This research volume aims at outlining the substantial role of information asymmetry in agri-food chains and how building trust and mitigating this problem could enhance the performance of these chains. The supply chain covers a systemic sequence of linked companies with material and information exchange. Sharing information about capabilities, inventories, and needs is vital to streamline channels, reduce uncertainty, and enhance performance, but economic agents may be reluctant due to opportunism. Information asymmetry can cause problems in quality assurance and distort the supply chain's functioning. Building trust is crucial, and solutions include guarantees, standards, licensing, and hybrid governance. Trust and Supply Chains: Information Asymmetry in the Agri-Food Sector is based on real-world examples and case studies from the agri-food industry (cheese, apples, pasta and bakery, beef, organic products, and more), providing practical solutions to building trust and sharing information. It offers academics, practitioners, and advanced students a comprehensive overview of the various aspects of information asymmetry and trust in agri-food supply chains.

To survive and thrive in the competition, firms have strived to achieve greater supply chain collaboration to leverage the resources and knowledge of suppliers and customers. Internet based technologies, particularly interorganizational systems, further extend the firms’ opportunities to strengthen their supply chain partnerships and share real-time information to optimize their operations. Supply Chain Collaboration: Roles of Interorganizational Systems, Trust, and Collaborative Culture explores the nature and characteristics, antecedents, and consequences of supply chain collaboration from multiple theoretical perspectives. Supply Chain Collaboration: Roles of Interorganizational Systems, Trust, and Collaborative Culture conceptualizes supply chain collaboration as seven interconnecting elements including information sharing, incentive alignment, goal congruence, decision synchronization, resource sharing, as well as communication and joint knowledge creation. These seven components define the occurrence of collaborative efforts and allow us to explain supply chain collaboration more precisely. Collaborative advantages are also divided into five components to capture the joint competitive advantages and benefits among supply chain partners. The definitions and measures developed here examine some central issue surrounding supply chain development but this is also followed up with real-life managerial practicalities. This balance of theory and practical application makes Supply Chain Collaboration: Roles of Interorganizational Systems, Trust, and Collaborative Culture a strong resource for industry practitioners and researchers alike.

The application of sustainability practices at the system level begins with the supply chain. In the business realm, incorporating such practices allows organizations to redesign their operations more effectively. Emerging Applications in Supply Chains for Sustainable Business Development is a pivotal reference source that provides vital research on the models, strategies, and analyses that are essential for developing and managing a sustainable supply chain. While highlighting topics such as agile manufacturing and the world food crisis, this publication is ideally designed for business managers, academicians, business practitioners, researchers, academicians, and students seeking current research on sustainable supply chain management.

Collaboration in supply chains means managing the chain beyond traditional or transactional methods. It involves rethinking the way your business is managed, both internally and externally, and the ways in which employees and partners relate to each other. Stuart Emmett and Barry Crocker's book explains how a relationship-based approach to supply chain management can transform business; how to organise your business internally for effective supply chain relationships and how to transform your external supply chain using relationship marketing, customer relationship management and supply chain partnerships. One of the key distinguishing characteristics of a high performing supply chain is the presence of strategic trust. With strategic trust, the parties have access to each other's strategic plans; relevant cost information and forecasts are shared; risks and rewards are addressed openly. This book explains how to embed a culture of inter-company trust and to realise the benefits of improved supply chain relationships.

The managed flow of goods and information from raw material to final sale also known as a "supply chain" affects everythingâ€"from the U.S. gross domestic product to where you can buy your jeans. The nature of a company's supply chain has a significant effect on its success or failureâ€"as in the success of Dell Computer's make-to-order system and the failure of General Motor's vertical integration during the 1998 United Auto Workers strike. Supply Chain Integration looks at this crucial component of business at a time when product design, manufacture, and delivery are changing radically and globally. This book explores the benefits of continuously improving the relationship between the firm, its suppliers, and its customers to ensure the highest added value. This book identifies the state-of-the-art developments that contribute to the success of vertical tiers of suppliers and relates these developments to the capabilities that small and medium-sized manufacturers must have to be viable participants in this system. Strategies for attaining these capabilities through manufacturing extension centers and other technical assistance providers at the national, state, and local level are suggested. This book identifies action steps for small and medium-sized manufacturersâ€"the "seed corn" of business start-up and developmentâ€"to improve supply chain management. The book examines supply chain models from consultant firms, universities, manufacturers, and associations. Topics include the roles of suppliers and other supply chain participants, the rise of outsourcing, the importance of information management, the natural tension between buyer and seller, sources of assistance to small and medium-sized firms, and a host of other issues. Supply Chain Integration will be of interest to industry policymakers, economists, researchers, business leaders, and forward-thinking executives.

The authors identify key emerging trends and drivers in supply chain management, introduce powerful new strategies for redesigning supply chains, and present comprehensive global case studies showing how Nortel and General Motors have transformed their own supply chains to optimize value and drive out costs.

Sharing accurate and timely supply and demand information throughout a supply chain can yield significant performance improvements to all members of the supply chain. Despite the benefits, many firms are reluctant to share information with their supply chain partners due to an unequal distribution of risks, costs, and benefits among the partners. Thus, incentive mechanisms must be in place to induce communication, cooperation, and collaboration among all members of a supply chain. The issue of Information exchange/sharing has been examined by various researchers over the last 15-20 years. However, there is no research book that compiles various approaches, analyses, key implications, as well as future development of this area. This book will serve as a handbook for researchers who are interested in learning the state of the art of the line of research in this area and explore open research topics in this area. Contributors, all leading researchers, have committed to delivering 18 chapters, broken into four distinct sections covering the Value of Information Sharing, Contracting and Information, Information Signaling, and Incentives for Information Sharing.