Circular economy is emerging as a regenerative concept that minimizes emissions, relies on renewable energy, and eliminates waste based on the design of closed-loop systems and the reuse of materials and resources. The implementation of circular economy practices in resource-consuming agricultural systems is essential for reducing the environmental ramifications of the currently linear systems. As the renewable segment of circular economy, bioeconomy facilitates the production of renewable biological resources (i.e., biomass) that transform into nutrients, bio-based products, and bioenergy. The use of recycled agro-industrial wastewater in agricultural activities (e.g., irrigation) can further foster the circularity of the bio-based systems. In this context, this paper aims to provide a literature review in the field of circular economy for the agrifood sector to enhance resource efficiency by: (i) minimizing the use of natural resources (e.g., water, energy), (ii) decreasing the use of chemical fertilizers, (iii) utilizing bio-based materials (e.g., agricultural/livestock residues), and (iv) reusing wastewater from agrifood operations. The final objective is to investigate any direct or indirect interactions within the water-energy-nutrients nexus. The derived framework of synergetic circular economy interventions in agriculture can act as a basis for developing circular bio-based business models and creating value-added agrifood products.

Purpose: Despite the increasing consumers’ intent to support short food networks, the expansion of short food supply chains (SFSCs) remains limited. The purpose of this paper is to identify potential antecedents of farmers’ willingness to participate in SFSCs. Design/methodology/approach: Using data from a sample of Greek farmers the authors examined whether farmers’ citizenship behaviour, the levels of their perceived competencies and the degree to which they feel accepted by their communities affect their willingness to engage in SFSCs. Findings: Results indicate that producers’ citizenship behaviour does indeed have a positive impact on willingness to participate in SFSCs, whereas their perceptions of the acceptance they enjoy within their communities also significantly predict this willingness. On the contrary, self-perceived lack of communication and collaboration competencies diminishes this willingness. Originality/value: To the best of our knowledge, this study is one of the first attempts to explore the role of farmers’ competencies in their willingness to participate in SFSCs. In addition, by integrating concepts derived from multiple disciplines, our work adds new factors in the wide spectrum of forces that impel or suppress farmers’ willingness to take part in alternative food distribution networks.

Rising healthcare costs force healthcare organizations worldwide to reconsider their business strategies. Hospital managers are tasked with lowering operating costs while upholding the high quality of care, two goals perceived as contradictory by many healthcare professionals. Attempting to contribute towards reaching these goals, the study explores the digitalization of the healthcare supply chain through the adoption of enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems and its impact on hospital supply chain costs. Established technology adoption theories are synthesized to develop a research model that investigates the adoption of hospital ERP systems and its impact on supply chain cost performance. The framework is validated via structural equation modeling (SEM) with data collected from 107 Greek public hospitals. The results indicate that technological and organizational readiness, hospital size, governmental policies, and perceived benefits have a significant influence on the extent of ERP systems adoption. They also demonstrate a statistically significant association between the use of ERP systems and hospital supply chain costs. The present study highlights the influencing factors of ERP systems adoption in hospitals and provides empirical evidence on the resulting cost benefits., This implies greater urgency for hospitals to digitalize their supply chain by implementing and fully exploiting the ERP systems’ functionality in order to reach their goal of delivering quality care at a lower cost.

This review is motivated by the urgent need to improve soil organic carbon (SOC) assessment methods, which are vital for enhancing soil health, addressing climate change, and promoting carbon farming. By employing a structured approach that involves a systematic literature search, data extraction, and analysis, 86 relevant studies were identified. These studies were evaluated to address the following specific research questions: (a) What are the state-of-the-art approaches in sampling, modeling, and data acquisition? and (b) What are the key challenges, open issues, potential advancements, and future directions needed to enhance the effectiveness of carbon farming practices? The findings indicate that while traditional SOC assessment techniques remain foundational, there is a significant shift towards incorporating model-based methods, machine learning models, proximal spectroscopy, and remote sensing technologies. These emerging approaches primarily serve as complementary to laboratory analyses, enhancing the overall accuracy and reliability of SOC assessments. Despite these advancements, challenges such as soil spatial and temporal variability, high financial costs, and limitations in measurement accuracy continue to hinder progress. This review also highlights the necessity for scalable, cost-effective, and precise SOC measurement tools, alongside supportive policies and incentives that encourage farmer adoption. Finally, the development of a “System-of-Systems” approach that integrates sampling, sensing, and modeling offers a promising pathway to balancing cost and accuracy, ultimately supporting carbon farming practices.

Healthcare supply chains are complex systems facing challenges in delivering high-quality care while maintaining cost-effectiveness. Research on inventory management and control, the heart of the healthcare supply system, has demonstrated that these targets can be reached by managing inventories efficiently while aiming at desired service levels. Although this can be enabled by adopting various supply chain management practices, the healthcare sector appears to lag compared to other industries. Seeking to investigate these aspects, this study draws on operations management literature, identifies and categorizes technology-driven supply chain management practices that are applied in hospital operations, develops a holistic conceptual framework delineating the key factors influencing their adoption in healthcare facilities, and examines their aggregated impact on financial performance. The research model is tested using structural equation modeling with survey data collected from Greek public hospitals. The study results indicate that technological readiness, organizational readiness, perceived benefits, and hospital size significantly influence the adoption of these practices in hospital supply chains. Moreover, they show a statistically significant association between the supply chain management practices applied and improved hospital cost performance, suggesting greater urgency for hospitals to exploit them fully. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

The digitalization of agriculture generates a new environment for the actors involved in agrifood production. In such a context, Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKISs) face the challenge of reconsidering their operational paradigms, redefining priorities, and designing strategies to achieve new aims. To do so, the actors participating in AKISs should develop and exploit a set of competencies known as dynamic capabilities, including the aptitude to sense the change in the external environment, the capacity to seize the opportunities that this change creates, and an ability to transform and adapt themselves to the new conditions that digitalization generates. In this study, using as examples the AKISs operating in Greece and Italy, we aimed to uncover if and how actors participating in these systems attempt and manage to deploy such capabilities. Based on a qualitative approach and drawing on data from two workshops, we discovered that seizing the opportunities sensed is a challenging task for AKIS actors. Our results also indicate that knowledge is a pivotal resource for AKISs, allowing actors to enhance their transformative capacity. However, to create a “collective” knowledge base, AKISs should ensure a functional connection between stakeholders and strengthen the roles of actors not actively engaged with the system, like public advisory organizations, universities, and technology providers.