Essay: Food Wastage In Non-domestic Supply Chain In Singapore And Its Implications.

A reflective essay should draw upon theories, insights gained from specific classroom activities, your personal understanding of what entrepreneurship is, who does it, how it is done, why it matters etc. It should read like a ‘conversation’ between your assumptions about what entrepreneurship is and how your ideas are changing.

You must though demonstrate to me:

· Clear evidence of a problem worth solving and clear evidence of a market opportunity (eg market demand, potential or current competitors
· HOW you conceived and came to select your final idea/concept;
· HOW as a group you all planned to further develop and bring your concept/idea to the market;
· What you have personally learnt along the process.

Causes and Statistical data on food wastage in Singapore

In Singapore the amount of food that is wasted has increased at about 40% over the last ten years. The domestic wastage of the food in the country can be calculated to about 2.5kg bag of rice. The calculation is done on a weekly basis and the main reason for the high percentage of wastage is that Singapore households fail to buy and cook food at a correct proportion. The statistic is found after conducting a waste audit that provides an analysis based on the National Emergency Agency (NEA).

It has also been seen that in the domestic factor, about 54% of the food wastage made by the household could have been controlled if people were more prudent in conducting a cautious approach towards the management of food (Lammie and Hughes 2016). The same statistics cannot be said in terms of supply of food. This includes the non-domestic entities like the supermarkets or food retail stores. It has been seen that the supermarkets located in the Singapore have a better judgement of understanding the amount of food that is required to be imported from the markets. Therefore, it can be considered as the duty for the National Fails Prevention Awareness Campaign to focus on the reduction of domestic food wastage.

Food is wasted in the demand and supply side mainly because of the festive season that takes place throughout the year. It can be seen that Singaporeans tend to avoid wasting food during festive season by tending not to conduct impulse purchases. Despite this, it has been seen that the demand and supply of the food have been at a high. As stated by Furukawa, Misawa and Moore (2018) most families in the country are indulged in consuming leftover food for most of the time. However, the supply of food generated in the country has increased by 40% in the past decade.

This is an indication of the fact that the demand and supply of the food is done without taking into consideration the requirement of the people and the manner in which it can be consumed. However, one of the factors that was failed to be considered was the fact that most of the wastes had been made of the parts that cannot be consumed by the people (Dawe et al. 2015). This includes the bones and egg shells that most domestic houses throw out. Hence, it can be said that the demand and supply of the food can be conducted by dividing the left over and the non-consumable items that are wasted by the domestic household.

Minimizing food wastage in Non-domestic supply chain

After understanding the domestic supply chain of food it is necessary to identify the non-domestic supply chain that helps in the development of the food industry in the country. In this regard, it can be said that the non-domestic supply chain usually refers to the supply of the food that takes place within the country. It is necessary to understand the difference between the basic foods that requires to be consumed with that of the leftovers that require wastage of the food but in smaller portion (Atkins and Bowler 2016). Therefore, the focus needs to be on the supermarkets that take into account the supply of the food to the customers. As stated before, in the past decade, Singapore had seen about 40% wastage of food.

This is mainly of the fact that the country need to reduce the opportunity loss that exists in the non-domestic supply chain of the country. The reason for this is the festive seasons on which the country has spend enough money on the wastage of food (de Almeida, Miller and Eckersall 2018). Along with this the focus need to be on the development of organic, eco-friendly and biodegradable packaging services so that wastages can be prevalent based on the sustainability that is maintained by the people.

The problem statement that the research investigates is based on the food wastage in the non-domestic supply chain in Singapore. The manner in which food is wasted in the country is serious causes for alarm and can hamper the environment of the country and bring about a serious degrade in the natural resources. Hence, the focus needs to be on the manner in which food can supplies can be controlled so that wastage of food can be minimised. At the same time efforts taken to minimise the food wastage in non-domestic supply chain also need to be taken into consideration for the development of food awareness among the people of Singapore.

According to Chan et al. (2018), one of the effective ways by which food wastage can be mitigated is by storing food correctly and efficiently. The non-domestic supply chain needs to ensure that the food manufactured or purchased need to be stored in a manner that can help it to maintain a balance between the supplies and the demands of the people. This can be considered as an effective way to minimise food waste as common people may remain unaware about the amount of food that is available.

Importance of HBDI model in problem-solving

Based on the analysis of the problem and the approach taken for mitigating the wastage of food, recommendation in the form of ideas can be gathered from different members about the manner in which food wastage in the non-domestic supply chain can be minimised. The focus is on Value-It, an integrated food supply chain management firm. The thinking style adopted is the HBDI. However, the thinking and the approach towards the problem is based on characteristics that define experimental, futuristic, inventive and flexible. The characteristic describes the D side of the model.

Figure 1: HBDI solution

(Source: Notarnicola et al. 2017)

Therefore, one of the approaches that can be taken into account for reducing the problem is that of learning the ways by which preservatives can be used to store food. As stated by Crist, Mora and Engelman (2017), it is the duty of the non-domestic supply chain companies such as Value-It to preserve the food that is purchased. This can help in the development of the chemicals in the food and preserve it so that it can be consumed at any time. This approach can allow Value-It to increase its inventories so that stock of maintaining the food can be increased and a balance between the demand and supply are maintained.

A step by step entrepreneurial and creative problem solving can be taken into consideration with the application of the HBDI model for analysing the problem of Value-It. At the beginning stage, the problems are identified that can help in the development of the research questions necessary for the solving problems. Developing the questions can help Value-It to understand the gravity of the situation and ensure that the company continue to work towards decreasing the wastage of food in the country.

The next step proclaims assigning the people with responsible tasks so that the problem can be analysed. In this case, the tasks are assigned based on the characteristics of the people that are identified using the HBDI model. The next step is to ensure that key concepts are developed that can help the non-domestic establishments to mitigate the wastage of the food. In this regard, it can be said that the collective effort of the group can help in the analysis of the problem so that the capabilities and knowledge of the group can be developed.

Figure 2: Flowchart of the step by step process

(Source: Created by author)

Application of HBDI model in solving food wastage issue

The categorising of the solutions received from different members can be done based on the application of the HBDI model. According to Holloway and Kneafsey (2017), the HBDI thinking model helps in the analysis of a particular idea in various ways. The ways by which the ideas are categorised depend upon the characteristics and personalities of the members. These include the rational self (A), safekeeping self (B), feeling self (C) and experimental self (D).  The members are categorised based on these characteristics and the manner in which they can contribute for the development and growth of the team.

Table 1: Team members and their HBDI model

(Source: Created by author)

As seen from the above table, the team members and the characteristic manner of their thinking is categorised based on the HBDI model. The analysis of the table show that most of the members have characteristic that pertains to the D group which the experimental self. It is also seen that two of the team members posses multiple characteristics which implies that they are capable of thinking in a more vivid and positive manner. However, the analysis also shows that one of the characteristic that is missing is that of C that is the feeling self group. This implies that the group members are aggressive in the thinking process and is rational and rely on the realistic results that can be obtained.

Therefore, the solutions provided by the team members can be categorised based on the HBDI model. For example, the solution gained about maintaining extra storage of food can be considered as realistic. This particular solution can be categorised in the A part of the model which suggests that the solution is provided by members possessing the rational self characteristic. At the same time, the solution about adding preservatives to maintain the quality of food can be considered can be categorised as B or D. This is mainly because the addition of preservative is rational as well as in the form of experiment since all the food does not respond positively to added chemicals in the food. The solution about maintaining the left over can be considered as task driven which in turn can be categorised as safekeeping self suggestion.

In order to reduce the opportunity loss it is necessary for Value-It to create a market place so that wastage of food can be reduced. According to Springmann et al. (2016), market place helps in the addition of value to a company. Companies can reduce the market price of a particular product with the help of creating a market place. Hence, it can be said that for Value-It, the market place can be considered as the best opportunity for the reducing the excess wastage of food in the non-domestic centre. One of the market place strategies that can be adopted by Value-It is that of the auctioning of the products.

Implementing the solution

As stated by Samberg et al. (2016) the application of the ingenuity process can be made to identify the problems associated. The process consists of three stages that include the definition stage, discovery stage and determination stage. The definition stage can help in providing an idea about the concept of non-domestic food wastage, the discovery stage helps in identifying possible solutions that can be applied to mitigate the wastage and the determination stage can help in identifying the impact of the mitigation techniques that have been imposed.

The commercialisation of the food need to be based on the value it provides to an organisation. The east of implementation refers to the consequences that a company like Value-It can face while conducting its effectiveness in the market (Wekerle and Classens 2015). At the same time, cost of the food and the risk that may be involved in trying to store the food or preserve it can be considered as mitigating efforts required for the development of market place value of food. In this regard, consideration needs to be made on the expired food that poses the highest level of threat in terms of depleting its value and posing risk of wastage.

Porkka et al. (2016) is of the opinion that three options can be implemented for almost expired food. These include discount sale, charity or disposal of food. This can help in maintaining the inventories associated with food and can provide an opportunity to reduce the opportunity cost that can be associated with the food. The purpose is to reduce the opportunity cost in non-domestic supply chains with an aim to approach the local markets. In this case, Value-It is considered as the local market on which research about the application of food wastage need to be undertaken.

Value-It also provides five step services that includes the cleaning and filtering of food, packaging with environmental friendly green bags and recycle the food. At the same time, customers are provided with a dashboard in which customers sent request about the expiring food. These foods are recycled or disposed off based on the level of expiry. The system helps in understanding the product self-life and help in categorising different food based on the self-life that they possess. Along with this a budget can be prepared for conducting a study on marker, technology and marketing.

As stated by Bokulich et al. (2016) it is important that a solution be provided for the recycling of the wastes so that one stop packaging and auction services can be implemented in order to reduce the impact of food wastage. For a company like Value-It, advanced RFID technology can be used to minimise the impact of food wastages. Food can be thrown in trash bins or can be recycled so that the company can be aware of the various ways to reduce wastage of food. Hence, for Value-It the aim of the company can be to auction the food for developing market value and develop environmental friendly packaging services so that recycling of the food takes place in an effective manner.  

Conclusion

The calculation of the budget is done with an amount of 150k that is divided between market study, technology study and marketing efforts. Each of the activities is allocated an amount of 50k each.

Table 2: Team members and their HBDI model

(Source: Created by author)

The calculation of the budget can be made to the investors so that improvement on the budget can take place. It is necessary that Value-It maintains the budget of the company based on the development of the technology it wishes to implement and the manner in which disposal of wastes can take place. This can help in the development of the budget in a proper manner so that the company can evaluate the food wastage and ensure that the precautions taken for conducting a market analysis along with the technological analysis can help meet the budget. The presentation will be done via email.

Conclusion

In conclusion it can be said that the lessons learned can help in the development of a market and ensure that entrepreneurship on the basis of leadership be maintained so that complex problems can be solved. The marketing considerations, financial stability as well as the operations that need to be undertaken can be taken into consideration for the development of the project. At the same time, creative ideas can be provided that can help in addressing issues which can help in synthesising with the process required to be followed.

References

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