Barriers to international supply chain management in Iranian flower industry

Arash Riasi

doi:10.5267/j.msl.2015.2.005

Abstract

Article history: Received October 28, 2014 Received in revised format 2 February 2015 Accepted 4 February 2015 Available online February 4 2015 The main purpose of this study was to determine the major barriers to international supply chain management in Iranian flower industry. The results of the research revealed that the most important barrier is lack of investment in Iranian flower distribution sector. The results also indicated that the second most important barrier to international supply chain management in Iranian flower industry might be the rules that limit the presence of international distributors in the country’s flower industry. According to this research’s findings it can be concluded that it is useful to allow foreign investors to invest in this sector in order to improve the efficiency of supply chains and to ease the introduction of modern supply chain technologies to Iranian flower industry. Growing Science Ltd. All rights reserved. 5 © 201

Highlights

Handfield (2011) defines supply chain management as “the active management of supply chain activities to maximize customer value and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.” Every prosperous company owes some of its success to effective supply chain management
The results indicated that the second most important barrier to international supply chain management in Iranian flower industry might be the rules that limit the presence of international distributors in the country’s flower industry
Iranian flower industry is largely dependent on global markets, because it needs to obtain most of its raw materials from international suppliers and it sells most of its products to international markets

Summary

Introduction

Handfield (2011) defines supply chain management as “the active management of supply chain activities to maximize customer value and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.” Every prosperous company owes some of its success to effective supply chain management. Chain management covers the procurement of raw materials from suppliers and the distribution of finished products to consumers. In today's business environment inventory management, production planning and scheduling, logistics management, and information management are vital to satiating customers’ needs and creating competitive advantages. The global supply chain management is one of the most important parts of flower industry, because the distribution of final products of this industry is convoluted. The durability of cut flowers is a major issue in the distribution of these products and requires complicated planning. Iranian flower industry is largely dependent on global markets, because it needs to obtain most of its raw materials from international suppliers and it sells most of its products to international markets. Experts believe that if the main barriers to international supply chain management in Iranian flower industry will be identified and resolved, this industry can gain a big share in global markets (Karimi & Salehi 1997)

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