Green agri-food supply chains are increasingly attracting research interest, owing to their potential capacity for resilience against recent crises (e.g., financial, COVID-19) as well as end-consumers’ concerns on sustainability issues. In this context, this paper aims to explore the relationship between green supply chain management practices and three different performance aspects, namely, supply chain, green (environmental) and business performance, and controlling for environmental dynamism. Field research was conducted through a structured questionnaire contacted to 134 executives of firms in the agri-food sector in Greece. The results reveal that information sharing, logistics networking and transportation are the most powerful factors that impact sustainable, business and supply chain performance. In addition, green packaging is related to financial and social performance aspects. Interestingly, green warehousing and logistics emissions failed to establish any relationship with performance outcomes. The conclusions and recommendations drawn in the present study are expected to provide meaningful guidance for the supply chain decision-making process, as logistics managers are becoming increasingly aware of exploiting all available resources, knowhow and competitive advantages for attaining sustainable performance.

The term “Resilient Supply Chain 4.0” incorporates two research areas: Industry 4.0 and Supply Chain Resilience (SCRes). Industry 4.0 technologies include innovations such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), Augmented Reality (AR), Cloud Computing (CC), the Internet of Services (IoS), Big Data Analytics (BDA), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Digital Twins (DT), Blockchain (BC), Industrial Robotics (IR), and Additive Manufacturing (AM). Industry 4.0 technologies do not have a direct impact on SCRes, but on resilience elements such as flexibility, redundancy, visibility, agility, collaboration, robustness, and information sharing. This paper aims to investigate which of the Industry 4.0 technologies can help improve the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that are used for creating a Resilient Supply Chain 4.0. A non-systematic literature review has been conducted for the identification of (a) the most important constituent elements of SCRes, (b) the Industry 4.0 technologies that improve the SCRes elements, and (c) the KPIs that enhance SCRes. A systematic literature review has been conducted to identify which of the Industry 4.0 technologies have an impact on the KPIs that enhance SCRes. The findings of this work demonstrate that Industry 4.0 technologies can help improve the KPIs for a Resilient Supply Chain 4.0.

During this pandemic crisis, supply chain management (SCM) has emerged as a critical source of competitive advantage driving organizational performance, especially in the agri-food sector, since public health and consumers’ confidence as well as firms’ survival depend on the effectiveness of supply chain networks. This study adopts two central SCM practices, namely strategic suppliers’ partnerships and partners’ information quality & sharing and tests their relationships with competitive advantage (quality, process flexibility, and time to market) and business performance (profitability and market share), based on an empirical study of 300 enterprises in the agri-food sector in Greece. After data collection, we deploy a diagnostic-exploratory model, utilizing fuzzy cognitive mapping, with agent-based modeling following up for development for data prediction and simulation. Consequently, we found that supply chain firms’ compelling and robust relationships with supply chain partners and suppliers can promote their profitability and market share. Relationships of this kind focus on quality information sharing and are strongly connected with businesses’ quality, process flexibility, and time to market competitive capabilities. Hence, our study provides salutary info to supply chain firms regarding potential implementation to existing and new collaborators.

Short supply chains have recently gained increased attention because of the turbulence in the global environment caused by exogenous influences that create unstable and uncertain conditions. The emergence of short supply chains is of particular importance for sustainable development at large, but also for the viability of vulnerable communities and areas (e.g., remote and isolated, and islands). This paper aims to explore the area of short supply chains focusing on the agri-food sector from a bibliometric standpoint. Towards this end, journal articles listed in the Scopus database were analyzed using the software VOSviewer. We present a broad overview, recent developments, and fundamental ideas in the realm of short food supply chains, which may aid in our comprehension and future research on this topic.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has proven to be a real challenge for courier companies on a global scale and has affected customer behavior worldwide. This paper attempts to propound a new methodology in order to predict the effect of courier companies’ e-commerce on customers’ risk perception regarding their online behavior after the outbreak, and the final effect of their behavior on the global ranking of the company’s website, utilizing passive crowdsourcing data from five world-leading courier companies as representative examples of their respective business sectors. The results will allow supply chain risk management (SCRM) managers to make effective strategic decisions regarding the efficient allocation of resources to mitigate the corporate risk to their organization during a novel crisis. In our paper, we monitored five key performance indicators (KPIs) over a 24-month period (March 2019–February 2021) as the first of a suggested three-level analysis process using statistical analysis and fuzzy cognitive mapping techniques. We propose that courier service companies should manage the risk of a potential novel crisis by improving the reputation and brand name of the company, since customers tend to trust an established brand.

In this survey, the issues of urban routing are analyzed, and critical considerations for smart and cost-effective delivery services are highlighted. Smart cities require intelligent services and solutions to address their routing issues. This article gives a brief description of current services that either apply classical methods or services that employ machine learning approaches. Furthermore, a comparison of the most promising research options in regard to VRP is provided. Finally, an initial design of a holistic scheme that would optimally combine several tools and approaches to serve the needs of different users with regard to the VRP is presented.