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This paper studies the optimal decision-making and coordination problem of a dual-channel fresh agricultural product (FAP) supply chain. The purpose is to analyze the impact of information sharing on optimal decisions and propose a coordination mechanism to encourage supply chain members to share information.

The two-echelon dual-channel FAP supply chain includes a manufacturer and a retailer. By using the Stackelberg game theory and the backward induction method, the optimal decisions are obtained under information symmetry and asymmetry and the coordination contract is designed.

The results show that supply chain members should comprehensively evaluate the specific situation of product attributes, coefficient of freshness-keeping cost and network operating costs to make decisions. Asymmetric information can exacerbate the deviation of optimal decisions among supply chain members and information sharing is always beneficial to manufacturers but not to retailers. The improved revenue-sharing and cost-sharing contract is an effective coordination mechanism.

The conclusions can provide theoretical guidance for supply chain managers to deal with information asymmetry and improve the competitiveness of the supply chain.

This paper combines the three characteristics that are most closely related to the reality of supply chains, including horizontal and vertical competition of different channels, the perishable characteristics of FAPs and the uncertainty generated by asymmetric demand information.

This paper aims to identify and systematically analyze the causal-effect relationships among barriers to circular food supply chains in China.

Grounded in multiple organizational theories, this paper develops a theoretical framework for identifying relevant barriers to integrating circular economy philosophy in food supply chain management. The study uses 105 responses from Chinese food supply chain stakeholders including food processors, sales and distribution channels, consumers and government officials. It applies a fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method to examine the causal-effect relationships among the identified barriers.

Overall, the results suggest two key cause barriers: first, weak environmental regulations and enforcement, and second, lack of market preference/pressure. Meanwhile, lack of collaboration/support from supply chain actors is the most prominent barrier. The key cause and prominent barriers are also identified for each of the supply chain stakeholder involved.

The study offers practical insights for overcoming barriers to integrating circular economy philosophy in the management of supply chains in the Chinese food sector, as well as in other contexts where similar challenges are faced. It also sheds light on which organizational theories are most suitable for guiding similar studies.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first barrier study on circular food supply chains. The use of multiple organizational theories for the development of the theoretical framework is unique in barrier studies. The study offers insights from multiple stakeholders in the Chinese food supply chains.

Food waste (FW) reduction, of which household wastage comprises a large fraction, has an important role in promoting the circular economy (CE). This study investigates how certain consumer traits impact household FW, particularly in the face of external shocks.

The authors conducted a qualitative and longitudinal study, spanning three periods in New Zealand. A preliminary model is constructed from the outcomes of a survey with 178 participants. Then, the authors carried out 29 semi-structured interviews to refine the preliminary model and adapt it to the analysis of household waste behavior.

Different segments of consumers have distinct response patterns in successive lockdowns, and these patterns impact household FW reduction and food supply chain (FSC) management. The key findings include (1) for government, quick responses to quash unhelpful rumors help to reduce public concerns around FSC interruption; (2) for retailers, the pandemic has hastened the growth of online shopping; being able to expand the distribution channel in a short time is a critical issue; and (3) for consumers, the experience of lockdown has different impacts on different groups of consumers. This variation of experience may either enhance or exacerbate FW in households.

This paper complements the existing literature on the FSC and contributes to household FW and CE literature by providing a framework that integrates external impacts, consumer segmentation to reflect on waste management, and the possible applications of the proposed framework.

The cluster supply chain is widely used in the professional towns in China, and improves the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises through integrating the supply chain with the industrial cluster. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

This paper studies a cluster supply chain under vendor managed inventory (VMI) system, which includes vendors, third-party logistics (TPL) enterprises and retail enterprises, and aims to study the replenishment decisions and coordination contracts in the supply chain. The economic order quantity model is applied to analyze the influence of marginal transportation cost factor under two replenishment modes – direct delivery and milk-run delivery, in order to find out the optimal replenishment decisions corresponding to different marginal transportation cost factors. And then, the revenue sharing contract is used to identify the change of profits of enterprises in the supply chain before and after the coordination contract.

It is concluded that the marginal transportation cost factor is an important factor influencing the replenishment decision especially in milk-run delivery, and the introduction of the revenue sharing contract can improve the revenue in the supply chain.

This is the first study that explores the relationship between a single transport cost and a single transport batch of cluster supply chain in centralized VMI & TPL system. The conclusions of the study have certain theoretical significance for the decision making and coordination of cluster supply chain.

Third-party purchase (3PP) is a new value-added service offered by third-party logistics (3PL) providers. The purpose of this paper is to examine the perception of 3PP service from the perspective of 3PL users.

The authors conducted a survey of Chinese 3PL users and received 242 usable responses. The authors then employed structural equation modeling to test the conceptual model.

The authors found that the likelihood of 3PL users using a 3PP service is significantly associated with uncertainty, but not with asset specificity or frequency or transaction size. 3PP usage is significantly associated with value-to-client.

This research is the first survey study of 3PP as a value-added service offered by 3PL providers, from the perspective of 3PL users. The findings suggest that 3PL users are very positive about the value of 3PP service. The 3PP market is still in its infancy but it has great potential, especially for commodity items that have less demand uncertainty.

Lesson study (LS) is generally regarded as a pathway for teachers' professional development and a method for teachers' instructional research. LS has been regarded as having the potential to drive large-scale reform but little is known about how it does so from a district level. Therefore, this paper aims to reveal how lesson study promote district education reform.

This study offers an in-depth case study of how District Y of Shanghai, China, took LS as the primary method in promoting its District Project of Building Curriculum Leadership in Schools. By analyzing the key project documents and achievements in project promotion, and interviews with the major Project leaders at District and school levels, this study explored the practice and impact of LS as a tool to promote district reform.

In the District Project, LS has been a medium to address each individual school's real problems of practice and turn them into reform vision and reform will in alignment with District goals. Five levels of school curriculum texts have been planned, designed, translated, implemented, reflected on, updated and mutually adjusted systematically through LS to ensure consistency in transforming District reform vision into classroom practice. Different models of teaching-research community building were found in sampled project schools and professional expertise was built with district support to promote reform. The curriculum leadership development through LS has shaped reform leader schools and formed a collection of LS exemplars circulated in schools as high-quality curriculum packages, which laid the foundation for district-wide reform.

The innovative practice of LS in China's education reform has expanded its reach from within one classroom to the entire district curriculum system and made it an important tool to drive large-school district-based education reform.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between servant leadership and life satisfaction through the mediating role of workplace positive affect (WPA), and the moderating roles of collectivistic orientation and general self-efficacy.

Using a sample of 304 employees in a two-wave survey, the hypotheses were demonstrated with hierarchical regression analyses.

The results revealed that servant leadership was positively related to employee life satisfaction, and WPA served as a mediator between them. Moreover, collectivistic orientation and general self-efficacy moderated the relationship between servant leadership and WPA, and the indirect effect of servant leadership on life satisfaction via WPA.

The time-lagged research design of this study may limit the ability to draw causal conclusions. Moreover, as this research was conducted in a Chinese context, the question of the generalizability of our findings calls for more attention.

Leaders are encouraged to adopt the servant leadership style to facilitate employee life satisfaction and organizations should select and recruit managers with servant leadership qualities. Furthermore, because employees’ collectivistic orientation and general self-efficacy moderate the effects of servant leadership on followers’ outcomes, managers need to take individual differences into consideration when they implement managerial strategy.

This research contributed to a burgeoning stream of servant leadership literature by investigating the functions of servant leadership in promoting life satisfaction, and exploring the affective mechanism linking servant leadership and life satisfaction as well as the boundary conditions of collectivistic orientation and general self-efficacy.

This paper aims to present a novel particle swarm optimization (PSO) based on a non-homogeneous Markov chain and differential evolution (DE) for path planning of intelligent robot when having obstacles in the environment.

The three-dimensional path surface of the intelligent robot is decomposed into a two-dimensional plane and the height information in z axis. Then, the grid method is exploited for the environment modeling problem. After that, a recently proposed switching local evolutionary PSO (SLEPSO) based on non-homogeneous Markov chain and DE is analyzed for the path planning problem. The velocity updating equation of the presented SLEPSO algorithm jumps from one mode to another based on the non-homogeneous Markov chain, which can overcome the contradiction between local and global search. In addition, DE mutation and crossover operations can enhance the capability of finding a better global best particle in the PSO method.

Finally, the SLEPSO algorithm is successfully applied to the path planning in two different environments. Comparing with some well-known PSO algorithms, the experiment results show the feasibility and effectiveness of the presented method.

Therefore, this can provide a new method for the area of path planning of intelligent robot.

Despite past studies revealed the positive effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on consumer advocacy behavior, little research has paid attention to employee advocacy behavior. This research aims to examine the relationship between CSR and employee advocacy behavior, the mediating role of meaningful work as well as the moderating effect of person–supervisor fit on CSR perception – meaningful work relationship.

This study used 263 employee samples to examine the relationship between CSR and employee advocacy behavior and its influence mechanism. Hierarchical regression analyses and bootstrap approach were applied to analyze the data.

The results show that CSR perception is positively related to employee advocacy behavior, meaningful work mediates the link between CSR perception and employee advocacy behavior, and the strength of the relationship between CSR perception and meaningful work depends on person–supervisor fit.

This study only investigated the effect of perceived CSR on employee advocacy behavior, future studies should explore the alternative mediation mechanism through which external/internal CSR perception or different CSR dimensions influence employee advocacy behavior.

This study has practical implications for organizational managers. First, firms should undertake CSR practices and make employee interpret them in a right way. Second, meaningful work is of significance for employees and training and development, challenging jobs and job rotation are conducive to create a sense of meaning in employees’ work.

This study discussed how and when CSR influences employee advocacy in the Chinese context.