Wetlands are an environmental feature which deliver a variety of market and non-market goods and services. Established environmental economic theory separates the value of these goods and services into direct-use values, indirect-use values and non-use values. Given appreciation of all three, measurements can be derived to demonstrate the amount of public money that it may be feasible to allocate to the sustainable management of wetlands. However, in many cases, non-use values are ignored and the total economic value of wetlands can be severely undervalued. As a result, inadequate resources are fed into their management and environmental degradation occurs due to inappropriate commercial exploitation of the natural resource. Lake Kerkini, in northern Greece, is one such wetland area threatened by undervaluation and overexploitation for commercial purposes, and a resource whose management would benefit from the realization of non-use values. This study therefore uses the contingent valuation method to place a value on the non-use attributes of Lake Kerkini. It also examines the relationship between the revealed non-use values and the distance people live from the lake, highlights the personal characteristics which appear important in determining total willingness to pay and breaks total non-use value down into its component parts to suggest the most important non-use elements. The paper concludes that sustainable management of the lake is justified and provides evidence that substantial public monies are potentially available to protect and enhance the environmental value of the resource.

Purpose: – The purpose of the research is to identify the observable operational and supply chain barriers and constraints that occur in local food supply chains, especially with smaller producers, as they seek to increase market penetration across a wider geographic area.Design/methodology/approach: – The research adopts a multiple case study approach using mixed methods of data collection where case study companies are interviewed and complete a questionnaire. This process allows us to create a supply chain map and create a narrative which records the burdens and impacts occurring in local food supply chains and smaller producers looking beyond local markets. This evidence is then set against the theory of constraints (TOC) to provide a theoretical underpinning and to examine consistency of the findings.Findings: – Seven broad categories of constraint type are observed: constraints due to the nature of the market; due to scale and the nature of products; constraints related to employment and skills; institutional constraints; constraints in supply chain relationships; certification, policy and regulatory constraints; and constraints around personal beliefs and anthropomorphism. Each is described as to its origin, its limitation to business and where possible, how it might be remedied. The constraints point to some counter-intuitive results as far as common perceptions of local food are concerned but suggestions for improvement are made through collaborative producer efforts, alternative institutional intervention, supply chain re-engineering and logistics innovation.Practical implications: – Practical suggestions are made to improve the inclusiveness of distribution networks, to better utilise regional food groups (RFGs), to develop opportunities to set up autonomous supply chain centres, or to broaden the function of farmer co-operatives. The paper also provides an alternative model of the TOC specifically adapted for local food producers, the focus of which plays to their strengths and focuses on building competencies across, up and down the supply chain.Originality/value: – The adaptation of the TOC provides an advancement of knowledge in the area of food supply chain analysis and is done in a way that is more practical in use. The paper also provides the opportunity to take a similar approach to examining other niche supply opportunities in the sector, which may be dependent on other geographically defined barriers, such as seasonal or ethnic products.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating role of three important relational capabilities – absorptive capacity (AC), transactive memory systems (TMS), and organisational interoperability (OI); on the flexibility of buyer-supplier relationships and performance in retail supply chains. Drawing on the relational view of strategic management, the impact of relational capabilities on two forms of supply chain flexibility is examined – configuration flexibility (CF) for switching suppliers with minimal penalties, and planning and control flexibility (PCF) for altering supply schedules, quality, and delivery lead-time. Design/methodology/approach: Strategic- and tactical-level managers from 211 retail stores in the UK were surveyed. The authors validated a measurement model with structural equation modelling and tested four hypotheses on the mediating role of relational capabilities on supply chain flexibility and retail performance, controlling for size, duration of relationship, and market segment. Findings: Results showed that the three relational capabilities partially mediated the positive effect of CF and PCF on operational performance in big middle and niche retailers. Examining the interaction effect of the forms of flexibility on the relational capabilities and performance, the authors found positive interaction effects on TMS and OI but a non-significant effect on AC. Practical implications: In addition to providing novel theoretical insights on supply chain flexibility, the findings have practical implications for supplier selection and buyer-supplier relationship management. Originality/value: Overall, the study highlights the impacts of relational capabilities on adopted operational strategies such as flexibility, buyer-supplier relationships, and retail performance.

The business-decision environment is increasingly complicated by the emergence of competing economic, environmental, and social goals, a notion typified by the current pressures of global economic instability and climate-change targets. Trade-offs are often unclear and contributions by different actors and stakeholders in the supply chain may be unequal but, due to the interdependencies between businesses and stakeholders in relation to total environmental or social impact, a whole chain, simultaneous, and strategic approach is required. After a review of relevant literature and the identification of knowledge gaps, the author introduces and illustrates the use of goal programming as a technique that could facilitate this approach and uses real case evidence for alternative food supply chain strategies, at local, regional, and national levels. It is shown that the method can simplify a complex simultaneous decision situation into a useful and constructive decision and planning framework. Results show how a priori beliefs may be challenged and how operational and resource efficiency could be improved through the use of such a model, which enables a broad stakeholder appreciation and the opportunity to explore and test new environmental or social challenges.

Purpose: – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the level of concern and practice of sustainability development and also policy failure in the fast food supply chain. Design/methodology/approach: – A questionnaire using Likert scoring recorded variations in current practice and attitudes toward sustainable business. A two-stage cluster analysis was conducted to analyze the multi-attribute ordinal data obtained from the questionnaire. Findings: – Significant differences were found among clusters of fast food businesses in terms of their sustainability concern and practice, which is of interest to policy makers, consumers and supply chain partners. Medium-sized fast food dealers emerge with high environmental and social concern, but poor practice; larger retailers and fast food chains appear to have both fair social and environmental awareness and practice; and there is a cluster of small takeaway-specific outlets that have particularly low levels of knowledge of sustainability or sustainable practices. Policy failure is prevalent amongst these businesses and without regulation this represents a possible threat to the sector. Research limitations/implications: – Reliance on stated rather than revealed preferences of the study may limit the implications of this analysis but it is a major step forward in understanding what has in the past been a very difficult sector to investigate due to data paucity. Practical implications: – Fast food is a sector with a lack of transparency which has attracted little academic attention to date, due to the difficulties of empirical analysis rather than lack of interest in a key food consumption sector. The message for the sector is to monitor its act, across all business types or face regulatory and policy intervention. Originality/value: – The research conducts a three-dimensional sustainability analysis of fast food supply chains to investigate the differences and trade-offs between different sustainability dimensions.