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Spring is finally here after what seems like the longest winter ever, and we’re coming out of hibernation with some exciting news to share. Chain Business Insights is now part of Sententia Partners, a provider of research and thought leadership content for leading companies in financial services, information technology and supply chain management. Yes, we’ve more or less been on lockdown for the past year. But that’s not to... Read More

By Sherree DeCovny, Founder ​About 25 years ago dietary supplements was a $4 billion industry comprising about 4,000 unique products. Today, it’s worth more than $40 billion, and there are more than 50,000 products, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The industry is much bigger when you add natural foods and beverages as well as cannabis products into the mix. Despite the exponential growth, companies’ operations... Read More

By Sherree DeCovny Thought leadership content plays an important role in marketing strategy. It’s a great way to demonstrate that your organization understands the issues and pain points in your industry, and has ideas about addressing them. However, developing good content is a process that involves identifying a compelling idea or angle, structuring an outline, interviewing subject matter experts, writing and editing multiple drafts, obtaining approvals and distributing it... Read More

By Sherree DeCovny, Founder A first step in creating food supply chains that are environmentally sustainable, ethical and meet the growing demand for transparency is sourcing ingredients and supporting logistics services that meet these standards. Two Dutch startups, Cogoport Europe and Milvum, are supporting Royal Blue & Orange International Trading  (RBO Trading,) a Dutch enterprise that is developing a blockchain-based marketplace solution that could provide such a sourcing option. ... Read More

By Ken Cottrill, Contributor ​​​ If knowledge is power, a blockchain system is a power grid that distributes knowledge to users. That knowledge can be leveraged to make supply chains more transparent. As we describe in the Chain Business Insights eBook Blockchain in Smallholder Farming: Sowing the Seeds of Growth Blockchain in Smallholder Farming, transparency is a vital commodity in smallholder farming communities where growers have limited access to... Read More

By Ken Cottrill, Contributor In countries such as the United States the increasing number of foodborne illness outbreaks is attracting attention, but the issues are by no means confined to wealthy nations. A World Bank study published in October 2018 finds that the impact of unsafe food on low- and middle-income economies amounts to some $110 billion annually in lost productivity and medical expenses. Companies are developing blockchain solutions... Read More

By Ken Cottrill, Contributor ​ As someone who struggles to remember names, the notion of remembering 380,000 seems other-worldly. In a recent company announcement Starbucks’ Director of Traceability, Arthur Karuletwa, says: “since its beginning, Starbucks has known the names of the farmers within its supply chain, including the more than 380,000 farms it worked with last year alone.” Of course, Starbucks has a high-powered IT system to keep these names on... Read More