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Supply Chain Transparency at Goodio Chocolate

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Responsible Business Operations

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Supply Chain Management ((SSSCM,volume 10))

Abstract

This chapter examines the topic of supply chain transparency from both a practice and an academic perspective. The authors’ work with Goodio, a Helsinki-based craft chocolate maker, is used as the basis of discussion. To create a transparent supply chain requires a company to both disclose information to consumers and gain visibility into its supply chain. We explore both topics in this chapter. First, regarding the disclosure of information to consumers, we overview an online consumer study the authors conducted with Goodio to test consumers’ valuations of transparency. Second, to illustrate the challenges of supply chain visibility, we present examples from practice of innovative methods companies are using to gain visibility into their supply chains. We conclude the chapter by outlining potential future research directions for the topic of supply chain transparency.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://goodiochocolate.com/

  2. 2.

    Section 2 is based on the authors’ case study with Goodio Chocolate. For further details, please see “Goodio Supply Chain: A Chocolatey Future?” Darden Business Publishing, OM-1613 (2019) by M. Hämäläinen, T. Kraft, D. Thomas, G. Yemen, M.Y. Zhang, and Y. Zheng.

  3. 3.

    “The Chocolate Industry,” International Cocoa Organization, February 8, 2018, https://www.icco.org/about-cocoa/chocolate-industry.html

  4. 4.

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/eshachhabra/2017/01/12/this-finnish-entrepreneur-wants-food-businesses-to-be-accountable-for-public-health/#37540f1f3f18

  5. 5.

    “First taste of chocolate in Ivory Coast,” YouTube video, 5:55, posted by VPRO Metropolis, Feb. 21, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEN4hcZutO0 (accessed Nov. 20, 2019).

  6. 6.

    We also elicit participants’ willingness to pay (WTP) using a scale ranging from $2 to $12 for US participants and EUR2 to EUR12 for Finland participants. However, price is not a main focus of our study since Goodio has minimal influence on the prices its retail partners charge. Thus, we do not emphasize our WTP findings here.

  7. 7.

    We initially also considered a third message format – belief-based (i.e., a statement of values that the company commits to). However, the results from our first wave of data collection showed that belief-based messaging has no effect on participants’ WTB for any of the topics studied. Thus, we omit the discussion of this message format.

  8. 8.

    https://www.laborvoices.com/

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Gerry Yemen (University of Virginia), Meng Yuan Zhang (MIT), and Jingjing Piao (MIT) for their help with this chapter.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Industrial Engineering & Management, Aalto University, Espoo, Finland

    Markko Hämäläinen

  2. Poole College of Management, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Tim Kraft

  3. Darden School of Business, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Doug Thomas

  4. Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Yanchong Zheng

Authors
  1. Markko Hämäläinen
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  2. Tim Kraft
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  3. Doug Thomas
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  4. Yanchong Zheng
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tim Kraft .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Kenan-Flagler Business School, UNC Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Jayashankar M. Swaminathan

  2. Kenan-Flagler Bussiness School, UNC Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Vinayak Deshpande

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Hämäläinen, M., Kraft, T., Thomas, D., Zheng, Y. (2021). Supply Chain Transparency at Goodio Chocolate. In: Swaminathan, J.M., Deshpande, V. (eds) Responsible Business Operations. Springer Series in Supply Chain Management, vol 10. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51957-5_11

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