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Think supply chain issues and you鈥檒l likely think of their impact on private-sector businesses struggling to make a profit in uncertain times, not to mention their impact on you when items once easily obtained become harder to get. But these issues also have broad impact outside the for-profit world, notably in agencies such as food banks, which drew the attention of 91看片鈥檚 LaDonna Thornton and fellow researchers.

Thornton, assistant professor in the Department of Supply Chain Management, noted that food banks face supply chain issues that differ from those faced by for-profit businesses. For example, they may have particular problems managing their supply chain mix, in part because much of what food banks receive is contributed, not purchased.

鈥淒onations are a primary source for them, but they don鈥檛 know what they might get,鈥� Thornton said. 鈥淭hey don鈥檛 know what they鈥檙e getting, so planning can be a problem. The supply chain mix is challenging because they often can鈥檛 control the mix.鈥�

Thornton and her colleagues studied food banks of varying sizes in several states in an effort to determine 鈥渨hat good performance and service looks like鈥� in these operations, given their differences from for-profit businesses.

鈥淭he bottom line is to distribute food, but some food banks began to ask if that was enough,鈥� Thornton said. They stepped up their basic levels of service to include programs aimed at easing food insecurity. Thus, any measure of performance and service should include efforts to address the root causes of food insecurity and help people find ways to overcome them.

But there are measurements similar to those used in for-profit companies. Timeliness, service quality, service access, merchandise condition and having knowledgeable and empathetic employees all apply to food banks as well. Some food banks even began treating food as medicine in hopes of helping curb chronic diseases linked to diet, such as diabetes, by providing packages of healthier food. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard for food-insecure people to eat healthy,鈥� Thornton said. 鈥淓ating healthy is expensive.鈥�

Research that explores such challenges can help individual and corporate contributors more effectively gauge the impact of food banks and how their donations address these issues. It鈥檚 a different twist on the usual business model.

鈥淯nlike a for-profit business," Thornton said, 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 want repeat customers at a food bank.鈥�