recently has lost much of the edge it had at the time of the Advantage’s publication.

Because this research was built on case studies, one has the reservations common with that approach. On the other hand, case studies are acknowledged as useful in the identification of important variables in situations in which there is little control over events in a real-world context.

Countries must go their own way and find their own paths to success. In some ways, directions are suggested by Schumpeter (1942/1975) and in others, by Porter (1990/1996). Chance appears to have played a role in development in each instance, but government, seen as a fifth determinant possibility by Porter, heavily affected outcomes in each instance.

Although relying heavily on Porter, results add insight into the development of economies over time.

It is tempting to begin the process of reorganisation by taking a blank sheet of paper and rearranging squares and lines. That should, however, be the last step of the process. Redesigning an organisation involves not only thinking about the same things in a different way, but also thinking about issues that have never been considered before. Reorganisation should be viewed as a deep operational innovation that results in far more than an incremental performance improvement. Much of conventional organisational thinking in corporate real estate is inwardly focused. This paper, the first of a three‐part series, suggests beginning with a higher, broader and more comprehensive view of the forces of change and a company’s external environment. It concludes with a review of organisational structures and suggestions for ways to approach an organisational redesign of a CRE department.

Purpose – We build a theoretical lens that draws on an emerging theory of positive work relationships to examine whether constructive emotional expressions in work relationships influence changes in individuals' affective commitment to their organization.

Design/methodology/approach – Using longitudinal data collected from full-time employees, we employed a latent-difference-score (LDS) approach to examine whether changes in emotional carrying capacity could account for changes in organizational commitment.

Findings – The findings support this hypothesis and suggest a new perspective on the ways in which a change in relationship capacity may create changes in people's commitment to an organization.

Research limitations – The main limitation concerns the use of self-report, albeit time-lagged, data.

Practical implications – Developing higher levels of employee affective commitment is a key challenge for many organizations. Our study can help managers in recognizing the importance of building a relational space in which employees are able to express emotions frequently and openly, as well as engaging with other employees in listening to their emotional experiences and responding in a constructive manner.

Originality/value – This study contributes to an emergent body of literature that adopts a positive psychology lens to the study of employee experiences at work, by investigating the capacity to express emotions in general and its influence on people's affective commitment to the organization.

Reward systems provide a number of important functions in the organization including motivating active participation of organizational members, meeting role expectations, and motivating innovation and strong commitment to the organization (Steers and Porter, 1991). Organizations worldwide are actively grappling with the translation of Deming's (1986) fourteen principles into their own unique versions of Total Quality Management. As they proceed through the stages of transforming their organizational cultures toward continuous quality improvement, they have evolved a number of reward mechanisms to assimilate workers into the TQM culture and to maintain workers' efforts toward continuous quality improvement goals. The present article examines the reward systems in several organizations in the Pacific Basin, which was chosen because of the increasing emphasis upon quality taken by companies in Australia, Asia, and the western U.S.