Background:
It is natural that from time to time, some unsold food would remain when the season ends. In the past, food
product leftovers were either salvaged at a low selling price or simply “thrown away” as garbage. However,
nowadays, the world has changed and around the world, we can see different scenarios regarding the use of
food product leftovers.
For instance, some NGOs provide fridges storing the leftover food products collected from some companies
(e.g., manufacturers and retailers) for charity. In some cases, the government even has set up a food bank to
collect food from the food companies that cannot be sold but can still be eaten and distribute it centrally and
then distribute it as quickly as possible. Besides, in the sharing economy era, different forms of platforms and
apps also arise.
Requirements:
1. Write an individual report, around 2,000 words (excluding the reference list), to discuss the logistics and
physical distribution activities for food leftover sharing in the sharing economy.
2. The report should be real-case based. That is, one specific real case (from any country) should be selected,
and the whole report should be written based on that specific case. The selected case can be:
1) An NGO;
2) A platform or an app;
3) A food bank or a food agency;
4) A particular company which has a related foodshare project.
But the case should be real and retrievable.
3. Each report is suggested to cover 1 to 2 topics in the following: Transportation Management, Distribution
Management, Warehousing Management, 3PLs, 4PLs, Information Systems for Logistics, Customer Service
in Logistics, and Reverse Logistics. Simultaneously including all above is definitely not suggested.
4. A suggested structure could be:
Part I: General background
1) Provide a brief introduction to the selected case, with a particular focus on its food leftover sharing
related aspect (e.g., the projects, missions, driving forces, target markets and achievements.).
(Suggested word limit: 500 words)
2) Explain the food leftover sharing logistics network of the selected case. For example, it could be the
detailed category of the product (e.g.: Fruits? Vegetables? Or, everything?), the source of the food
leftovers (e.g.: From a particular manufacturer? From a supermarket? etc.), the partners / supply chain
members (e.g.: the brands, the location, etc.), the collection points, etc. (Suggested word limit: 500
words)
Part II: Logistics and physical distribution challenges and solutions
3) Identify its key logistics and physical distribution challenges, based on the topics listed in Point 3
above. (suggested word limit: 500 words)
4) Discuss the corresponding solutions. (suggested word limit: 500 words)
5. Notice that challenges and solutions should be the major focuses (around 50% of the whole report). The
solutions can either be the real practices of the selected case, or suggestions proposed by the student. But
please notice that if the solutions are suggestions proposed by the student, the student should find some
evidence to support the reliability and feasibility of the proposed solutions (e.g., by citing some references).
6. References should be clearly provided, which can be related websites, official reports, government reports,
news, and magazines. In the meantime, recent academic journals (Published in Year 2018 and after) are
required to be citied.
7. For reference use, please follow the university’s standard referencing format.