16,740 research outputs found
TOWARD THE THEORY OF THE SUPPLY CHAIN
No full textAs our discipline has matured, we have begun to develop theories of supply chain management. However, we submit that a major omission of theory development in the supply chain management discipline is that we have failed to develop a theory of what we are managing—a theory of the supply chain. Using a conceptual theory building approach, we introduce foundational premises about the structure and boundary of the supply chain, which can serve as the basis for much needed, additional development of the theory of the supply chain.This is the peer reviewed version of the article, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/jscm.1207
The importance of network goals for strategic chain management
No full textNowadays food products are increasingly produced in supply chain networks that involve numerous firms. Due to their pyramidal-hierarchical structure, such networks possess a focal company that coordinates the network. The managerial task of the focal company is to work out collective strategy that addresses cooperation and coordination problems at the firm, dyadic and network levels. These strategies must take into account that at each level specific goals must be achieved. Though the focal company is a strategy setting unit that sets network goals, other network actors may perceive these goals as firm-level goals of the focal company. Therefore, conflicts may occur in supply chain networks.Supply chain networks, focal company, network goals, Agribusiness,
[Photograph of Benny Barnes]
No full textPhotograph of Benny Barnes, taken portrait style. He poses in dark clothing, his shirt open slightly revealing his chest and a chain necklace. Rings adorn two fingers on his left hand
Dairy supply chain restructuring and its impact on farmers' revenues in Poland
No full textSupply chain restructuring and its impact on farmers’ situation have become the subject of vast interest among agricultural economists. However, there have been relatively few studies trying to quantitatively asses this issue. This paper analyses the impact of supply chain modernisation on dairy farmers in Poland. It is shown that joining the modern marketing channel positively affects farmers’ revenues. The decision to enter the modern channel is crucially dependent on access to funds and facilitated by having larger cow herds.Supply chain, restructuring, dairy sector, Poland, Agribusiness, Livestock Production/Industries,
Regulation of the mouse T cell receptor repertoire
No full textIn both mice and humans, as they age, the thymus involutes and decreases in size
and function, with the majority being replaced by adipose tissue, and the number of
lymphocytes and thymic epithelial cells (TEC) decline. The first aim of this thesis was
to characterise the differences in T cell receptor (TCR) repertoires between foetal,
young adult and ageing mice by next generation sequencing the recombined TCRa
and TCRb gene transcripts expressed in WT thymocytes and peripheral T cells.
Wildtype (WT) E18.5 embryos was dissociated and FACS-sorted for CD69- doublepositive (DP), CD69+DP, SP4 (CD3+CD4+) and SP8 (CD3+CD8+) T cells. In adult
mice (4 weeks and 1 year old WT mice), the thymocytes were FACS-sorted for CD3-
DP, CD3+DP, SP4 and SP8 T cells. Furthermore, the combined lymph nodes and
spleen were FACS-sorted for naive CD4 and CD8, effector memory CD4 and CD8,
and central memory CD4 and CD8.
Analysis of TCR repertoires revealed greater clonality of peripheral effector memory
CD4 and CD8 and central memory CD8 aged repertories compared to young adult.
Using ecological estimators of diversity, TCR diversity was found to modestly
decrease with age, especially in b chain repertoires from CD3+DP and SP8
thymocytes, and in effector memory CD4 and CD8, along with central memory CD8
populations. The diversity of b chain repertoires was more affected than a chain,
suggesting that there are age-dependent changes to the rearrangement process of b
chains. As mice aged, there was a divergence of sharing in complementary
determining region 3 (CDR3) repertoires that could be due to a result of environmental
influences to the repertoire. Taken together, the data in this thesis show that the TCR
remains highly diverse in aged mice in both thymus and periphery, challenging the
idea that thymic rejuvenation is required to produce a good immune response in the
elderly.
When comparing foetal repertoires to adult repertoires, they were found to be less
diverse and contain less information with higher sharing of CDR3 sequences than
young adult and aged repertoires. Foetal repertoires were also observed to display
biases in TRAV, TRAJ and TRBV gene usage depending on the chromosomal location
of the genes. These results point towards the process of rearrangement being more
programmed in foetal repertoires.
The Hedgehog (Hh) signalling pathway regulates T cell development in the thymus by
regulating differentiation, survival and proliferation of the earliest DN thymocytes and
reducing TCR signal strength at later stages of development. The second aim of this
thesis was to investigate the impact of these changes in TCR signal strength induced
by Hh signalling on TCR repertoire selection by next generation sequencing the
repertoires from CD3-DP, CD3+DP, SP4 and SP8 thymocyte populations in lckGli2∆N2-transgenic, lck-Gli2∆C2-transgenic, Shh+/-
, Gli3+/-
, Shhfl/flFoxN1-Cre, and
Gli3fl/flFoxN1-Cre compared to wildtype or control mice.
The inhibition of Shh signalling in the lck-Gli2∆C2-transgenic mouse significantly
reduced the diversity and increased the clonality of the TCR repertoire in the SP4
population and altered the variable joining (VJ) gene usage in comparison to the
wildtype. On the other hand, increasing the Hh signal to above wildtype levels in the
lck-Gli2∆N2-transgenic increased the diversity of the TCR repertoire in both the CD3-
DP population. Heterozygous deletion of Gli3 enriched the TCR diversity and
increased sharing of sequences. Conditional deletion of Shh from TEC cells affected
the clonality of SP4 cells and VJ gene usage. Taken together, the work in this thesis
shows how the TCR repertoire can be altered through changes in TCR signal by
modulating Hh signalling
Distributed supply chain simulation in GRIDS
No full textAmongst the majority of work done in supply chain simulation, papers have emerged that examine the area of model distribution. The executions of simulations on distributed hosts as a coupled model require both coordination and facilitating infrastructure. A distributed environment, the Generic Runtime Infrastructure for Distributed Simulation (GRIDS) is suggested to provide the bonding requirements for such a model. The advantages of transparently connecting the distributed components of a supply chain simulation allow the construction of a conceptual simulation while releasing the modeler from the complexities of the underlying network. The infrastructure presented demonstrates scalability without losing flexibility for future extensions based on open industry standard
Optimization of Strawberry Supply Chain from the Perspective of Producers
No full textThis thesis aims at maximizing the profit of a strawberry producer while satisfying the retailer's demand and meeting other constraints. The amount of strawberries to be delivered to the retailer signed in the contract is the main decision variable to be optimized in the problem. Furthermore, the transportation scheduling is also optimized to help the producer reduce cost.https://github.com/ZhongboYao/Optimisation-of-Strawberry-Supply-Chain/tree/main Codes are uploaded to GithubComputer Engineerin
Co-operation and economic relationship as determinants for competitiveness in the food sector: the Spanish wheat to bread chain
No full textThe objective of the paper is to investigate the impact of co-operation amongst stakeholders of the food chain on enterprise competitiveness. The analysis focuses on the Spanish wheat to bread chain. A theoretical model is developed which covers the main components that define competitiveness (profitability, turnover, market share, customer loyalty and product quality), quality supply chain relationship (trust, commitment and satisfaction) and the main factors explaining supply chain relationship (i.e. quality and frequency of the communication, personal bounds, etc.). The Spanish wheat to bread supply chain has been chosen to empirically test the model. This sector is very fragmented all along the chain, with a high number of wheat farmers, millers and bakers. Exchanges in the sector are mainly done in the open market but there is an increasing tendency to maintain stable relationships with suppliers to assure quality. Therefore, stakeholders in the wheat to bread chain are mainly using two types of economic relationships: “repeated market transactions” and “spot market” but the former is by far the most used. Based on data from a standardised survey with farmers, processors and retailers a structural equation modelling approach has been applied to empirically test the influence of relationship quality on stakeholders’ competitiveness in the Spanish wheat to bread chain. The main conclusion of the study is that, as the quality of the relationship in the Spanish wheat to bread chain improves the stakeholder’ competitiveness increases. The results also reveal that quality of the relationship in the Spanish wheat to bread chain is based on trust, satisfaction and commitment with buyers/sellers and strongly influenced by communication quality and quantity. In addition, the outcome shows that the quality of communication has an indirect positive effect on stakeholders’ competitiveness through the relationship quality. Finally, the only factor that will influence the quality of the relationship is the equal power distribution along the chain. Moreover, personal bounds positively influence the quality of communication in the bread Spanish supply chain.competitiveness, food, Spain, Agribusiness,
Enhancing the integration of agri-food supply chains: theoretical issues and practical challenges in the UK malting barley supply chain
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to explore the issues that may affect the integration (i.e., the relationships) between the different actors that comprise a supply chain. Whist the theoretical part of the paper can be referred to any supply chain, the empirical part is focused on the UK barley to beer supply chain. The main motivation behind the topic is that improvements in the relationships amongst the different segments of a chain can enhance its efficiency and effectiveness, (e.g., through improvements in coordination and cooperation), and therefore, its competitiveness and long term sustainability. The paper is based on two complementary analyses: the first one consisted of a structural equation model (SEM) to determine those factors that affect the sustainability of relationships in the chain. The model is estimated based on a survey of 69 chain stakeholders. The second analysis comprised an in-depth case study based on an important malting-barley- to-beer supply chain in Eastern England, and had the purpose of providing further understanding of those aspects that were highlighted by the SEM. The overall results pointed out to five factors affecting the relationships in the malting barley to beer agri-food supply chain: communication, compatibility of aims in the supply chain, contractual relationships backed by professional regard and personal bonds; high levels of trust exist between the chain participants and a willingness to resolve any problems; and commercial benefit.supply chain management, malting barley supply chain, supply chain coordination, competitiveness, Agribusiness,
Measurement of Sugar Cane Chain in Brazil
No full textDespite the historical importance of the sugarcane business in Brazil, which is as old in the country as its colonization, it has never been "photographed in widescreen". This research on the mapping and quantification of business generated in the sugarcane chain in 2008 for the first time gives the scale of the entire sugarcane productive chain in Brazil. The sector now shows the numbers that indicate the industry's role in building the country's GDP, as well as in job creation, tax generation, and the distribution (capillary) of economic activities. By applying the method Strategic Management of Agro-Systems (GESIS), developed by the first author, Professor Marcos Fava Neves, coordinator of the Marketing & Strategic Projects and Research Center, USP (MARKESTRAT), it was found that the sugarcane sector GDP is around $28.1 billion USD, equivalent to almost 2% of the Brazilian GDP or almost all of the income generated in a year in a country like Uruguay. The majority of the industry's inputs are local, explaining its favorable trade balance situation. A series of new products has become increasingly more important and a major transformation is going on in this sector that has one of the oldest and, at the same time, most modern plants with regard to clean energy on the planet.chain mapping, chain quantification, agro-industry system, sugar cane sector, ethanol, sugar, Crop Production/Industries, Industrial Organization,
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