Title: Reducing postharvest losses of fruits and vegetables through supply chain performance evaluation: an illustration of the application of SCOR model

Authors: Philip Kofi Alimo

Addresses: School of Traffic and Transportation, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, #501, 88 West Anning Road, Lanzhou, Gansu 730070, China

Abstract: Previous research revealed many causes of postharvest losses of food along the value chain. This study illustrates the application of the SCOR model's performance metrics in evaluating the performance of the supply chain of fruits and vegetables towards reducing losses. The results of the experiment shows that the reliability, responsiveness and agility performance of the supply chain is a reflection of the rate of quantitative and qualitative losses as well as the ability to deliver orders within the customer-commit dates. These ultimately determine the value of returns on capital and supply chain fixed assets. The performance scores have also been attributed to the management processes and practices. The implication is that, the economic value of losses along the value chain is a reflection of decision making and had a direct link with the profitability of the company. SCOR is therefore recommended to all fruit and vegetable supply chain managers.

Keywords: postharvest losses; fruits and vegetables; supply chain; SCOR model; performance metrics; benchmarking; performance evaluation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLSM.2021.113438

International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 2021 Vol.38 No.3, pp.384 - 407

Received: 22 Apr 2019
Accepted: 10 Jun 2019
Published online: 05 Mar 2021 *

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