Improving Import Supply Chain : Retail Logistics for Fruit and Vegetables Business

Abstract

This thesis describes the objective for improving efficiency within the import supply chain of the case organization. The Finnish retail business is becoming increasingly competitive. This is forcing companies to consider their pricing in order to defend their market positions. The price decreases create high pressure for cost-effectiveness throughout the supply chains. Decreasing product related costs, such as transportation costs, are one of the few methods enabling price reductions in retail.

The objective of this thesis is approached by mapping the current state of the supply chain. The sources of data include stakeholder interviews, participant observation, a workshop and company historical data. The inclusion of the key stakeholders from different functions and analysing historical transport data provides a thorough view on the current state of the supply chain. The current state analysis illustrates strengths, weaknesses and develop-ment priorities which are then studied from existing knowledge. Existing knowledge from academic and practitioner literatures is then utilized in order to design a conceptual framework to provide tools for building the proposal.

The outcome of this thesis is a list of recommendations to provide managerial suggestions and operational guidelines for the case organization. The list of recommendations includes roles and responsibilities and was co-created with the key stakeholders from purchasing and transportation. By implementing the recommendations, the case organization is able to create immediate efficiency improvements and to promote the overall performance of the supply chain. This enables the supply chain to support the price reductions in stores.