The Supply Chain Management Casebook: Comprehensive Coverage and Best Practices in SCM

Case 20. How to Keep Your Food Supply Chain Fresh

Tom McNamara^† and Erika Marsillac^‡

^† ESC-Rennes, Rennes, France; [e-mail]

^‡ Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, USA; [e-mail]

As consumers demand greater food variety, retailers are under increasing pressure to provide their customers with a greater choice of fresh produce, including fruits, vegetables, fish, and fresh flowers. Whether it’s fair trade coffee from Bali, fresh cut roses from Kenya, or Spanish cherries in winter, people expect to readily find the products they want, when they want them, and at a price they can afford.

This puts extreme pressure on supply chains as they become even more overstretched and far flung in trying to provide exotic goods. ...