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Abstract
The promise of digitalization is enormous and nowhere is it more critical than in its potential to transform food supply chain. Consumers have become more educated and are demanding real-time updated information on foods they consumed through digital media. They are also increasingly demanding to know if the foods they consume are environmentally and socially sustainable or not. As a result, food product traceability, safety, and sustainability issues have become crucial concerns to food retailers, distributors, processors, and farmers. Digitalization allows food supply chains to be highly connected, efficient, and responsive to customer needs and regulation requirements. However, digitalizing a traditional food supply chain is challenging and resource demanding. This is more so for developing countries where moving food from farms to consumers can take months as it travels through an array of middlemen. Unfortunately, little is available in the existing literature on food supply chain digitalization. So far, current researchers mainly explore the benefits of digitalization. Using cases in three companies, this paper explores the practices, challenges, and opportunities faced by Thailand food manufacturers in digitalizing their food supply chains. A framework for food supply chain digitalization is proposed and its implications for research and practices are discussed.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Pichawadee Kittipanya-ngam
Dr. Pichawadee Kittipanya-ngam (PhD, Cambridge) is an assistant professor of operations management at Thammasat Business School in Thailand. She is also a research affiliate at Institute for Manufacturing (IfM), University of Cambridge, UK. Pichawadee specializes in research and practices on food supply chain sustainability and digitalization, as well as the management aspects of social enterprises. She has co-authored academic articles and book chapters on food supply chains and social enterprises in Thailand and UK. In addition, she is a founder of Arkki Thailand, a social enterprise providing creative education for children in Thailand with Finnish curriculum from Finland’s Ministry of Education.
Kim Hua Tan
Dr. Kim Hua Tan is a Professor in Operations and Innovation Management at Nottingham University Business School. Prior to this, he was a Researcher and Teaching Assistant at Centre for Strategy and Performance, University of Cambridge. His research interests are lean management, operations strategy, decision making, and supply chain risk management. Dr. Tan has consulted many Fortune 500 companies and appointed as Our Common Future Fellow by the Volkswagen Foundation in 2009. Dr. Tan has published various books including ‘Winning Decisions: Translating Business Strategy into Action Plans,’ and numerous articles in academic journals.