title: A study of implementation strategies for food safety management system in global supply chains
Creators: name: Nguyen, Tram TB
Publisher: name: University of Liverpool Repository
Year: 2023

description: Global food supply chains consist of a vast number of stakeholders, and involve an enormous variety of structures, logistics that change rapidly and diversify continuously (Kafetzopoulos, Psomas and Kafetzopoulos, 2013). Implementing a food safety management system (FSMS) is a regulatory requirement for every food firm in global food supply chains (CAC, 2009). The success of each company's FSMS in preventing foodborne hazards depends on its correct implementation and application - processes which can be influenced by a wide variety of factors. Despite the increasing importance of successful FSMS implementation, there is a paucity of evidence on continuous improvement opportunities. This thesis is a pioneering response containing six chapters that aim to: • Present a systematic review the literature of food safety management in global supply chains. • Qualitatively investigate why a factor is considered critical to the success of food safety management in the context of Chinese and Vietnamese fishery industry. • Propose a model for measuring the FSMS implementation based on their regulatory requirements. • Empirically test the proposed hypotheses to confirm critical success factors and explore the relationship between FSMS and business performance. • Identify Best practice among the studied firms. • Explore the differences among groups in term of their critical success factors (CSFs), supplier selection and the quality of supply chain relationship. The thesis concludes that apart from critical impacts of internal factors such as management responsibility and human resources on FSMS implementation, collaborative and supportive supply chains as well as many activities of food-safety governance play significant roles in enhancing food safety management in China and Vietnam. Furthermore, it examines the degree to which the implementation of FSMS influences the operational and financial performance of these firms. The evidence provided in the thesis facilitates food firms’ managers to target critical resources and supports, and identify effective policies, practices, and procedures to improve FSMS implementation leading to better overall business performance. The research findings propose the use of CSFs as a more proactive approach to identifying the mechanism to enable continuous improvement opportunities for the current FSMS according to each firm’s status, particularly for Small and Medium-size Enterprises (SMEs) with limited resources. Theoretically, this thesis contributes to the field of food safety and supply chains management by identifying and exploring the impact CSFs on FSMS implementation from three levels including the organisational, market and broader environments. Six CSFs have been identified through the sequential mixed method, namely management responsibility, human resource, organisational resources, external support, collaboration, and food-safety governance. It also proposes the measurement of FSMS implementation constructed on the key regulatory activities instead of being limited to HACCP principles or only considered FSMS implementation as a part of quality management. Additionally, critical shreds of evidence are provided to clarify the relationship between FSMS implementation and business performance which is an identified research gap as well as an important motivation for the manufacturing and exporting sector in developing countries to continuously improve their current practices. In addition, the thesis identifies good practice in implementing food safety management system among the studied companies and provides several suggestions for firms to improve their current practices. For instance, food processing firms should enhance collaboration with their stakeholders in global supply chains since this significantly contributes to FSMS implementation. Likewise, they should follow food safety criteria when selecting suppliers and develop a better relationship with their stakeholders in the supply chains on food safety issues. Moreover, the outcome of the empirical research presented in this thesis has revealed the positive impact of FSMS implementation on operational performance, as well as the positive impact of operational performance on financial performance. The thesis suggests that the effective implementation of FSMS can significantly contribute to the realisation of operational and financial improvements in food manufacturing in order to increase companies’ competitiveness in the highly dynamic global marketplace. It also presents the critical roles of other parties such as government and authorities and business associations. More considerable efforts are needed to enhance their activities in supporting and governing food firms’ FSMS implementation.