Faculty, postdocs and Ph.D. students gathered at Talley Student Union in November for the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative (SCRC)’s fourth annual “Doing Good With OM and OR” academic conference. Hosted in partnership with Poole College, the event featured speakers from Duke University, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of South Carolina, the University of Texas at Dallas and Wake Forest University,who talked about their work on topics such as closed-loop supply chains, food waste and local food supply, retail operations and behavioral operations management.
Leon Valdes, associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh, kicked off the event. He discussed how job seekers respond to companies that emphasize having a strong sense of purpose in their job postings.
Valdes found that larger companies with over 1,000 employees are much more successful in attracting candidates with these messages, seeing 50% more applications for purpose-driven job ads compared to those without. Smaller companies, with fewer than 50 employees, only see a 10% increase.
His experiments revealed that larger companies seem more capable of delivering on their promises, making their purpose claims feel more authentic to job seekers.
“Our findings suggest that larger firms benefit more from emphasizing purpose in their recruitment strategies due to higher perceived authenticity, whereas smaller firms might need to find alternative ways to convey the credibility of their purpose-driven initiatives,” he said.
In the next session, Bora Keskin, associate professor at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, highlighted how emerging digital technologies are transforming the way fresh produce retailers manage supply chains and reduce food waste. By tracking product freshness in real time, retailers can improve efficiency and address consumer demand more effectively.
In a scenario with only two major competitors, he analyzed how adopting these innovations can give one company an edge over the other, leading to higher profits, less food waste and greater benefits for consumers.
The study also found that markets with fewer competitors are more likely to adopt these technologies across the industry, paving the way for improvements in supply chain transparency and sustainability.
“In competitive fresh produce markets, innovators do not always have an edge in profit growth and food waste reduction. These results depend on the retail margin,” Keskin said. “Market concentration can encourage widespread technology adoption and food waste reduction. Even for technology providers, targeting concentrated markets can be beneficial.”
Continuing with the food waste theme, Dorothee Honhon, an associate professor at the University of Texas at Dallas, presented her research that delves into the confusion caused by various food date labels, such as “sell by,” “best by,” and “use by,” and examines how these labels influence consumer behavior and contribute to food waste.
“Retailers make more profit with consumers who are oblivious to in-store expiration dates,” she said. “This is because these consumers buy a lot more, including some units they won’t be able to consume before expiration.”
Honhon highlighted the study’s key findings that show many consumers misinterpret these dates, discarding food that is still safe to consume, which worsens food waste. By analyzing consumer perceptions, strategies can be identified to mitigate unnecessary food disposal.
“Our model proposes a framework for shelf-life determination, integrating key factors such as biological considerations, consumer expectations and production considerations,” she said. “We propose a 2×2 model of consumer behavior based on whether date labels are taken into consideration in store and/or at home.”
Pelin Pekgun, a professor at Wake Forest University, led the next session which focused on her research on reducing food waste in U.S. food banks through optimized distribution strategies. Her work analyzes the role food banks play in addressing food insecurity by redistributing surplus food to those in need.
By analyzing data from 200 food banks within the Feeding America network over a five-year period, the study identifies how direct distribution strategies, increased trucking capacity, and expanded pantry sizes can effectively reduce food waste during the distribution process — allowing stakeholders to make informed decisions on resource allocation to enhance their efficiency and impact in combating hunger.
“As the proportion of food distributed through agency empowered strategy increases, food waste decreases for food banks with smaller partner agencies and food waste increases for food banks with a larger group of partner agencies,” Pekgun said.
To round out the day, Olga Perdikaki, an associate professor at the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business, shared her research on the retail and apparel industry. Her study examines the environmental impact of fast fashion compared to traditional apparel supply chains, analyzing factors such as carbon emissions, water usage and waste generation.
The study’s findings reveal that the accelerated production cycles, overproduction and consumer-driven demand for rapidly changing trends in fast fashion significantly increase environmental degradation. This includes heightened carbon emissions, excessive water consumption and a surge in textile waste due to the disposable nature of fast fashion products.
In comparison, traditional apparel supply chains, while less responsive to market trends, tend to have longer production cycles and lower rates of overproduction, resulting in a reduced environmental footprint. However, her research also notes that traditional supply chains are not without their sustainability challenges, such as inefficiencies and waste associated with slower adaptability to consumer demand.
“The accelerated production and consumption patterns in fast fashion exacerbate environmental challenges, emphasizing the need for more sustainable practices within the apparel industry,” she said.
Tim Kraft, associate research director of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative, closed the event with remarks for both the attendees and the presenters.
“Thank you all for attending, and I look forward to seeing everyone again next year,” he said.
- Categories:
