Hana Trollman

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the key factors affecting supply chain due diligence (SCDD), evaluating their associated risks and proposing appropriate mitigation strategies that bridge due diligence gaps and strengthen resilience in global supply chains. Design/methodology/approach: Key due diligence factors were identified through a comprehensive literature review and expert consultations. The study adopts a multimethod approach that integrates multiple theoretical perspectives, the Fuzzy Evidential Reasoning Algorithm (FERA) and risk profiling analysis. Findings: The results identify critical due diligence factors, including regulatory compliance, transparency, supplier evaluation, ethical sourcing, data governance and sustainability practices, that significantly influence governance, operational stability and environmental performance. The study further develops targeted mitigation strategies based on risk intensity and strategic priority. Practical implications: The proposed framework supports practitioners and policymakers in making risk-sensitive decisions to strengthen due diligence, improve transparency, enhance compliance and build more resilient and sustainable supply chain operations. Originality/value: This study contributes to the SCDD literature by integrating governance, operational and sustainability dimensions within a unified prioritization framework, building on the established FERA rather than proposing a new computational technique. The framework offers a systematic approach for identifying and mitigating due diligence gaps in global supply chains, with SDGs 8, 9 and 13 addressed as an indicative conceptual mapping rather than a directly measured outcome.

This conceptual study aims to explore supply chain fairness and capabilities in support of Sustainable Development Goal 12 (SDG-12): responsible consumption and production. The research establishes a framework to inform the linkage of fairness with capabilities and social sustainability. This study employs the integrative literature review (ILR) method to critically evaluate the current literature with regards to fairness, supply chain capability, and social sustainability. Forty-eight articles informed the results presented in this study. Utilising the ILR method, we observed that extant literature has rarely examined how the principle of fairness might favourably impact supply chain capabilities, including agility, flexibility, redundancy, and collaborative efforts for advancing socially sustainable practices. The conceptual framework established in this research study is limited without further empirical investigation of the proposed link between fairness in supply chain, supply chain capabilities, and social sustainability. This study explored the relationship between fairness, supply chain capability, and social sustainability with emphasis on SDG-12 based on the dynamic capability and stakeholder theories. It plays a significant role in advancing progress towards SDG-12. By encouraging fair and capable supply networks, businesses and stakeholders can develop sustainable and equitable supply chains that contribute positively to societal well-being and resource efficiency.

This study aims to identify if and how Industry 5.0 technologies support achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)-2 in relation to agri-food supply chains. This research employs an agri-food supply chain-oriented approach to backcasting the SDGs in which Industry 5.0 is considered to comprise discontinuous innovations. The focus is on analysing six dominant consumer trends expected to continue into 2030. Agri-food supply chains need to advance beyond linear distribution within information silos to digital transformation (Industry 5.0) to be able to achieve SDG-2 by 2030. Using agri-food supply chain strategies to offset world hunger by the backcasting method is methodologically lmited by the quality and diversity of data available. The theoretical scope of the study is limited to six dominant trends in consumer demand that are expected to continue into 2030. The theoretical contribution explains the strategic process by which agri-food supply chains can implement Industry 5.0 technologies towards the achievement of the SDGs using the knowledge-based theory of the firm extended to supply chains. This research contributes to advancing progress on SDG-2 and related SDGs. Business and other stakeholders will better understand the process of implementing Industry 5.0 technologies to reflect the ambitions of SDG-2 related to consumer trends.

Purpose: This study aims to examine the factors influencing metaverse adoption in education, addressing a context that remains underexplored and contested. It aims to identify and structure the key determinants shaping stakeholder adoption decisions while highlighting the metaverse’s implications for knowledge management through immersive and experiential learning. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopts a multimethod design combining the task-technology fit model and the extended resource-based view. Expert insights were analysed using fuzzy ordinal priority approach (F-OPA) to prioritise factors, modified Total Interpretive Structural Modeling (m-TISM) to examine interrelationships and develop a hierarchical framework and MICMAC analysis to classify factors by driving power and dependence value. Findings: Fourteen factors influencing metaverse adoption were identified and grouped into four categories: infrastructure, pedagogy, accessibility and socioeconomic conditions. The findings show that adoption depends on both enabling capabilities and contextual constraints. The metaverse can enhance knowledge creation, sharing and application through immersive learning, but adoption is limited by infrastructure readiness, equitable access and socioeconomic disparities. Originality/value: This study offers novel empirical evidence on metaverse adoption in education by integrating task-technology fit with the extended resource-based view and applying a combined F-OPA, m-TISM and MICMAC approach to generate prioritised and interpretive insights.

Disasters such as COVID-19 and the Russia–Ukraine war are drawing attention to the provisioning of food during crises. The main concern has been quickly establishing a stable food supply. However, climate change and public health concerns are shifting attention to the critical gap in identifying the minimal considerations that would adequately address ecological disaster food provisioning. A meta-ethnography of 16 disasters in 12 different countries is employed to identify the activities and their supporting strategies that provide benefits to existing actors within food networks. Analysis suggests that public health, resilience, and sustainability stand to benefit from the identified practices. A conceptual model of an ecologically embedded minimum viable ecosystem for disaster food provisioning is proposed. Exemplar applications are provided for Tigray, Gaza, and Ukraine. The findings may be applied to disaster settings for the development of policy for culturally sensitive, equitable, and nutritious food provisioning strategies.

Fatal accidents in UK’s manufacturing sector are expected to remain the same or increase in coming years. This paper has tried to combat this issue by adapting and further developing a previously defined Safety Framework for the Paint Sector, to evaluate the safety performance of a metal manufacturing facility. To achieve this, the original Safety Framework was updated to align with the current British safety legislation outlined by the British Standards Institution. The framework was based on a three-level multi-attribute value theory (MAVT). Upon reviewing BSI 45001, the Safety Framework was founded upon the concept of Deming’s Plan, Do, Check, Act (PDCA) which is the foundation for the original framework, therefore, the first-level attributes remained consistent. The 13 attributes of the second level and 36 attributes of the third level were derived from the literature review and updated to relevant legislation. To develop the Safety Framework, the Delphi method was used. This included interviews that were conducted with employees and managers from either a Safety or Engineering background. The second part of the paper involved the improvement of the Safety Framework, based on the interview feedback. The main findings of the study revealed that the final Safety Framework has been deemed relevant for the Metal Manufacturing Sector by Industry Suitably Qualified and Experienced Personnel (SQEP). The majority of Interviewees deemed the Safety Framework to have a clear layout and easy to understand. The interviews and final Safety Framework suggested the importance of a company’s emphasis on employee welfare and health, in order to reduce accidents in the workplace. The originality of this paper lies in its application and validation of a sector-specific safety framework, contributing to the body of knowledge by offering a replicable methodology for adapting safety frameworks to other manufacturing sectors.

Summary: This article explores the impact of the ‘Quadruple Whammy’ consisting of Brexit, COVID‐19, Conflicts (Russia‐Ukraine and Israel‐Palestine) and Natural disasters on the food supply chain in Europe. This research adopted a two‐phase methodology comprised of the e‐Delphi technique followed by the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses) approach within the context of these four identified challenges. The objective of this article is to analyse the challenges faced by the European food supply chain due to these four factors. The article examines the impact of political isolationism such as Brexit on trade, cost and border controls, while also discussing the effects of COVID‐19 on labour, supply chains and the rise of e‐commerce. In addition, the article examines the impact of conflicts on food access and availability and the role of international aid and assistance. The effects of natural disasters, such as the Turkish and Moroccan earthquakes, floods in Spain and Portugal and the Moroccan drought, on food security are also analysed. The article offers several strategies for taming the quadruple whammy, such as investing in local food production and supply chains, diversifying supply chains and trade partnerships and strengthening food safety regulations and standards. The importance of building resilience and preparedness in the face of these challenges is emphasised and the article concludes with final thoughts and recommendations.

The Farm to Fork Strategy of the European Commission is a contingency plan aimed at always ensuring a sufficient and varied supply of safe, nutritious, affordable, and sustainable food to citizens. The learning from previous crises such as COVID-19 indicates that proactive strategies need to span numerous levels both within and external to food networks, requiring both vertical and horizontal collaborations. However, there is a lack of systematic performance management techniques for ripple effects in food supply chains that would enable the prediction of failure modes. Supervised learning algorithms are commonly used for prediction (classification) problems, but machine learning struggles with large data sets and complex phenomena. Consequently, this research proposes a manual approach to feature extraction for artificial intelligence with the aim of reducing dimensionality for more efficient algorithm performance, and improved interpretability/explainability for benefits in terms of ethics and managerial decision-making. The approach is based on qualitative comparative analysis informed by in-depth case knowledge which is refined through Boolean logic, yielding solutions that reflect complex causality as opposed to single failure point modes. Two case exemplars are presented to support the proposed framework for implementation: export readiness of dairy supply chains under the Russia-Ukraine war, and egg supply chain sustainability during COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom.