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Il Latte è vita - presentazione a Milano, Studio Chiesa (26/2/2013)
No full textPerché il latte è vita
Gli «stati» del latte
Una storia in breve
Il latte
Il formaggio
Tanti nuovi prodotti
L’allevamento del bestiame da latte
Dove, come e quanto latte si produce
I consumi di latte e formaggio
L’importanza economica della filier
Food supply chains, a network analytic approach
Full text linkCurrent models for supply chains of food products are not fully able to describe production and marketing dynamics for they usually do not take into full account the network of relationships existing between production, processing, distribution, and even the disposal of food. This makes these models not very useful as tools for a good governance of the players in the food sector. Besides that, making predictions has become increasingly difficult due to the dynamics of the food market, more and more similar to that of a complex financial market. Even agro-food production processes have become very complex systems, involving many actors performing activities of different types and linked by relationships of different nature. Moreover, these relationships are no longer limited to those between the elements most closely linked along the chain but can include stakeholders anywhere in the chain (Yu & Nagurney 2013).
This leads to the need to develop new models for evaluating the network of relationships between the actors of the food supply chain, both to assess the robustness of the organizational structure and to have more accurate measures of the role and the importance of each actor in the system. This can also allow to identify which of the actors occupy strategic positions in the network and which of them have only a redundant function.
The objective of this paper is to develop a tool for a detailed analysis of the structure (actors and relationships) as well as of the dynamics existing in the supply chains of products of animal origin by providing a mapping of the productions as complete as possible, and as representative as possible of the relationships among the players. The basic hypothesis is that we face a complex system, mainly characterized by the dynamic nonlinear relationships existing between its elements. In the panorama of the many possible methods to approach the problem, the techniques developed in the framework of network science seem to be the most suitable for the purpose. A supply chain, in fact, can be seen as a network of stakeholders involved in growing, processing, and distributing the products, in which actors or actions are the nodes that are connected to each other by some kind of business relationship. These are directed links that can carry a weight which can be valued in different ways.
The new model proposed is a complex network with topological (structural) characteristics defined by the connections between the vertices, to which we assign a weight that represent the monetary value of the exchange occurring. Such an abstract construct can map well many real networks (social, biological, technological), and the vast existing literature has shown it able to provide insights of great interest both from a theoretical and a practical point of view (da Fontoura Costa et al. 2011, Easley & Kleinberg 2010). Complex networks are suitable to represent supply chains for several reasons: i) they allow a visual (qualitative) and a quantitative analysis both at a global (whole system) and local (individual actors) level; ii) they allow highlighting possible substructures such as hierarchies or communities and measure the effects they have on the overall functioning of the system; iii) they allow comparing different configurations and highlight associated advantages and disadvantages, and; iv) they allow performing simulations thus giving the possibility to examine how global or local modifications can affect the system, and what configurations are the most effective with respect to some dynamic process unfolding on the network (Barrat et al. 2008, Newman 2010).
Such a model can be an interesting and new analytical tool for an observatory on products of animal origin thus becoming a strong support to decisions for policy-makers. Moreover, it can also provide individual actors with useful advice on how to optimize own supply chains and improve efficiency. Finally, through a full and effective enumeration and evaluation of the relationships between all the actors, a network model can be highly helpful in developing policies and systems for tracking and tracing products.
The case study presented here builds on the preliminary qualitative analysis presented at a previous EFITA conference (Nasuelli & Clemente 2013). The model examines the Italian supply chains of milk and dairy products (cow, goat, sheep and buffalo milk), and beef and pork meat along with their derived products. The network consists of the companies involved in the supply chains and their relationships are weighted by taking into account the monetary exchange between the different companies. The model takes into account some business choices such as that of the direct selling of products, as well as some aspects concerning the recovery of waste through rendering activities for the production of energy or by-products that are used in other industries, and aspects currently under the spotlight for their social valence such as the recovery of the unsold for humanitarian purposes.
The resulting network is a directed weighted network exhibiting a skewed (i.e. show long tails) distribution of the links following an exponential shape, that makes it similar to many other complex natural networks. The different individual (nodal) measurements allowed to identify the most central actors as well as those whose position is critical for the connectedness of the whole system, and those whose neighborhood is of particular value. In addition a modularity analysis was performed. It provides a view into the mesoscopic structure of the network by highlighting groups of nodes more densely connected between them than with other parts of the network thus underlining the self-organization characteristics of the supply chain system (Fortunato 2010). Moreover, these clusterings, which can be interpreted as collaborative groupings, can be of great importance for policy actions directed towards an optimization of the whole system and, for individual stakeholders, in order to look for possible new relationships with the aim of improving operational and strategic activities.
Finally, the limitations of the methods as employed here in our case study, the implications of the findings for the purposes stated above are described and discussed. Possible future extensions of this approach are also reviewed, mainly for what concerns the efficiency and effectiveness of such system
Eva.CAN: a network based model for the food supply chains
No full textSummary: supply chains are complex adaptive systems always evolving. They react to internal and external systemic stimuli implementing developments due to relations and socio-economic and technical interactions between the various companies belonging to the system. For each company the benefit to operate in a well-organized and well-managed system exceeds the profit that it would take working alone. To exploit this benefit at best it’s necessary to know the structure of the system and the relationships between the companies. This allows to act on the actors which occupy strategic positions for obtaining the desired outcome. The growing need for continuous innovation makes it absolutely necessary deep knowledge of the system, of its components and of relationships between the actors binding them as in a network. Structure and relations affect the whole system dynamics. A supply chain is well represented by a network where the nodes are the actors and the links represent the relationships between them. For this reason we designed and propose a new concept model, the first model for an agri-food supply chains system designed as a complex network which exploits Network Theory analysis methods. It highlights the characteristics of the system topology and identify the network nodes occupying strategic positions. Measurements on unweighted and weighted network proved that the model works well and makes sense. This allows to perform simulations of various kind in future studies to implement improvements and innovative actions
Modelli di Network per le Filiere dei Prodotti di Origine Animale
No full text“Modelli di Network per le Filiere dei Prodotti di Origine Animale”
Un nuovo approccio all’analisi delle filiere
Questa ricerca affronta con un nuovo approccio l’analisi delle filiere dei prodotti di origine animale portando innovazione a due livelli:
• il modello ideato è di per sé innovativo: rappresenta le filiere di diversi prodotti di origine animale, per di più ottenuti da più specie produttive, rappresentati in un unico modello con tutte le interconnessioni esistenti, poco o per nulla evidenti nei tradizionali modelli rappresentativi.
• il modello è una “rete complessa” cioè una rete con caratteristiche ben definite, studiate e codificate, che si presta ad essere analizzata grazie all’utilizzo di algoritmi ampiamente testati e validati. La letteratura di molti ambiti scientifici è piena di risultati positivi ottenuti con questo approccio di analisi (reti sociali, di studi in medicina, di biologia, di interazioni tre proteine, di farmacologia, di analisi della somiglianza nello stile degli scrittori o musicisti, reti commerciali, reti dei trasporti su strada, aerei, e navali e molte altre ancora). Noi applichiamo questa metodologia di analisi all’insieme delle filiere dei Prodotti di Origine Animale
Formal network analysis of a food supply chain system: a case study for the Italian agro-food chains
No full textThis paperapproachesthe analysis of supply chains of products of animal originfrom various productive species by using network analytic methods.In the studied analysis the supply chains are embedded ina single model which highlights allthe interconnectionsthat have little evidencein traditional models. The complex networkis studied analyzing the matrix that constitutes the network with algorithms and methods extensively tested and validated. This analytical approach has already been applied with positive results in many research areas such as social networks, transport networks, the stylistic of writers and musicians, proteomics, pharmacology, medicine,biology and many others. We apply this methodologyto supply chains of products of animal origin and show a series of preliminary results. This method of study of food supply chains could be useful for an observatory,bringing to light slightly evident relations andbecoming a strong support for policy-makers. It can alsoprovide useful advices to individual actors on how to optimize their own supply chains. Finally, through an effective enumeration and evaluation of the relationships, a network model couldbe helpful in design of tracking and traceabilitysystems
Supply Chains of Products of Animal Origin: a Complex Network Model for the Strategic Management
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Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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