Orientador: João Guilerme de Camargo Ferraz Machado / Resumo: A pecuária de corte se destaca como atividade do agronegócio em um cenário competitivo com escala produtiva ascendente e expressiva na participação nas exportações e formação das riquezas geradas. O processo da rastreabilidade destaca-se por garantir a eficiência e diminuição dos custos dos processos produtivos, dinamizar as estruturas organizacionais dos estabelecimentos produtores, bem como promover acesso a mercados exigentes demandantes de segurança e qualidade dos alimentos; além de agir como “ponte” suprindo o mercado consumidor de informações acerca de todo processo produtivo, armazenamento e distribuição da carne bovina. Nesse aspecto o Sistema Brasileiro de Identificação Individual de Bovinos e Búfalos (SISBOV), contribui potencialmente como ferramenta de controle de gestão e manejo de animais, além de possibilitar o acesso dos estabelecimentos rurais a denomina “Lista Trace” que por meio de auditoria de certificadoras de protocolos de adesão ao sistema, ficam aptas a exportação a mercados exigentes de segurança e qualidade como a União Europeia. Destaca-se ainda a informação e os fluxos informacionais formais gerados tanto no processo em si da rastreabilidade como da adesão ao sistema, atuando como ativos nas organizações, sendo considerados como recursos estratégicos nas tomadas de decisões, ressaltando que os fluxos informacionais tácitos como relevantes na construção das ações organizacionais. Nesse contexto busca se responder se a gestão da informação e os fluxo... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Beef cattle stands out as an agribusiness activity in a competitive scenario with an upward and significant production scale in participation in exports and formation of the wealth generated. The traceability process stands out for ensuring efficiency and lowering the costs of production processes, streamlining the organizational structures of producing establishments, as well as promoting access to demanding markets that demand food safety and quality; in addition to acting as a “bridge” supplying the consumer market with information about the entire production process, storage and distribution of beef. In this respect, the Brazilian System for the Individual Identification of Bovines and Buffaloes (SISBOV), potentially contributes as a tool for animal management and management control, in addition to allowing access by rural establishments to the so-called “Lista Trace” which, through the audit of certifiers protocols for joining the system, they are suitable for export to demanding safety and quality markets such as the European Union. Also noteworthy is the information and formal information flows generated both in the process itself of traceability and adherence to the system, acting as assets in organizations, being considered as strategic resources in decision making, emphasizing that tacit information flows as relevant in construction of organizational actions. In this context, it seeks to answer whether information management and informational flows are considered in... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

Purpose – The complexity and resulting opacity of TC supply chains, and the fragmentation of approaches to traceability to address these issues, revealed the necessity of collaboration for traceability in TC supply chains. Although the challenges have been explored in literature and practice, it has been left unstudied how collaboration can overcome these challenges. Further, current literature is limited to focus on buyer-supplier relationships rather than the inclusion of external supply chain (SC) actors despite their important role in the implementation of SC traceability. Acknowledging the need for broadening the perspective from dyad to network level, the purpose of this study is to examine collaborative relationships for implementing traceability in the extended TC supply chain network, and thus identify collaborative challenges and possible improvement opportunities. Design/methodology/approach – This research was based on a multiple case study method of three relationship types considering primary data from semi-structured interviews and documentary secondary data related to the studied organizations. While embracing an abductive approach by extending the AARI framework by Welch and Wilkinson (2002) to the context of traceability in TC supply chains, the data analysis followed the Grounded Theory methodology of open, axial and selective coding. The findings of the dyadic relationships were discussed by their substance layers and cross-case comparison. Findings – Through the extended model, the findings shed light on the role of collaborative relationships in the implementation of SC traceability and their interconnectedness on the network level. Based on developing preconditions for dyadic relationships, deductions for the network level could be made. Further, the essential role of external SC actors for the implementation of traceability in the TC supply chain network indicated the necessity of considering collaboration with the extended network. Consequently, possible improvement opportunities for implementing traceability through better collaborative relationships in the extended TC supply chain network could be detected. Originality/Value – This study adds to the theory of network relationships and literature of traceability in TC supply chains by focusing on collaboration in the extended network. It creates new insights by including the ideological dimension. By considering possible chain dependencies of relationships and the interrelation of schema couplings with resource ties and activity links, it can offer practitioners a better understanding of the network behavior and possible challenges in relationships. The proposed set of preconditions can provide inspiration and a change in perspective for successfully collaborating to implement traceability in TC supply chain networks.

Transparency within the supply chain has become a key priority for textile brands in response to the growing stakeholder concerns around social and environmental impacts of the textile value chain. Textile industry is extremely labour dependent and adds massively to the environmental degradation, adding on to this the highly complex and scattered global supply chain network makes it more difficult for brands to implement transparency in their supply base. Due to the low-cost labour in developing countries, the majority of the textile suppliers is located in South Asia, where the cultural values have been found to be in sharp contrast to the Global West. Many prior studies have also highlighted the lack of supplier’s top management support as the linking barrier to sustainable initiatives. Hence, this research was designed to investigate the behaviour and attitude of top management executives towards various transparency dimensions, i.e., Traceability, Sustainability conditions (Social and environmental) and Purchasing practices, in order to understand the underlying behavioural barriers. The semi-structured interview with 9 top management executives across India and Sri Lanka revealed three major themes: (a) Transparency as business imperative, (b) Distrustful relationship with brand and (c) Tendency to externalise responsibility. The Schwartz theory of cultural orientation was used to examine the role of cultural value in explaining the identified behaviour of top management executives.

Background: The high degree of digitalization in today's society allows for the possibility totrack material and equipment on construction sites, offering a deeper understanding andpotentially optimizing their efficiency. With the help of tracking, one can optimize the usewhile also make demands on suppliers on the type of material and equipment you as acustomer want and be able to control, this in a fast and safe way. At present, there is notracking solution for dirt that allows companies and individuals to control how the handlingtakes place and where the dirt originally comes from. This creates problems as it ischallenging to analyze and optimize the use of dirt due to the fact that it is not possible totrack digitally, and one do not get the same understanding of how dirt is handled. The marketthereby demands a solution that allows tracking of dirt in as fast, easy, and safe way.  Purpose: To understand who users and stakeholders are and to develop a solution that helpsusers and stakeholders to track, store, send and receive data and dirt of interest. This is tosimplify the tracking of relevant dirt and data while also improving the efficiency ofcompanies in terms of data flow and create security and reliability between users andstakeholders when it comes to buying, transporting, and selling dirt Method: The research method used in this thesis is based on Blessing and Chakrabarti'sDesign Research Method (DRM) while the main solution method is based on DesignThinking from the ME310 course at Stanford University.  Result: The result presents a solution that allows tracking of dirt on and off construction sitesand other relevant areas that suiting the users which are considered to be individuals andcompanies primarily connected to the sale, purchase and transportation of dirt. The solutionfacilitates tracking while minimizing paperwork as the solution offers to save all data in oneplace that everyone connected to the dirt can take part in. This means that the solution isuniversal and can be used between companies, while authorities and customers can accessinformation to check that companies that handle dirt follow the laws, rules, and requirementsplaced on them. Conclusions: This thesis proves the possibility for the development and use of a system totrack dirt and its properties in a fast, simple, and safe way while facilitating for the userregarding paperwork and optimization of how work should be. This in combination with thecompanies transparency and traceability increases, which means that customers andauthorities can take greater responsibility in ensuring that companies comply with the rules,laws, and requirements imposed on them. / Bakgrund: I dagens digitala samhälle så har spårning av material och utrustning, inte minstpå byggarbetsplatser, blivit till stor nytta då man kan få en bättre förståelse över hur materialoch utrustning ska användas på ett så effektivt sätt som möjligt. Man kan med hjälp avspårning optimera användningen medans man även kan ställa krav på leverantörer på vilkentyp av material och utrusningen man som kund vill ha och kunna kontrollera detta på ettsnabbt och säkert sätt. I dagsläget finns det inte en spårningslösning för dirt som tillåter attföretag och privatpersoner kan kontroller hur hanteringen sker och var dirt ursprungligenkommer ifrån. Detta skapar problem då det är svårt att analysera och optimera användningenav dirt på grund av att det inte går att spåra digitalt och man får inte samma förståelse för hurdirt hanteras. Marknaden efterfrågar därmed en lösning som tillåter spårning av dirt på ett såsnabbt, lätt och säkert sätt som möjligt.  Syfte: Förstå vem som är användare samt intressenter och att utveckla en lösning som hjälperanvändare och intressenter att spåra, lagra, skicka och ta emot data om dirt av intresse. Dettaför att förenkla spårning av relevant dirt samt data och samtidigt förbättra effektiviteten hosföretag när det gäller dataflöde och skapa säkerhet och tillförlitlighet mellan användare ochintressenter när det gäller att köpa, transportera och sälja dirt.  Metod: Forskningsmetoden som använts i detta arbete är baserad på Blessing ochChakrabartis Design Research Metod (DRM) samtidigt som den huvudsakligalösningsmetoden är baserad på Design Thinking från kursen ME310 på Stanford University. Resultat: Resultatet presenterar en lösning som tillåter spårning av dirt på och utanförbyggarbetsplatser och andra relevanta områden som passar användaren som anses varpersoner och företag främst kopplade till försäljning, köp och transport av dirt. Lösningenunderlättar spåningen samtidigt som den minimerar pappersarbete då lösningen erbjuder attspara all data på ett ställe som alla som är kopplade till dirt kan ta del av. Detta medför attlösningen är universal och kan användas mellan företag medans myndigheter och kunder kanta del av information för att kontroller att företag som hanterar dirt följer dem lagar, regleroch krav som ställs på dem.  Slutsatser: Detta arbete visar på att det går att utveckla och använda system för att spåra dirtoch dess egenskaper på ett snabbt, enkel och säkert sätt samtidigt som man underlättar föranvändaren gällande pappersarbete och optimering av hur arbete bör utföras. Detta ikombination med att företagens transparens och spårbarhet ökar vilket medför att kunder ochmyndigheter kan ta ett större ansvar i att kontroller att företag följer dem regler, lagar ochkrav som ställs på dem.

Software development has gotten more complex and certain parts being more and more automated. Continuous integration practices with automated build and testing greatly benefit the development process. Combined with continuous deployment, the software can go directly from commit to deployment within hours or days which means that every commit is a possible deployment. The ability to trace links between artifacts is known as software traceability which has become a necessity and requirement in the industry. Following these traces and the ability to answer questions and base decisions on them is a complex problem. Tools already used in the industry are hard to adapt since every stakeholder requires different needs. Eiffel protocol aims to be as flexible and scalable as possible to fit as many needs as necessary for the stakeholder. This thesis provides an extension to Eiffel-store, an already existing open-source application that can visualize events in the Eiffel protocol that will be extended with functionality so that it can filter events and answer some questions stakeholders might have.

Background: The increasing supply chain complexity has made verification of sustainable practices a challenging objective to achieve. Blockchain has been discussed as a potential solution to improve several aspects of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM), as traceability and proof of origin for products are increasingly demanded by consumers. This emerging technology was initially developed as a secure distributed ledger for the cryptocurrency sector but has since been implemented in various industries from food to healthcare and logistics. Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to analyze how blockchain technology can facilitate more transparent sustainable supply chain practices. Two research questions are answered regarding the current barriers and main benefits in the consumer product sector. Method: This thesis takes a qualitative approach to investigate how blockchain can generate more transparent supply chains from a social and environmental perspective. As a multi-case study, triangulation is achieved by analyzing blockchain’s potential to improve transparency and traceability from different viewpoints. Interviews were conducted with consumer product companies to understand current sustainability challenges and with blockchain experts to gain further insight into blockchain’s potential to solve these issues. By gathering data from various perspectives, this thesis takes an exploratory approach combined with a qualitative approach in accordance with the constructional position. Conclusion: This thesis contributes to the current state of blockchain awareness by identifying and distinctively naming the practical challenges. Companies can gain an increased understanding of blockchain and its current challenges in SSCM, regardless of their industry. By knowing which practical challenges blockchain can solve, their willingness to implement the technology can be heightened. The current barriers are presented to emphasize that the knowledge about blockchain needs to be improved before widespread adoption of blockchain is possible. Four practical challenges for consumer product companies were identified: trustworthy information, geographical distance, supply chain complexity, and tracking.

Kartongbruket AB has a supplier of bale pulp which is transitioning to an RFID marking of its bales. Due to this, new perspectives are requested on an RFID implementation regarding the handling of bales. This study focuses on the inbound logistics process and the pulp bale handling process. Furthermore, traceability-related problems are noted due to the fact that the current scanning methodology does not work with sufficient precision. The coexistence between the current barcode reading system and the RFID reading system is also something that is identified as topic which needs to be studied. This study’s choice of the process industry and the cardboard industry is based on a theoretical gap regarding the above-mentioned concepts and problems in this specific industry. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to be helpful to Kartongbruket AB in their upcoming RFID implementation, and to fill the identified theoretical gaps. Method: This is a case study at Kartongbruket AB. Empirics have been collected through semi-structured interviews with relevant internal actors, where the respondents have been identified using a snowball selection method. The study is of a qualitative nature and the theoretical frame of reference has been created through a literature study. Conclusion: This study concludes that RFID can be used in the inbound logistics process to make stock balances more reliable in several potential ways. In addition to this, it can be concluded that an RFID-based system can lead to a centralized traceability system in the pulpbale handling process where internal actors can gain a greater knowledge base in customer complaints cases. The study's presented implementation model may be used as a support for the upcoming RFID implementation. The study also establishes that the merging model is the most suitable coexistence model for Kartongbruket AB when RFID and barcodes are to be run together in the pulp bale handling process.

The pulp and paper industry is currently facing major challenges. Owing to the substitution of fossil-dependent products with recyclable and biodegradable ones, there is an immense demand for fibre-based products. As a result, there is an urgent need to streamline the supply chain. Additionally, consumers are increasingly pressuring businesses within the industry to improve supply chain transparency as the importance of responsible sourcing of forest-based products are gaining increased attention. To mitigate these issues, a high level of transparency and traceability throughout the entire supply chain, incorruptible tracking systems and secure forest certification systems is of utmost importance within the industry. In recent years, a distributed ledger technology, referred to as blockchain has emerged as a promising technology for improving supply chain transparency and traceability owing to its unique characteristics of storing information in a decentralized and immutable manner. However, due to the novelty of this technology within a supply chain context, a comprehensive assessment is crucial in order to understand how the technology could be leveraged. In this regard, this thesis aims to explore the potential of blockchain technology to improve transparency and traceability within the pulp and paper industry. Owing to the inherent explorative nature of this research, a qualitative approach has been adopted. Through semi-structured interviews with different actors within the supply chain of pulp- and paper products, as well as blockchain experts within the field of supply chain management, cross-sections between the two fields are drawn. In addition, based on the expert interviews, a general blueprint for companies considering implementing blockchain technology is developed. The results of the study indicate several potential use-cases where blockchain technology could bring value to the pulp and paper industry. For instance, the results show that the technology could be harnessed to streamline the supply chain, improve the chain of custody of certified products, support sustainability reporting and improve the quality of products. Lastly, as pioneering research within the field, this thesis opens up a series of directions for future research. / Massa- och pappersindustrin står just nu inför stora utmaningar. På grund av utfasningen av fossilbaserade material har efterfrågan på fiberbaserade material ökat drastiskt. Till följd av detta ökar vikten av effektiva försörjningskedjor. Dessutom, i takt med att hållbart skogsbruk får en ökad betydelse i samhället, ökar pressen från konsumenter att öka transparensen gällande råmaterialets  ursprung.  För att tackla dessa utmaningar krävs en hög grad av transparens och spårbarhet genom hela värdekedjan.   Under de senaste åren har en typ av distribuerad databasteknik, även kallad blockkedjeteknik växt fram som ett lovande verktyg för att förbättra transparens och spårbarhet inom försörjningskedjor,  tack vare dess unika egenskaper att lagra information på ett decentraliserat och oföränderligt sätt. Detta är dock en relativt ny teknik och på grund av detta finns det behov av studier där teknikens användningsområden i branschen utforskas innan den implementeras.   I detta avseende syftar denna rapport till att utforska blockkedjeteknikens potential att förbättra transparens och spårbarhet inom massa- och pappersindustrin. På grund av den utforskande karaktären av denna studie har en kvalitativ metod använts. Genom semistrukturerade intervjuer med olika aktörer inom värdekedjan för massa- och pappersprodukter, samt experter inom blockkedjor, dras paralleller mellan de två områdena. Dessutom, baserat på intervjuerna med dessa experter, har en allmän steg för steg-guide tagits fram för att underlätta för företag att utvärdera potentialen av blockkedjor inom specifika användningsområden.  Resultaten av studien indikerar flera potentiella användningsområden där blockkedjeteknik kan medföra ett ökat värde. bland annat visar resultaten att tekniken kan utnyttjas för att effektivisera försörjningskedjan, förbättra spårbarheten standarden för certifierade produkter, underlätta hållbarhetsrapportering och förbättra kvaliteten på produkter. Slutligen, som en banbrytande forskning inom området, öppnar detta examensarbete upp för  framtida forskning.

The current migration of companies towards continuous integration and delivery as well all service-oriented business models brings great benefits but also challenges. One challenge that a company striving to establish continuous practices is the need for pipeline traceability, which can bring great enhancements to continuous integration and delivery pipelines as well as offer a competitive edge. This exploratory case study looks at the current and desired states at Axis Communications, a global leader in network video solutions based in Lund, Sweden. It further evaluates the practical and organizational aspects of the adoption of the Eiffel protocol in the company’s pipeline tools through developing a proof-of-concept Eiffel plugin for Artifactory. Based on the discovered technical and organizational needs and obstacles, it draws conclusions and makes recommendations on a possible strategy when introducing Eiffel in a company.

In recent decades, a number of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) outbreaks have occurred in countries that had been FMD-free for many years. The last FMD outbreak in the United States occurred in 1929 and the country contains a naïve livestock population, meaning it is susceptible to an outbreak. In the event of an FMD outbreak in the United States, the speed at which the source and contacts between livestock can be identified impacts both the implementation and effectiveness of mitigation strategies. The purpose of this thesis was to analyze the impact of higher levels of animal traceability on the immediate welfare losses resulting from an FMD outbreak originating in Utah. An epidemiological model was used to simulate the spread of the disease throughout the livestock population of Utah and estimate a mean number of animals depopulated over 1000 iterations for low, medium and high levels of trace intensity. This number of animals depopulated was then used to create supply shocks in an equilibrium displacement model. This model revealed the welfare losses across four marketing levels for beef, three for pork and two for pork. The research contained in this thesis determined that the adoption of a high intensity trace system can prevent immediate welfare losses of between $131 and $190 million for the United States beef industry, including $49 million to the Utah fed cattle, feeder cattle and market hog marketing levels