Literature Review

The importance of literature review cannot be underestimated, since it is imperative

that managers seek advice from existing academic research. This literature review
focuses the book "Food Supply Chain Management", written by Bourlakis,M.A. and
Weightman, as it is concluded that the literature chosen is closed related to the central
objective of this project report.
For Durian Cottage Pty Ltd to import mon-thong Durian products from Thailand, it is
of vital importance that the Durian Cottage Pty Ltd keep a tight control throughout the
entire food supply chain. Mishap in any procedures throughout the food supply chain
will affect the Durian products' quality and this will consequently damage the
company's reputation, causing a devastating impact on the business in the long term.
The chosen literature fully embodies the philosophy of total quality management, as
this is essentially the only sensible approach to address this project.
To better utilize the chosen literature to analyze the issues within the Durian
importation project, the three major issues that are affecting the business must first be
clearly identified and analyzed. The three major issues are:
1, Durian product need to be maintained frozen throughout the entire procedure, from
supplier to end user.
2, Finding the credible durian supplier from Thailand is also of great importance,
since this defines the original product quality, also the company will have no control
over the original production of the durian product, this all contributes to the
importance of choosing the right durian supplier.
3, The logistics management in the company is costing tremendous amount of time
and resources, and it is in fact distracting the company from focusing on its resources
on the more important procedures, including the quality control of the durian
products. The logistics issues of the Durian product must be properly addressed
before the Durian Cottage Pty Ltd could make a considerable amount of profit on this.
In response to the first issue mentioned above, the chose literature actually devoted an
entire chapter emphasizing the importance of temperature control in the food industry.
Bourlakis (2007) believes that managing the supply chain to maintain quality has
direct cost and service implications. The process of logistics management of the
durian product, is not as simple as moving the products from one place to another.
There are multiple factors that need to be considered throughout the process. Among
the relevant factors, temperature control is one of the most important.
The chosen literature introduces this concept called "temperature controlled supply

chain", otherwise known as TCSC. The reason why TCSC is important to the food
industry can be justified by the exact nature of the product in question. Failing to
maintain a reasonable temperature control can drastically affect Durians' quality and
taste. Furthermore, it is also legally binding that food companies shall maintain a
reasonable TCSC. To maximize the originality of the durian products' flavor , the
Durian Cottage Pty Ltd will implement its own standards regarding the TCSC, this
will involve a even more strict temperature control than the legally binding
requirements.
When it comes to the second issue in question. Currently the Durian Cottage Pty Ltd
could only try to identify the credible suppliers and then seek cooperation
opportunities with them. The company should adopt a standard procedure when
assessing the eligibility of durian suppliers, this includes recognizing the relevant
certificates that the supplier might be holding, requesting that the supplier display the
temperature monitoring data and pertinent equipment.
The chosen literature has an entire chapter addressing the feasibility of outsourcing
the logistics management to a third party company. This provides an ideal solution to
the third critical issue mentioned above. Over the decades, there has been a worldwide trend for food companies to outsource its logistics service to a third party
company, transferring this 'ancillary' activity to a third party could potentially cut
tremendously amount of cost, which could be better used in other procedures, i.e.
quality control.
The critical issue here is how the Durian Cottage Pty Ltd could maintain a proper
control of the logistics management when it is outsourced to a third party company.
This issue, however , shares some similarity with the solution of the second issue in
question. The step one towards a successful and mutually beneficial outsourcing
activity is finding the credible Logistics Service Provider. The procedures of assessing
the Logistics Service Provider should include assessing the relevant certificates of the
service provider as well as the reputation and experience factors.
Logistics contains several inter-related activities (Bourlakis, 2007), including freight
transport, warehouse management, inventory management, materials handling and
relevant information processing, this will later come across the traceability issues of
the durian products. Choosing to what extent the Durian Cottage Pty Ltd should
integrate the importing activities with the third party logistics service provider is also
critical to the project.

Bourlakis, M.A. & Weightman. 2007, Food Supply Chain Management, John
Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Faught, K.S. 2000, Total Quality Management systems: Construct definition and

organizational-level effects, ProQuest, UMI Dissertations Publishing.