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Many large-scale photovoltaic (PV) energy programs have been launched and developed in the world without a thorough sustainable thinking resulting in an on-going misalignment between the demand and supply of the PV systems. The global PV industry has encountered a serious oversupply problem causing fierce competitions among the PV supply chains and also led to the dumping accusation and anti-dumping trade battles between the PV system importing and exporting countries. It is critical to develop better policy and business insights to redirect the current business exchanges and the industry policies for the PV supply chain development. This paper attempts to examine theoretically and numerically the business dynamics in a multiple PV supply chain system to acquire better insights and propose appropriate industry policy and business strategy directions for both the governments and businesses. This study mimics the contemporary PV supply chains with three supply chain game-theoretical models examining the equilibrium conditions of the multiple PV supply chains under Cournot competition. The numerical and sensitivity analyses of the theoretical supply chain models create several valuable findings on the dynamics regarding the economic decisions of the supply chain members in a pure centralized, a pure decentralized and a hybrid multiple supply chain system. The quantitative analytical results provide a strong support to the contemporary supply chain theory advocating “the world of the business competition has altered to supply chains rather than companies”. Several public and business policy directions are proposed. It is suggested that the PV supply chain members should find effective means to form partnership and build up their supply chains which would most likely strengthen their competitiveness in their current markets. For governments, there are opportunities on both the supply side and the demand side of the PV supply chains to regulate or encourage the PV industry to move toward a healthier industrial structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fostering business activities has been advocated as a more appropriate strategy, replacing aid-based initiatives for achieving sustainable economic development of underprivileged societies. However, the little familiarity with the working of supply chains serving the respective markets is obstructing our efforts to devise suitable strategies to promote corporate activity in underdeveloped areas. The paper aims to critically evaluate applicability of established supply chain management related constructs in base of the pyramid market setting. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data in 60 face-to-face interviews, with buyer–supplier dyads, focusing micro-entrepreneurs in Pakistan. We used partial least squares algorithm (SmartPLS 3) to fit a structural equation model to the data. Communication emerged as prime driver construct linked to tactical purchasing, technological integration with customers, technological integration with suppliers and supply chain partner development. The paper, while extending largely formal market–focused supply chain literature to informal settings, enriches our understanding of related phenomena in base of the pyramid markets. Findings of the paper will not only assist practitioners in grasping dynamics of business-to-business markets at the base of the pyramid but will also aid in understanding causality of certain supply chain management practices. The paper is among first contributions to evaluate business-to-business interactions among micro-entrepreneurs in the base of the pyramid markets employing a survey methodology. Image 1 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current approaches to supply chain management generate large amounts of food waste due to the growing urbanization levels, increasing consumer demand for organic products and the growth of e-commerce distribution channel. These trends require the organizations to rethink their approaches to supply chain management, so that they could cope with the upcoming challenges. This research paper focuses on the ways a logistics cluster can provide the abilities to share information and thus improve the forecasting accuracy. The main novelty of the paper has been to work out a collaborative technological strategy which promotes information sharing in order to improve forecasting accuracy and inventory control for better alignment of demand and supply. The secondary contribution of the article is the determination of the influence of information sharing on forecasting accuracy in different market sizes, types and the consideration of consumer integration. Lastly, a sensitivity analysis has been completed to identify the optimal size of the logistics cluster the determination of which provides support when implementing the proposed strategy in practice. For the results validation we have implemented an agent-based model of the food supply chain. Our results have confirmed that information sharing increases the forecasting accuracy in multiple scenarios. Moreover, consumer integration is beneficial in a perfect competition market; however, its positive effect is less significant in an oligopoly market. These findings should be taken into consideration when developing e-commerce business strategy and forming logistics clusters. The usage of machine learning algorithms in the forecasting process provides adaptation capabilities for the supply chain members. The adaptation emerges as system resilience and it improves the alignment of demand and supply, reduces food waste levels and maintains higher nutrition value. The proposed strategy can ensure a long-term sustainable development to logistics cluster members. • The majority of supply chain management approaches have been developed in astable business environment. • Supply chain collaboration tends to fail due to lack of collaborative technologies and strategies. • The inability to align demand and supply in the food supply chain generates a lot of food waste and reduces nutrition value. • An agent-based model identified how collaborative demand forecasting improves alignment of demand and supply. • Application of machine learning provides adaptation abilities for supply chain members, and ensures system resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Sustainability strategies create many synergistic effects for SMEs working collaboratively, as well as systemic benefits for the commons. After setting forth the business case for sustainable SMEs, and considering SME sustainability advantages in contrast to MNEs, this paper discusses several different incentives for SMEs to optimize sustainability: (1) becoming valuable sustainable investment targets for larger firms; (2) creating highly competitive networks of sustainable SMEs in market spaces where large enterprises are less successful; (3) becoming highly efficient suppliers in global supply chains through sustainable practices. While several successful models of the sustainable SME are evolving, it may be that networks of SMEs will become essential for addressing the systemic problems that underlie industrial ecology, enterprise resilience, and global supply chain sustainability. SMEs represent the majority of all enterprises, and rapidly evolving communication technologies allow for various routes of network formation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]