AbstractHistorically, epidemics and plagues are repeatedly reported to have happened since the ancient civilizations (Egypt, Greece, Rome and imperial China). Most known examples of a devastating global pandemics in recent history are the ‘Black Death’ (14th century) and the global influenza (1918-1919), also known as ‘Spanish Flu’, that has killed nearly 50 million people in the world. Even thoughpandemics may vary in their dimensions, length (short vs. long), scope (local/regional, national, global) and severity of effects (minimal effects or maximal effects), they all represent distinct exogenous and endogenous shocks that have far reaching effects on population, health, economy and other societal domains.Currently, the Covid-19 pandemic has relentlessly spreaded around the world, leaving behind destructive marks on health, populations, economies and societies. The Covid-19 could spread quickly around the globe because of the current structure of the global economy, which is highly interconnected through sophisticated global transport networks. An important characteristic of a suchnetworked complex system is it vulnerability to unattended events of systemic risk such as the Covid-19 pandemic for example. These systemic risks cause substantial cascading effects, which lead to extreme outcomes that could permanently alter economic, environmental, and social systems.In this article, we first, present, discuss and analyze the potential impacts of the Covid-19 on global economy, trade and supply chains, by focusing on Europe and/or the Netherlands. Second, we examine the effects of the Covid-19 crisis on the shipping industry and on the hub ports and the policy measures that have been applied by different countries around the world.
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Analyse the results from a representative selection of the supply chain studies for school feeding programmes in Kenya, Ghana and Mali, and make specific suggestions for interventions that can efficiently include SHF in the supply chains.
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Multinational enterprises (MNEs) have become global players in the current globalized labour market and their economic activities are no longer territorially limited, but they extend in different countries, thereby leading to the development of global supply chains. Against this background, companies’ operations are increasingly conducted by foreign subsidiaries and they are being outsourced to business partners worldwide. In both cases, lower working conditions and production costs in foreign countries are one of the driving factors leading to this business choice.
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from the article: Web-shop entrepreneurs generally overlook success factors during the expansion process of applying cross-border trade, resulting in failure or even high financial losses. The solution to this issue may be a decision supporting model, that supports SME web-shop entrepreneurs in their cross border decision-making. Thuiswinkel.org, the industry organisation for web-shops in The Netherlands, actively supports the cross-border information requirements of these entrepreneurs by supporting knowledge on the marketing factors that influence the cross-border decision. This research focusses on identifying a decision supporting model answering the question: How does the supply chain as factor relate to other decisive factors used by web-shop entrepreneurs in their cross-border trade-expansion decision? The model has been developed through three research steps: semi-unstructured interviews to find the first indication for decision factors, literature research to develop contours of a decision supporting model, and an online survey to test the initial model found. To determine a weight to the factors, the KANO-model is used from a customer satisfaction viewpoint. The conceptual model shows that ‘supply chain partner(s)’, is a necessary basic factor to consider during the cross-border trade-expansion decision. However, customer satisfaction as operational logistics service determines the success of the cross-border trade-expansion.
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The Dutch food and agricultural market has been focusing on producing efficiently and effectively with the aim of cost minimization and profit maximizing. In addition to positive developments (higher efficiency and more effective production), this market system has created negative impact for nature, the environment and local economies. Collaboration is therefore necessary to set up local food supply chains that are sustainable economically, socially and environmentally.This research seeks optimization of business models in which trade and cooperation between food hubs and health care institutions, such as hospitals and residential care homes, thrive. This optimized business model can serve as a business model template and can contribute to strengthening the market position of local food hubs and affiliated farmers. Furthermore, hospitals can provide patients healthier, more regional and attractive diets. In order to develop and optimize the current business practices of food hubs the research aims to investigate business models and see if modifications of these business models would benefit current practices.
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This quick guide is written to inspire designers, policy makers, company owners, employees, educators and students to change the linear economy into a circular economy by collaborating in local value chains. This guide explains the basics of circular economy, value chains and it gives practical tips for you to work with and practical examples to learn from. It is developed within the context of the Biocup project, part of the BIOCAS Interreg project supported by the North Sea Programme of the European Regional Development Fund of the European Union.
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The Netherlands is the largest export country of cutflowers in the world. Air cargo transport of flowersamounts to 25 percent of the total annual tonnage ofgoods that go through Schiphol Airport. However, due touncertainty of the future development in internationaltrade, as well as the increasing competition from otherhub airports in Europe and new developments in themaritime transport sector, forecasts point to a less rosypicture for the Schiphol airport and Netherlands.To maintain and improve the international competitiveposition of Schiphol airport as a 'preferred hub' forflowers, it is important to keep up with developments inthe international markets, changes in the internationalvalue chain of flowers and to strengthen the competitiveposition of Schiphol in relation to competing airports(Brussels, Liège, Frankfurt and Paris).In this paper, we develop a conceptual framework thatassesses the competitiveness of Schiphol airportcompared to its European competitors, based on a model that takes into consideration transport and logistics costs, as well as other variables like quality of services and local and business environment. The results show that Schiphol can maintain it competitive advantage due to competitive indicators as trade costs, hub position in international air-networks, quality of handling goods, and the existence of high-quality airport infrastructure and a unique business environment, which attract international business.However, the results of the flower trade analysis showthat Liège airport has become a direct competitor ofSchiphol, as this airport scores better than Schiphol fortrade in flowers above 1,000 kg. Liège airport scoresequally to Schiphol in terms of monetary, transport costsand quality of services.
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With this project we strived to contribute to structural reduction of post-harvest food losses and food quality improvement in the Kenyan avocado and dairy value chains through the application of technical solutions and tools as well as improved coordination in those food chains. The consortium had four types of partners: 1. Universities (2 Kenyan, 4 Dutch), 2. Private sector actorsin those chains, 3. Organisations supporting those chains, and 4. Network partners. The applied research has been implemented in cooperation with all partners, whereby students at involved universities conducted most of the field studies and all other consortium partners support and interact depending on the phases.The FORQLAB project targeted two areas in Kenya for both commodities, a relatively well-developed chain in the central highlands and a less-develop chain in Western-Kenya. The research methods were the business to business and multi-stakeholder (living lab) approaches to increase the potential for uptake of successful interventions in the chain. The project consisted of four phases: 1. Inventory and inception, 2. Applied research, 3. Spreading research outputs through living lab networks, 4. Translation of project output in curricula and trainings. The outcomes were: two knowledge exchange platforms (Living Labs) supported with some advice for sustainable food loss reduction, a research agenda, proposals for ICT and other tech solutions and an implementation strategy; communication and teaching materials for universities and TVETs; and knowledge transfer and uptake.
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From the article: "This article evaluates the application of blockchain technology to improve organic or fair-trade food traceability from “Farm to Fork” in light of European regulations. This study aims to shed light on the challenges in the organic food chain to overcome, the drivers for blockchain technology, and the challenges in current projects."
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The urgency for developing a circular economy is growing, and more and more companies and organisations are concerned with the importance of adapting their business to fit a changing economy. However, many analyses on the circular economy are still rather abstract and there is a lack of understanding about what circularity would mean for specific industries. This insufficient insight especially seems to be apparent in the building and construction sector. Besides, the building and construction sector is responsible for a major part of energy use and emissions. To tackle the issue of insufficient insight into the business consequences of circular developments, further research is necessary. Therefore, we propose to collaborate on a research project that aims to provide a more detailed level of analysis. The goal is to identify drivers and barriers to make better use of materials in the building and construction sector. This further research would benefit from an international collaboration between universities of applied sciences and industry from different European countries. An additional benefit of the applied orientation would be the relevance for professional education programmes. The article is published in the proceedings of the conference : http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/CARPE2019.2019.10582 Publisher Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València, 2019 www.lalibreria.upv.es / Ref.: 6523_01_01_01 Creative Commons Atribution-NonCommercial-NonDetivates-4.0 Int.
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