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Purpose-The aim of this empirical paper is to study information sharing in fresh food supply chains, with a specific goal of reducing waste and facilitating sustainable performance. The study focuses on material and information flow issues, specifically on sharing demand and shelf-life data. Design/methodology/approach-This work has been designed as an exploratory case study in three fresh food supply chains, milk, fresh fish, and fresh poultry, in the Nordic countries. The cases are based on interviews and data from the databases of the companies involved. Each case focuses on analyzing information flow, particularly the current order patterns and forecasting and planning process, and material flow, focusing on the supply chain structure. In two cases significant changes have been made to forecasting processes and material flow, while the third case intends to identify the most beneficial uses of shared information to create a sustainable fresh food supply chain. Findings-The performance of the perishable food chain can be improved by more efficient information sharing. The key to improved operations is how and for which purposes the shared data should be used. In addition, changes in the supply chain structure were needed to speed up the deliveries and ensure shelf availability. The cross-case analysis revealed that improved performance was obtained with parallel changes in information sharing and usage and in material flow. Originality/value-Few studies approach the problem of waste and sustainability from an integrated supply chain perspective. This paper links data sharing with the sustainability performance of the supply chain as a whole.

Managing the order-delivery processes between organizations is a key issue in supply chain management. Despite the increasing application of just-in-time ( JIT), lean and agile practices and new information systems that increase the visibility in supply chains, a lot of problems still remain. Surveys among European companies indicate that no signi -cant improvements have taken place in delivery performance during last decade. Vendor managed inventory (VMI) is a recent alternative for the order-delivery process. The fundamental change is that the ordering phase of the process is abolished, and the supplier is given both authority and responsibility to take care of the entire replenishment process. Despite of its advantages VMI has not yet become a standard mode of operation in companies. In this paper the bene ts of VMI are analyzed from the viewpoint of managing the replenishment process of the entire product range, not the viewpoint Riikka Kaipia (Tech. Lic.) works as a researcher in the Department of Industrial Management in Helsinki University of Technology. Her work on supply chain relationships is a part of a threeyear e-commerce initiative participated by leading Finnish companies in telecommunications, logistics, retailing and consumer packaged goods (www.tuta.hut. /ecomlog). She received her Master of Science (Eng.) degree in 1988. Her licentiate's thesis (1997) handles cross-docking in the grocery supply chain. Previously she worked as a development manager in a big Finnish wholesale and retail company. Jan Holmstro « m, Dr.Tech, is a Senior Researcher Fellow with the Helsinki University of Technology. Previously he has worked as a consultant to the Supply Chain Practice of McKinsey & Company.Kari Tanskanen is a Professor of Logistics at the Department of Industrial Management in Helsinki University of Technology. He is specialized in logistical management of industrial enterprises, supply chain management and supplier management. As a researcher and professor of the university he has taken part in several research projects since 1988. The projects have been undertaken collaboratively with companies from several industry sectors -metalworking, electronics, construction, forest and food industries. of a single stock keeping unit. A time-based analysis method is developed for measuring the bene ts of VMI in di ¶ erent situations. The hypothesis explored that by taking the whole product range viewpoint the advantages of VMI are more readily identi ed. The hypothesis is tested by using real-life demand data from three di ¶ erent grocery supply chains.

We develop actionable design propositions for collaborative sales and operations planning (S&OP) based on the observation of contexts in which benefits are generated d or are absent d from retail information sharing. An information sharing pilot project in a real-life setting of two product manufacturers and one retailer was designed. The project resulted in one manufacturer, serving a retailer from its local factory, developing a process for collaborative S&OP, while the other manufacturer serving a retailer from more distant regional factories abandoned the process. The evaluation of the outcomes experienced by the two manufacturers allows us to examine contexts in fine-grained detail and explain why introducing information sharing in the S&OP processes produce d or fail to produce d benefits. The paper contributes to the supply chain information sharing literature by presenting a field tested and evolved S&OP design for non-standard demand situations, and by a contextual analysis of the mechanisms that produce the benefits of retailer collaboration and information sharing in the S&OP process.

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