Information communication technology and sustainable food supply chain: a resource-based analysis

Increasing population leads to growing food demand. However, the competition for land, water, and energy puts pressure on the food supply chain system. Therefore, developing a sustainable food supply chain (SFSC) is emerging as a strategic imperative for the Chinese food industry. There are three aspects of sustainability, which need to be considered: social, environmental, and economic. This research focuses on how information and communication technologies can be used to improve sustainable food supply chains in China. This paper draws on resource-based theories, which describe the kinds of ICT resources and capabilities that are likely to enable one firm to outperform a competing firm in relation to some given process. The empirical research is based on 89 responses from a survey with Chinese food retailers' manager, the regression analysis are used. The findings suggest that ICT resources are moderated by inter-firm coordination to influence the SFSC performance.