Leseprobe
Table of contents
i. List of Abbreviations
ii. List of Figures and Tables
1. Introduction
2. Healthy Eating
2.1 Definition
2.2 Facts and Figures
2.3 Why Healthy Eating is Important
2.4 Current Influence Factors on Healthy Eating…
2.5 Conclusion
3. Supply Chain Management
3.1 Definition
3.2 Present Situation Linked to Food Industry…
3.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of a Well-Structured Supply Chain…
3.4 Link to Healthy Eating
3.5 Conclusion
4. Marketing
4.1 Definition
4.2 Present Significance
4.3 Marketing in the Organic Food Industry
4.4 Link to Healthy Eating and Supply Chain Management
5. Junction of all Parts
5.1 Definition of “Encouraging”
5.2 Why Healthy Eating Should be Encouraged
5.3 Ways to Encourage Healthy Eating via Supply Chain Management and Marketing
6. Final Conclusion
Reference List
Appendix
i. List of Abbreviations
illustration not visible in this excerpt
ii. List of Figures and Tables
Appendix 1: Willet, C. (2005). Healthy Eating Pyramid. This pyramid, based on solid science, offers better guidance for healthy eating than the advices from the USDA.
Appendix 2: Will, M. & Guenther, D. (2007). The Food Supply Chain and operators’ responsibility for food quality and safety.
Appendix 3: Smith, B. (2007). Typical responsibilities assigned to actors within food supply chains. Retrievd 20 May, 2015, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2610113/
Appendix 4: Logo: “Blue Angle”. Retrieved 20 May, 2015, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Angel_%28certification%29#/media/File:BE_Logo_JuryUmweltzeichen_MenschUmwelt.svg
1. Introduction
The following literature review discusses the thesis: “Encouraging healthy eating via supply chain management and marketing“, which was stated by Yulia Tseytlin. The introduction illustrates the structure of this review and gives a brief overview about the content. The aim is enabling the reader to completely decode the chain of thoughts which is presented.
At first, the mentioned thesis is separated in individual parts: “healthy eating”, “supply chain management”, as well as “marketing”. All parts include a concise definition of the particular term, as well as a conclusion.
Within the part “healthy eating” (HE), the current situation will be illustrated by delivering diverse facts and figures. Furthermore, the question why HE is important will be discussed, as well as present factors influencing HE.
Inside “supply and chain management” (SCM), the present situation, linked to the food industry, is explained. Potential advantages of well-planned supply chains (SC) will be discussed, in addition, possible dangers of ineffective ones. Finally, a link to the module “healthy eating” will be created.
“Marketing” is the last part. The present significance of marketing within society, especially in the food industry, will be pointed out. Chances of influencing people in the organic food industry via marketing will be discussed. Likewise, this part will be connected to “healthy eating” as well as “supply and chain management”.
Secondly, the above mentioned parts are connected and ways of “encouraging healthy eating via supply and chain management” will be shown, based on the information provided in the individual modules. Those parts can be seen as a toolbox, which is necessary to create the final product: the analysis of different encouraging approaches.
Due to limitations concerning the length of this review, the different modules will be explained in a precise, but brief way. The main focus lies on the junction of the mentioned parts and the analysis of the stated thesis. Different literature sources have been used to underline mentioned facts.
“It’s a simple, obvious truth. You need food for the basics of everyday life - to pump blood, move muscles, think thoughts” (Willet, 2005, p. 1). This citation shows that food in general is one of the most important factors in life. It influences behavior in different situations; it enables people to execute actions, and has a huge impact on society, as well as on global economy. Healthy food, especially, is an important, positive influence factor, and can increase our well-being by a huge extend. Certainly, also other factors like, for instance, personal success, individual prestige or the changes in social media are non-negligible. Those lead to a downgrading of the importance of healthy food in our society, which results in many health problems of humanity. To guarantee fresh and healthy food an effective SCM is necessary. Furthermore, the marketing of food has a tremendous effect on people’s behavior.
2. Healthy Eating
2.1 Definition
HE implies that people consume food. Especially food, which has a positive effect on the organism, “() food can also help you live well and live longer. By making the right choices, you can avoid some of the things we think of as the inevitable penalties of getting older” (Willet, 2005, p.25). When defining the above mentioned term, a separation of quality and quantity of food has to be made. Resulting, the questions on what and how much to consume need to be answered.
2.2 Facts and figures
In 2011, 41.1 % of global private expenditure has been spent on health, in contrast to 43.7 % in 2000 (WHO, 2014, p.150). The World Health Organization (WHO) states, “More than 1.4 billion adults were overweight in 2008, and more than half a billion obese” (WHO, 2015). This fact shows that HE is still neglected in society and does not have a sufficient significance. In conformity with WHO, “Eating a healthy diet can help prevent obesity” (WHO, 2015). Cancer, heart diseases, digestive disorder, and Diabetes are illnesses that can be caused or exacerbated by consuming bad food. Even birth defects during pregnancy can be caused by an unhealthy diet (Willet, 2005, p. 25).
Due to the fact that a variety of information, for instance on the internet, in guidebooks, in governmental reports, and from different scientist, exist, it is difficult to distinguish between relevant, correct and irrelevant, incorrect facts. People are overwhelmed by the pure mass of information that is why many of them refuse to deal with it.
Useful approaches to clarify the chaotic situation are so called “Healthy Eating Pyramids” (Appendix 1). Based on scientific research, those provide useful information on what to consume and in which quantity, “The Healthy Eating Pyramid isn’t a cute idea dolled up in a catchy graphic. It represents evidence distilled from forty years of research conducted at Harvard and around the world” (Willet, 2005, p. 31).
The quantity of calories, an energy measurement of food, a person should consume depends on many factors, which include the size, age, gender, daily activities, etc. Institutions, for instance the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), based in the UK, provide general guidelines, on how many calories a woman or a man should consume on a daily basis. A male must consume up to 2500 kcal to keep his actual weight. In comparison a woman needs 2000 kcal a day (FDF 2009, p. 1). Those numbers are reference values, the actual amount can vary from person to person. Nevertheless, they provide a guideline.
2.3 Why Healthy Eating is Important
Facts show that more than half of the population consume by far more than recommended. This is one of the major causes of unhealthy eating since people disobey the quantity that they consume, a fact, which finally leads to adiposity and as a result, to different diseases.
Another important aspect of HE is the quality of food. The global economy is a market of competition. The focus lies on gaining a competitive advantage and increasing profits. These aspects often lead to food-scandals, because companies try to undercut prices of competitors by reducing the quality of their products. In order to keep high quality standards and to avoid the above mentioned scandals, governmental regulations have to be enacted, as stated by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the WHO:
Effective national food control systems are essential to protect the health and safety of domestic consumers. They are also critical in enabling countries to assure the safety and quality of their foods entering international trade and to ensure that imported foods conform to national requirements (FAO/WHO, 2015, p. 4).
One method of delivering correct and useful information to consumers, is the effective labelling of food products. The purpose of those labels is to provide suitable profiles of nutrition to customers, which are considered to be of nutritional importance, such that he is able to make a wise choice (WHO/FAO, 2013).
2.4 Current Influence Factors on Heathy Eating
Besides the quality and quantity of food, society and the difference of social groups has a huge impact on the consumption behaviour of people. Life is becoming faster due to a higher efficiency of technology (Story, Kaphingst, O-Bryan and Glanz, 2007, p. 2). While the total visits of fast-food-restaurants increase, people spend fewer hours cocking their own food, “Parents are working longer hours, there are fewer family meals, and more meals are eaten away from home” (Story, et al., 2007, p. 2).
Furthermore, people’s consumption depends on the difference of social groups. Persons living in the western countries tend to consume more unhealthy food in comparison to ones living, for instance, in Asian countries, “The prevalence of overweight and obesity were highest in the WHO Regions of the Americas (62% for overweight in both sexes, and 26% for obesity) and lowest in the WHO Region for South East Asia” (WHO, 2015).
2.5 Conclusion
To put it all into a nutshell, HE consists of the interplay between quality, quantity and consumption behaviour of people. To ensure standards, regulations of governments play a major role, but also the responsible behaviour of global market participants.
3. Supply Chain Management
3.1 Definition
While giving a definition of the term “Supply Chain Management” it is essential to clarify what a SC is, “Supply Chain is defined as a group of inter-connected participating companies that add value to a stream of transformed inputs from their source of origin to the end products or services that are demanded by the designated end-consumers” (Lu, 2011, p. 9). Directing, controlling and improving the above mentioned chain, is explained by the term “management”. The aim of SCM is to make an existing SC more efficient. Nowadays, this is essential for a business to survive, since the profits depend on the effectiveness of supply chains (Lu, 2011, p. 8).
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