Journal
JOURNAL OF BUSINESS & INDUSTRIAL MARKETING
Volume 25, Issue 8, Pages 596-606Publisher
EMERALD GROUP PUBLISHING LTD
DOI: 10.1108/08858621011088338
Keywords
Distribution; Information strategy; Quality; Food safety; Identification
Categories
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Purpose - Delivery of safe products while meeting customer demand is a critical marketing requirement for logistics. To meet this requirement, this paper aims to develop a decision-making model for distribution strategies in cold chain network with the real-time flow and quality information of perishable foods. Design/methodology/approach - This paper first presents a real-time monitoring solution for cold chain distribution by integrating radio frequency identification (RFiD), sensor, and wireless communication technologies. With the enhanced visibility of product flow and quality information, a multi-stage planning model is developed to determine optimal distribution plans so that the overall cost of the entire cold chain network is minimized. Findings - The proposed distribution-planning model can capture the dynamics of logistics due to frequent update of product quality information during distribution. Therefore, the distribution decision will be adjusted at sequential stages to optimally preserve the product value and meet demand. The proposed solution and model can ensure an effective cold chain logistics and thus meet the marketing requirement. Research limitations/implications - The current planning model cannot quantitatively capture all benefits, such as the social impact, due to the implementation of RFiD and other technologies. Originality/value - The proposed solution to achieve complete visibility of the cold chain is innovative and addresses the urgent requirements for cold chain logistics from marketing perspective. For the first time, the economic benefits of real-time information on product quality can be quantitatively evaluated by the multi-stage planning model and this has been verified by a numerical case study.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available