Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to identify the obstacles that impede cold chain implementation in developing countries.Design/methodology/approach: A grounded theory methodology was employed to execute this research. Eight semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with senior managers in Vietnam. In addition, consistent with grounded theory guidelines, the authors utilized archival data to facilitate theory development.Findings: The results of the analysis revealed a total of ten key obstacles: deficient professional skills, lack of quality and safety-control measures, high concentration of intermediaries, poor infrastructure, lack of information systems, high cost of installation and operation, inadequate education and training at farmer level, deficiency of standardization, lack of government support for local businesses and social norms.Originality/value: Although many authors have recognized the enormity of food wastage and limited employment of cold chain in developing countries compared to developed countries, few efforts have been made to explore the reasons for the limited use of cold chains in developing countries. There are several noteworthy theoretical and managerial contributions that emerged from addressing this gap.

Collaboration in a supply chain continuously proves its role in increasing the performance of supply chains, which attracts the attention of both academia and practitioners, specifically, how to generate higher impacts of collaborative partnership on the performance of supply chains and measure them. In cold supply chains of agriculture and foods, the vital need for collaboration becomes even more significant to improve the performance. Therefore, this paper reviews relevant articles derived from the Web of Science and Scopus databases. Via the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), the research team classifies the types of collaborative partnership in cold agriculture and food supply chains, issues of the literature when analyzing collaboration impacts on the performance of CSCs of agriculture and foods, and finally, the opportunities for the future research to boost the collaboration practices in these cold chains. Following this sequence, 102 articles were eventually extracted for the systematic review to identify themes for not only addressing the review questions but also highlighting future research opportunities for both development of partnership integration and performance of the cold chains of agriculture and foods.

Motorcycles are not only vital to transportation and economies in many Southeast Asia’s countries but also cause substantial air pollution. As alternative electric mobility is increasingly promoted by countries, managing end-of-life (petrol) motorcycles (EoLMs) becomes more urgent. This article addresses the question: How will EoLMs be treated, transformed or disposed of? Vietnam, leading the region in motorcycle ownership, was selected as the case. The authors used a triangulation approach, combining literature review, site observations and semi-structured interviews to examine Vietnam’s EoLM recycling management. Specifically, the article provided motorcycle-related estimations to fill the data gap, based on which numerical warnings on emissions from in-use EoLMs were generated to support the contemporary emission picture. Advantages and limitations of the current legislative framework and recycling system were identified. Finally, a tailored recycling management framework was proposed, incorporating mandatory emission testing, enhanced extended producer responsibility regulations and subsidies for the industry. This study contributes to the limited literature on EoLM management and provides policymakers with an interdisciplinary framework emphasizing stakeholders’ collaboration.