Purpose This paper examines how automotive manufacturers in Hungary and Czechia have implemented resilience and sustainability measures within new product development (NPD).Design/methodology/approach Building on the resource dependence theory (RDT), it uses data from eleven in-depth interviews triangulated with suppliers’ codes of conduct and non-financial reports.Findings Resilience considerations and dependencies, as expected by RDT, shape the NPD decisions and sustainability is embedded, especially when prompted by customers or company needs for higher efficiency.Research limitations/implications The research is limited by the selection of large companies as well as by the sample size, while the case study approach enables us to dive into the strategies.Practical implications The research pointed to the importance of strategic procurement and the role of original equipment manufacturer (OEMs) and multinationals’ management in the operational process.Originality/value We contribute to extant literature by linking supply chain resilience and sustainability with NPD in an asymmetric and dependency-driven process.
PurposeThis paper addresses the logistical challenges of ensuring a potable water supply in crisis management, with an emphasis on the role of technological innovation. Rapid access to safe drinking water is identified as a prerequisite for sustaining human health and dignity during emergencies such as natural disasters and armed conflicts.Design/methodology/approachThe study identifies and evaluates five mobile water treatment technologies suitable for deployment in crisis scenarios. The evaluation is based on a systematic selection framework and conducted through the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) according to Saaty's method, which applies pairwise comparisons to determine the relative importance of predefined criteria.FindingsThe analysis highlights the effectiveness of mobile water treatment units in addressing critical logistical issues such as distribution efficiency, storage capacity and water quality assurance. The relevance of these results is particularly evident in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), where geopolitical instability and the war in Ukraine have exposed critical vulnerabilities in water infrastructure and emergency logistics systems. The findings confirm that advanced mobile solutions, capable of rapid deployment and adaptation to diverse environmental conditions, represent a viable means of securing a safe water supply where conventional infrastructure is disrupted or absent.Originality/valueThis paper contributes an AHP-based decision-support framework that links the technical performance of mobile water treatment units with crisis logistics requirements, enabling more effective deployment planning and resource allocation. Future research should focus on validating the framework across different crisis scenarios and examining the sensitivity of results to operational and logistical priority changes.
PurposeThe Minimum Life on Receipt (MLOR) is a rule that specifies the maximum age a retailer is willing to accept a food product from a supplier. Retailers impose this rule to avoid the costs associated with product spoilage and to ensure that products meet high freshness standards. However, it places a burden on producers who have limited time to produce and ship products to retailers. Products that do not comply with the MLOR rule must be disposed of, creating waste for the supplier. Therefore, the supplier must find a balance between production efficiency, waste, and freshness delivered. In this work, we investigate the possibility of defining an optimal MLOR rule, i.e. a joint decision between a supplier and its retailers that maximizes the overall profits of the supply chain.Design/methodology/approachWe compare the optimal MLOR rule, total profits, relative waste, and average freshness in two different collaborative inventory management strategies - Vendor-Managed Inventory (VMI, where all inventory is managed solely by the supplier) and Retailer-Managed Inventory (RMI, where each entity manages its own inventory). This comparison is conducted across different levels of demand uncertainty using a robust optimization approach.FindingsOur results indicate that the VMI strategy allows better management of relative waste and induces a higher MLOR rule than the RMI strategy, regardless of the level of uncertainty.Originality/valueThis work compares, for the first time, the impact of jointly deciding the MLOR rule in two different collaborative inventory management systems.
PurposePurpose is to investigate the adoption of digital, environmental and human-centered solutions by Transport, Shipping and Logistics (TSL) companies in Poland and to analyze their impact on last-mile logistics performance, specifically focusing on operational effectiveness, risk management and product safety assurance. The study is grounded in the resource-based view (RBV), stakeholder theory and the triple bottom line (TBL), while also reflecting emerging Logistics 5.0 assumptions.Design/methodology/approachThe study applies a quantitative survey of TSL companies in Poland, evaluating the adoption of digital, environmental and social solutions in last-mile logistics. Correlation analysis was conducted to test nine hypotheses linking these solutions to operational effectiveness, risk management and product safety assurance.FindingsThe results show that environmental solutions are the most developed, digital solutions are moderately implemented and social solutions are the least adopted. Larger and foreign-capital firms consistently outperform smaller, domestic enterprises, confirming the importance of scale and resources for sustainability-oriented innovation.Practical implicationsCompanies should prioritize solutions that deliver both efficiency and sustainability, while policymakers can support Small and Medium Enterprises through financial incentives and collaborative platforms.Social implicationsBy demonstrating how digital and sustainable solutions strengthen risk reduction and product safety, the study highlights the growing societal importance of greener, safer and more customer-centric last-mile logistics systems that foster consumer trust and community well-being.Originality/valueThis study integrates digital, environmental and social practices into a unified framework for last-mile logistics. Unlike previous fragmented studies, it simultaneously examines operational effectiveness, risk management and product safety assurance while linking Logistics 4.0 technologies with emerging Logistics 5.0 perspectives.
