Title: Information communication technology and sustainable food supply chain: a resource-based analysis

Authors: Mengfeng Gong; Kim Hua Tan; Kulwant Pawar; Wai Peng Wong; Ming-Lang Tseng

Addresses: Nottingham University Business School, Jubilee Campus, Nottingham, UK ' Nottingham University Business School, Jubilee Campus, Nottingham, UK ' Nottingham University Business School, Jubilee Campus, Nottingham, UK ' School of Management, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia ' Graduate School of Business and Management, Lung Hwa University of Science and Technology, Taiwan

Abstract: Increasing population leads to growing food demand. However, the competition for land, water, and energy puts pressure on the food supply chain system. Therefore, developing a sustainable food supply chain (SFSC) is emerging as a strategic imperative for the Chinese food industry. There are three aspects of sustainability, which need to be considered: social, environmental, and economic. This research focuses on how information and communication technologies can be used to improve sustainable food supply chains in China. This paper draws on resource-based theories, which describe the kinds of ICT resources and capabilities that are likely to enable one firm to outperform a competing firm in relation to some given process. The empirical research is based on 89 responses from a survey with Chinese food retailers' manager, the regression analysis are used. The findings suggest that ICT resources are moderated by inter-firm coordination to influence the SFSC performance.

Keywords: sustainable food supply chains; SFSC; information and communications technology; ICT; inter-firm coordination; information technology; supply chain management; SCM; China; food retailing; social sustainability; environmental sustainability; economic sustainability.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBPSCM.2015.071611

International Journal of Business Performance and Supply Chain Modelling, 2015 Vol.7 No.3, pp.233 - 255

Received: 09 Dec 2013
Accepted: 23 May 2014
Published online: 04 Sep 2015 *

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