Sourcing Challenges and Solutions in UK Food Retail Industry Supply Chain

This case study discusses the sourcing challenges and issues in the UK food retail industry supply chain and possible solutions with existing examples from top retailers. The report aims to evaluate the changing situations concerning the logistics functions of the various retail food businesses around the UK and how food retail organizations in the UK manage their supply chain functions.

Running head: SOURCING CHALLENGES, ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS
SOURCING CHALLENGES, ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS IN THE UK FOOD SUPPLY
CHAIN. A CASE STUDY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SOURCING CHALLENGES, ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS
Table of Contents
• Topic.........................................................................................................................................2
• Proposed Title:.........................................................................................................................2
• Synopsis....................................................................................................................................2
• Research Question....................................................................................................................3
• Aims and Objectives................................................................................................................4
• Data to be collected..................................................................................................................4
• Proposed Analytical Technique(s)...........................................................................................5
• Literature/Data Sources Investigated to Date...........................................................................5
• Proposed Timescale..................................................................................................................7
• Discussed With.........................................................................................................................7
Foreseeable problems......................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

2SOURCING CHALLENGES, ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS
• Topic
What are the sourcing issues and challenges in UK food retail industry Supply chain and possible
solutions that companies are using,
• Proposed Title:
Sourcing challenges and issues in the UK food retail industry supply chain and solutions with
existing example from the industry top retailers
• Synopsis
Retailers were once effectively the passive recipients of products, allocated to stores by
manufacturers in anticipation of demand .Today retailers are the active designers and controllers
of product supply in reaction to known customer demand. They control, organize and manage the
supply chain from production to consumption. This is the essence of retail logistics and supply
chain transformation that has taken place (John Fernie & Leigh Sparks 2009). Because of this big
change that sourcing function plays a very big role in making sure that customers’ finds food in
the retail shelves at all the times as this is a basic need. The UK sourcing or importation of food
and nonalcoholic beverages has gone up and we see problems with companies like KFC shutting
down half of its 900 outlets in the UK due to supply chain failures. It is decided in the proposed
project to discuss sourcing issues and challenges and possible solutions in the Uk food industry.
The food industry of the country has to depend on resources sourced from both domestic
and international sources. The food industry of UK is fairly large and can be essentially affected
by many factors (Grimm, Hofstetter & Sarkis, 2012). One of the major factors that is identified is
the greater pressure on imported food sources. Moreover, many of the companies have been

3SOURCING CHALLENGES, ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS
forced to stop their operation due to the losses they have incurred concerning their supply chain
management. This has necessitated the development of greater understandings in regards to the
various factors that are currently affecting the food industry of the country (Bourlakis et al.,
2016). The essential focus will be on supply chain management. Only through better analysis of
the present situations can clear ideas be formed regarding the impact of the factors in the future.
Apart from companies like KFC there are also other food and groceries retailers like Sainsbury,
TESCO and Asda. Moreover, the rapid emergence of other European companies like Aldi and
Lidl has created a tough situation concerning competition in the food and food retail industry
(Brandenburg et al., 2014). It will be very important to know how the new companies have been
able to gain essentially larger shares of the market in very less time. Thus, there is a genuine
need to find out the essential aspects of the logistics functions that govern the operational
feasibility of some businesses in the country. At the same time it becomes much important to
know where the other businesses are going wrong and how can the industry change the prevalent
situations that seem to be affecting the market with regards to the supply chain functions
(O’Rourke, 2014). The various essential factors need to be systematically analyzed for the better
wholesome understanding of issues related to supply chain functions of the companies operating
in the UK food industry.
• Research Question
What are the Supply chain management sourcing issues that are faced by uk food retail industry
and what are the companies doing as a solution to the issues? Also an example from the industry
is required

4SOURCING CHALLENGES, ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS
• Aims and Objectives
The aim of the report will be to find out the various market factors that affect the supply
chain sourcing issues concerning the food retail industry of the country.
The essential objectives of the report will be:
 To understand the significant challenges that affect the supply chain functions of the
retail food companies in the UK
 To evaluate changing situations concerning the logistics functions of the various retail
food businesses around the UK
 To evaluate how food retail organizations in the UK manage their supply chain functions
 To evaluate the essential benefits of global sourcing for the food retail industry
 To find the essential benefits of sourcing locally produced resources
• Data to be collected
The data collection procedure will include both primary and secondary data collection
methods. This will be done in order to provide data that will be relevant to the issues being
analyzed through the report. Moreover, this will help in the extensive research of the subject.
The primary data will be gathered with the help of questionnaires that will be aimed
towards understanding the various aspects intrinsically related to the supply chain functions of

5SOURCING CHALLENGES, ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS
various businesses operating within the food industry of the UK. The questionnaires will be open
ended and focused towards gathering the views of the most important people of the various food
businesses around the UK concerning logistics and supply chain functionality. Interviews helps
to gather deeper insight into a given identified issue hence this technique will be used.
The interviews will be conducted among various managers working in the food retail
sector of the country. Phone interviews will also be used to gather essential data. The people to
be interviewed will be decided on the basis on their tenure as managers and responsibilities the
interviewees have handled in the food retail sector. The preferred candidates will be those that
can provide valuable insights into the ground realities of the retail food industry of the country.
The preferred companies that will be approached are Sainsbury, TESCO and Asda.
The secondary data collection will be based on previous researches that have covered the
same subject. Hence, data from researches that have gathered essential information about the
same or related issues in the past will be effectively gathered. The major focus will be towards
gathering essential information from books, case studies and business or company journals. Both
quantitative and qualitative data will be gathered from the previous researches.
• Proposed Analytical Technique(s)
Content Analysis

6SOURCING CHALLENGES, ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS
• Literature/Data Sources Investigated to Date
Books on sourcing company journals and university material in the library. A good example of a
book is Fernie, J., Fernie, J., Sparks, L., & Sparks, L. (2014;2009;). Logistics and retail
management: Emerging issues and new challenges in the retail supply chain (4th;Fourth; ed.).
The literature that has been consulted on the basis of their relevance to the exact issues that were
identified. The works of Christopher (2016) have been consulted for the better understanding of
logistics chain functions industries. Fernie & Sparks (2014) have given essential insights into the
management of logistics functions across retail stores in the UK. The work also encompasses the
inventory and supply chain management functions of the food related retail industry of the
country. Sanchez Rodrigues, Harris, & Mason (2015) have provided essential details about the
supply chain functionalities that are employed across the various retail sectors. The extensive
nature of the work has made it necessary for considering many essential literatures. The
consulted works will hence be related to supply chain functions, logistics, market analysis of the
UK food retail stores, supplier analysis and other essential related subjects to the significant topic
of discussion (Turi, Goncalves & Mocan, 2014).
The food retail industry of the UK is currently facing still challenges because of the
increasing amount of imported supplies. This means that the country is having to pay more to the
various exporters than what it would have cost to pay for gaining home grown supplies. With
Brexit, situations can worsen further with regards to the supply chain functions of the food
industry if the challenges are not effectively tackled (Dabbene, Gay & Tortia, 2014). The recent
literatures will be consulted as they can provide a clearer picture in regards to the changes that
have crucially affected the UK food retail industry in the present times. For example- various

7SOURCING CHALLENGES, ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS
studies have pointed towards the changing food habits of the people contributing towards the
rapid increase for the requirement of essential supplies (Rueda, Garrett & Lambin, 2017). It is
very much important that a substantial amount of works are consulted in order to bring about
essential amount of information concerning the subject. The literatures that have crucially
analyzed the current changes in the food industry of the UK like the KFC closing its operations,
will be consulted. Hence, a wholesome presentation of ideas will be focused for the study.
• Proposed Timescale
Gnatt Chart
ACTIVITY NO. ACTIVITY
Start date End date
1 Allocation, Research and Formation of
research question 15-Aug 15-Oct
2 Design, Methodology and Data Collection 15-Oct 15-Dec
3 Literature review, Write up 15-Dec 15-Feb
4 Write up : Analysis and Introduction 15-Feb 15-Mar
5 Review 15-Mar 15-Apr
• Discussed With
The topic has been discussed with the lecturer and the status of the work is currently in waiting.

8SOURCING CHALLENGES, ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS
Foreseeable problems
- Difficulties in finding the rite data.
- Poor planning and time management
- Finding relevant literature
- Cooperation difficulties with people interviewed.

9SOURCING CHALLENGES, ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS
References
Ala-Harja, H., & Helo, P. (2015). Reprint of “Green supply chain decisions–Case-based
performance analysis from the food industry”. Transportation Research Part E: Logistics
and Transportation Review, 74, 11-21.
Bourlakis, M., Maglaras, G., Aktas, E., Gallear, D., & Fotopoulos, C. (2016). Does firm size
influence sustainable performance in food supply chains: Insights from Greek SMEs.
In Developments in Logistics and Supply Chain Management (pp. 253-265). Palgrave
Macmillan, London.
Brandenburg, M., Govindan, K., Sarkis, J., & Seuring, S. (2014). Quantitative models for
sustainable supply chain management: Developments and directions. European Journal
of Operational Research, 233(2), 299-312.
Christopher, M. (2016). Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK.
Dabbene, F., Gay, P., & Tortia, C. (2014). Traceability issues in food supply chain management:
A review. Biosystems engineering, 120, 65-80.
Fernie, J., & Sparks, L. (2014). Logistics and retail management: emerging issues and new
challenges in the retail supply chain. Kogan page publishers.
Grimm, J. H., Hofstetter, J. S., & Sarkis, J. (2012). Understanding diffusion of corporate
sustainability standards through sub-supplier management in the food supply
chain. George Perkins Marsh Institute, Worcester, 2012-25.
O’Rourke, D. (2014). The science of sustainable supply chains. Science, 344(6188), 1124-1127.

10SOURCING CHALLENGES, ISSUES AND SOLUTIONS
Rueda, X., Garrett, R. D., & Lambin, E. F. (2017). Corporate investments in supply chain
sustainability: Selecting instruments in the agri-food industry. Journal of cleaner
production, 142, 2480-2492.
Sanchez Rodrigues, V., Harris, I., & Mason, R. (2015). Horizontal logistics collaboration for
enhanced supply chain performance: an international retail perspective. Supply Chain
Management: An International Journal, 20(6), 631-647.
So, S., Parker, D., & Xu, H. (2012). A conceptual framework for adopting sustainability in the
supply chain. In ANZAM operations, supply chain and services management
symposium (pp. 397-413). ANZAM.
Turi, A., Goncalves, G., & Mocan, M. (2014). Challenges and competitiveness indicators for the
sustainable development of the supply chain in food industry. Procedia-Social and
Behavioral Sciences, 124, 133-141.