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Sustainable value chain analysis - A case study of Oxford Landing from vine to
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DOI: 10.1108/13598541211212212

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Sustainable value chain analysis – a case study
of Oxford Landing from “vine to dine”
Claudine Soosay
School of Management, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
Andrew Fearne
Centre for Value Chain Research, Kent Business School, University of Kent, Chatham, UK, and
Benjamin Dent
School of Agriculture and Food Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

Abstract
Purpose – The paper shows how sustainable value chain analysis (SVCA) can be used as a diagnostic tool to identify misalignment between resource
allocation and consumer preferences, using a case study of the Oxford Landing wine chain, from South Australia to the UK.
Design/methodology/approach – The study incorporates a combination of value chain analysis (VCA) and life cycle analysis (LCA) in a single
methodology to determine which activities, at each stage in the supply chain, create value (in the eyes of consumers) and the contribution of these
activities to greenhouse gas emissions.
Findings – The case study demonstrates the value of comparing the consumer value associated with a particular activity with the emissions associated
with that activity, as this draws the attention of managers, at each stage of the supply chain, to the potential trade-offs that exist and the danger of
focusing on either one (adding value or reducing emissions) in isolation.
Research limitations/implications – The main limitation of the research methodology is that the study focuses on a single product (Oxford Landing)
and a single chain to a single country (UK). Thus, it is difficult to generalise from the results of this single case study to the (South Australian) wine
industry in general, without further information from other wineries and consumer perceptions of their brands in different parts of the world.
Practical implications – The case study highlights the importance of taking a holistic view when considering the sustainability of a product, process
or chain – trade-offs between environmental benefits and consumer perceptions of value can have significant commercial implications. It also
illustrates the potential for SVCA to be used as a guide for the allocation of research and development expenditure (public and private) in pursuit of
sustainable competitive advantage.
Originality/value – The study is the first to combine LCA with VCA in a context that allows researchers, practitioners and policymakers to identify
areas for improvement, in what they do and how they do it.

Keywords Sustainability, Value chain analysis, Life cycle analysis, South Australian wine, Sustainable development, Environmental management,
United Kingdom

Paper type Case study

1. Introduction are being encouraged by customers, consumers and

Supply chains face many challenges in being highly efficient
and responsive due to dynamic changes in global markets,
technology, consumer demand and product life cycles. In
addition, the successful provision of goods and services
requires effective integration of activities across the entire
chain and often across geographical separations. Hence, in
order to achieve competitive advantage at a chain level, many
firms would have to re-examine and identify value-adding
activities within the chain and effectively manage them
(Prasad and Sounderpandian, 2003). In addition, many firms
are recognising the strategic importance of sustainability –
economic, social and environmental. Supply chain partners
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1359-8546.htm
government agencies to work together to internalise the
concept of sustainable development, life cycle management
and accounting for corporate responsibility in their own value
sets (Vermeulen and Seuring, 2009). This usually involves
developing “greener” products and explicitly selecting
suppliers that can meet sustainability requirements (Seuring
and Müller, 2008)
The mitigation of environmental impacts also offers
commercial opportunities, such as product differentiation,
more efficient use of inputs, creation of new income streams
and improved stakeholder relationships (Bhaskaran et al.,
2006; Nidumolu et al., 2009). Thus, some firms have become
proactive at the chain level in communicating and
collaborating in projects to reduce their environmental and
social impacts (Vermeulen and Seuring, 2009).

This research is based on a study of sustainable value chain analysis of

Supply Chain Management: An International Journal
17/1 (2012) 68– 77
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 1359-8546]
[DOI 10.1108/13598541211212212]
South Australian wine, developed as part of the Adelaide’s Thinker in
Residence program at the South Australia’s Department of Premier and
Cabinet, and funded by Primary Industry and Resources, South
Australian Government.

68
 Sustainable value chain – a case study of Oxford Landing
Claudine Soosay, Andrew Fearne and Benjamin Dent
Two decades of impressive growth has earned the
Australian wine industry a reputation of being a producer of
high quality, consistent and affordable wines supported by
innovations in grape growing, winemaking, sales and
marketing (South Australian Wine Industry Council, 2006).
However, in 2009, when the research for this case study was
being undertaken, the Australian wine industry was struggling
to compete on a global scale, with quality wines accessible to
the mass market. Furthermore, the industry was facing a
grape glut, with export sales falling dramatically in 2008 and
2009 and the rising Australian dollar making competing wines
from Chile, Argentina and South Africa more attractive to
supermarkets and wine drinkers in the UK – Australia’s
largest export market (Cranitch, 2009).
Various stakeholders in the Australian wine industry
recognised the need for change – such as greater attention
to customer needs and wants, more effective information
sharing for accurate forecasting, more efficient distribution
(from vineyard to winery to store), and more sustainable use
of resources (especially where water and labour were in
critically short supply). However, many were in denial and
change was occurring at too slow a pace – for grape producers
(who were struggling with declining prices and drought),
winemakers (who were struggling with declining prices and
excess capacity) and policymakers (who were struggling to
support one of the most strategically important industries in
the country).
This paper presents a case study of one of South Australia’s
most progressive winemakers (Yalumba) and the diagnosis of
the supply chain for one of their major export brands (Oxford
Landing) to one their biggest customers (Tesco) in one of
their biggest markets (UK). It illustrates the use of a
diagnostic tool – sustainable value chain analysis (SVCA),
which combines value chain analysis to identify areas for
continuous improvement, in the creation of value (in the eyes
of the consumer) and the environmental sustainability of the
supply chain (from input supply to final consumption).
2. Value chain analysis
The concept of the value chain was first introduced by
Michael Porter in 1985, emanating from his seminal work on
competitive advantage (Porter, 1985). The chain, as the name
implies, represents a linked set of value-added activities and
Porter’s view was that competitive advantage cannot be
achieved by looking at a firm in isolation; and that it stems
from the many discrete activities in designing, producing,
marketing, delivering, and supporting products and services.
It is generally accepted that final consumers have exclusive
rights to the definition of what constitutes value in a product
or service (Slater and Narver, 1992) and that firms can only
create successful value propositions by understanding what it
is that consumers value in the products and services they
create and subsequently adapt to suit specific target segments.
Value chain management (VCM) involves the collaborative
allocation of resources, within and between the respective
businesses in the chain to deliver more value added at lower
cost and at a faster rate than competing supply chains.
Collaborative relationships facilitate the flow of information
(both inbound and outbound) as well as products and services
(Lee et al., 2007) and there is ample evidence that
collaborative relationships are a key ingredient for
economically sustainable supply chains, (see Christopher,
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Supply Chain Management: An International Journal
Volume 17 · Number 1 · 2012 · 68 –77
1992; Slack, 1991; Schonberger, 1986; Lamming, 1993;
Zailani and Rajagopal, 2005; Kim, 2006; Cousins and
Menguc, 2006). Given that opportunities exist for
improvement (process, product and service) both within and
between firms, it is essential that VCM takes a whole-of-chain
perspective (Bonney et al., 2007).
Value Chain Analysis (VCA) is a diagnostic tool for
supporting the process of continuous improvement at the
level of the chain as a whole (rather than individual
businesses). Taylor (2005) defines VCA as the multi-
dimensional assessment of the performance of value chains
through the examination of product flows, information flows
and the management and control of the chain.
Value chain analysis focuses on three key issues: first, the
dynamics of information in the value chain from final
consumption through to primary production and input
suppliers and back again – how inclusive, transparent and
responsive are the information flows in the chain; to what
extent are stakeholders’ decisions (what to produce, when to
produce, how to produce) pulled by what consumers value?
Second, the creation and flow of value, in the eyes of the final
consumer, at each stage in the value chain – how many of the
production and processing activities truly add value? How
much investment is being made in these critical activities?
How many are necessary but do not add value (these should
be completed with minimal resource allocation)? How many
are unnecessary (wasteful activities must be eliminated and
resources re-allocated to drive value creation and efficiency)?
Third, the nature of relationships – how much trust exists
between different stakeholders? What is the nature of
communication within and between organisations? What is
the evidence of organisational commitment? How risks are
shared and the assumption of risks rewarded in the chain.
How the value created is shared along the chain? (Taylor,
2005; Bonney et al., 2007).
Not only does the diagnosis that results from a VCA
provide a mechanism for drawing the attention of different
stakeholders to the opportunities for improvement at different
stages in the value chain, it can also be an effective catalyst for
change.
The Australian wine industry currently suffers from limited
collaboration, at all levels of the chain. This is partly due to
the economic circumstances described above (falling demand
and surplus stocks), which has created considerable tension in
the relationships between buyers and sellers, and partly due to
fragmentation of the industry at the production and
winemaking stages, where trade associations have
traditionally adopted confrontational strategies in defence of
their members’ interests but with limited regard for the
interests of the industry as a whole (Fearne et al., 2009).
3. Life Cycle Analysis
Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), often called “cradle to grave”
analysis, since its beginnings in the 1960s is one of the most
comprehensive analytical tools for quantifying the
environmental impacts in supply chain operations – , e.g. the
production, processing, packaging, distribution, use and
disposal of a product (Camilleri, 2008).
The focus of LCA is on the intensity of resource utilisation
(e.g. energy, water) and the environmental impact of outputs
(e.g. by-products, waste and emissions) at each stage of the
chain, where it provides environmental performance
 Sustainable value chain – a case study of Oxford Landing
Claudine Soosay, Andrew Fearne and Benjamin Dent
measures, identifying opportunities for improving resource
use, reducing environmental impacts and targeting parts of
the life cycle where the greatest improvements can be made.
Generally, an LCA practitioner tabulates the emissions and
the consumption of resources, as well as other environmental
exchanges at every relevant stage (phase) in a product’s life
cycle and the processes involved at the chain level. This
includes raw material extractions, energy acquisition,
materials production, manufacturing, use, recycling and
ultimate disposal. Thereafter, the life cycle inventory
(comprising compilation, tabulation, and preliminary
analysis) will be assessed to locate indicators of the potential
impacts associated with such exchanges with the natural
environment.
Emerging conceptual frameworks such as “responsible
chain management” and “environmental supply chain
management” were among the first attempts to integrate
LCA into supply chain approaches, as a tool to support chain
collaborations, inform inter-organisational management
decisions and assess a product’s environmental profile
among chain partners (de Bakker and Nijhof, 2002;
Camilleri, 2008).
The mounting concern regarding increases in greenhouse
gases (GHGs) with the potential to modify regional climate
patterns has prompted many firms in the wine industry to
move towards sustainable grape growing and wine production
practices. There are various emissions occurring throughout
the wine chain from grape growing to final consumption.
Environmental guidelines have been produced for sustainable
management of fertiliser, soil, water use, pests, chemicals,
vehicle equipment and machinery in viticulture (Waye, 2008).
Furthermore, industry and government bodies have
collaboratively established and developed environmental
management systems, eco-efficiency and greenhouse gas
abatement initiatives, cleaner production methods and
supply chain management programs (Waye, 2008) to reduce
the impact from a chain perspective.
4. Sustainable Value Chain Analysis (SVCA)
Sustainable Value Chain Analysis (SVCA) incorporates both
Value Chain Analysis (VCA) and Life Cycle Analysis (LCA)
to determine the value that final consumers attach to the
activities that contribute to emissions and the impact on
consumer perceptions of value of changes to production
processes and product attributes. As this method includes the
environmental impact assessment (in this example CO2
emissions) at all stages in a value chain, in conjunction with
the activities, materials and operations, it is able to facilitate
more effective resource allocation by identifying priority areas
and bottlenecks.
Measuring environmental impacts such as carbon emissions
in a value chain, in isolation, is of limited value and potentially
damaging to the competitiveness of a value chain, if
consideration is not given to the value that final consumers
attach to the activities that contribute to emissions (de Bakker
and Nijhof, 2002). Consideration should be given to the
impact on consumer perceptions of changes to production
processes and product attributes that may result from
considering an LCA. Integrating the LCA into a value chain
analysis supports chain partners’ decision making on how to
adapt to carbon constrained markets in ways that improve
their competitiveness, brand reputation, and market access.
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Supply Chain Management: An International Journal
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Many organisations in the Australian wine industry not only
recognise the sustainable use of resources, but also the need
for greater attention to market requirements, more effective
sharing of information to facilitate more accurate forecasting
of supply and demand and more efficient distribution
(e.g. from vineyard to winery to store). The benefit that
SVCA achieves is a more powerful diagnosis of sustainability,
effective information flow and resilient relationships within
and between organisations in the value chain that should
result in a more effective resource allocation to ensure
sustainable competitive advantage for the chain as a whole.
5. Data collection
The Oxford Landing value chain selected for this case study
comprises six main stakeholders:
1 Grape growers in the Riverland, South Australia. This
region produces half of South Australia’s grapes and a
quarter of Australia’s wine, the bulk of which is exported.
2 Yalumba Wine Company, Australia’s oldest family-owned
winery and one of the country’s largest exporters of wine.
It operates two wineries, both in the Barossa Valley at
Angaston and Moppa, where the Oxford Landing wine is
produced.
3 Amcor, one of the world’s largest packaging solution
providers and a major supplier of glass and corrugated
packaging and bottle closures to the Australian and New
Zealand wine industry.
4 Tarac Technologies, an innovative company that has
invested heavily in technologies for value-adding to the
residuals from the wine making processes. Tarac
Technologies reprocesses most of the residuals from the
Australian wine industry, including grape marc1 as well as
filter cake2 and liquid waste.
5 Tesco UK, the world’s fourth largest supermarket and
responsible for 25 per cent of all UK wine sales, making it
the single largest overseas buyer of Australian wine and
the largest customer for Oxford Landing.
6 UK supermarket shoppers, of which 31 million are wine
drinkers, consuming 120m cases per year, of which 25 per
cent are Australian, creating a market worth around
$900m to the Australian wine industry in 2008.
The study adopted an iterative process of data collection over
a six-month period in Australia and the UK, from June 2008
to February 2009. SVCA involves a combination of
qualitative and quantitative research methods covering three
distinct areas: consumer value, the supply chain (material
flow, information flow and relationships) and environmental
impacts (carbon emissions).
The determination of consumer value requires two stages.
The first comprises a number of focus groups to determine
the range of attributes that consumers consider when
purchasing wine from a supermarket. The number and
composition of these groups depend on the profile of
consumers and in this case was informed by the analysis of
Tesco’s loyalty card data, which enables the identification of
shopper profiles for individual products. Thus, six groups
were conducted with those segments identified as most
inclined to purchase Oxford Landing: two with “young
adults” (one with males, one with females), two with “young
mothers” and two with “older adults” (one with males, one
with females).
 Sustainable value chain – a case study of Oxford Landing
Claudine Soosay, Andrew Fearne and Benjamin Dent
The qualitative insights from the focus groups are then
enhanced by a quantitative survey of shoppers. In this case an
on-line survey was conducted with 1,100 supermarket
shoppers who regularly purchase wine from a supermarket
(including Tesco), with respondents drawn from a nationwide
panel of over 20,000 households. The survey data is then
analysed to generate attribute ratings, which feed into the
supply chain analysis to determine which activities add value,
which ones are merely necessary and which ones are wasteful.
The supply chain component of the VCA involves the
collection of qualitative data from the businesses at each stage
in the supply chain, from input supply to retail. Researchers
walk the chain, to establish the physical flow of material
within and between each stages, and conduct semi-structured
interviews with various people responsible for different
functional areas (e.g. purchasing, processing, sales and
marketing, distribution) to establish the nature of
relationships within and between organisations and the
extent of information sharing and collaborative decision-
making. In the context of this study, 57 semi-structured
interviews were conducted across twelve organisations in the
Oxford Landing supply chain.
LCA involves the tabulation – using secondary sources
where available and primary data when necessary – of
emissions and the consumption of resources (e.g. energy,
water) at every stage in a product’s life cycle and the processes
involved at the chain level. This includes raw material
extractions, energy acquisition, materials production,
manufacturing, use, recycling and ultimate disposal. The
resultant life cycle inventory (compilation, tabulation, and
preliminary analysis) is assessed to locate indicators of the
potential impacts associated with such exchanges with the
natural environment. The process can be both time-
consuming and expensive, which is the main reason why
very few businesses volunteer to undertake it unless
compelled to do so.
Yalumba is an exception in the Australian wine industry,
leading the world in the exploration, discovery and
development of sustainable winemaking technologies and
processes. Thus, in the context of this study, the LCA of the
Oxford Landing chain had already been completed by
Yalumba’s senior environmental manager over the previous
three years, based on environmental management standards,
auditing procedures and guidelines which form part of their
“commitment to sustainable winemaking” (Camilleri, 2008).
6. Data analysis
6.1 Consumer value
There was a strong consensus in the focus groups regarding
the positive images associated with Australian wine being
“reliable, good quality, good value, fresh, crisp and fruity”.
However, the competitive pricing of Australian wine has
resulted in a degree of commoditisation, as the majority of the
discussants confessed that they rarely considered Australian
wine as a purchase for a special occasion. For many, the
purchase of Oxford Landing, like most “everyday” wines, was
triggered mainly by a promotion, which in the case of a known
brand was difficult to resist and required little effort (and thus
attention to the bottle or the label). Thus, few of the
discussants saw any link between the concept of sustainability
(which was poorly understood generally) and wine, where it
was mostly associated with bottle re-cycling). None of them
71
Supply Chain Management: An International Journal
Volume 17 · Number 1 · 2012 · 68 –77
were remotely aware of the sustainability credentials of the
Oxford Landing brand and when the information on the back
label was drawn to their attention there was a mixture of mild
interest and considerable scepticism.
The survey results generated a hierarchy of attributes
(Table I) with price, type of wine (e.g. sweet/dry), colour,
grape variety and promotional activity accounting for almost
three quarters of the choices made for “the most important
wine attribute” for a regular wine purchase (Table II).
Furthermore, whilst sustainable wine production/packaging
may have been something that supermarket buyers were
requesting of their suppliers, in support of initiatives to reduce
their carbon footprints, the survey results suggested that very
few UK shoppers perceived “sustainability” as a highly valued
attribute in the wine they purchase from supermarkets.
6.2 Material flow and carbon emissions
Having established what it is that consumers value, the next
stage in the SVCA is to walk the chain and map the material
flow, classifying each of the activities as “value adding”
(V) ¼ those activities that are related to attributes with a
mean importance rating of three or more; “Necessary but non
value-adding” (N); or “Wasteful” (W). The distribution of
carbon emissions is then superimposed onto the material flow
map (Figure 1).
For ease of interpretation, key activities at each stage in the
value chain have been classified according to their
contribution to the total emissions from the value chain.
Activities that contribute less than 1 per cent of total carbon
emissions are categorised as having no or minimal impact (X).
Activities that contribute 1-5 per cent of emissions are
categorised as low impact (L), 6-10 per cent as medium (M)
and over 11 per cent as high (H). A brief summary of the
attribution of carbon emissions at each stage of the chain is
presented in Table III.
The analysis highlights the dominance of necessary but
non-value adding activities, which indicates that the scope for
adding value to Oxford Landing is somewhat limited. It is
evident that there are relatively low emissions occurring
downstream (retail and final consumption) and substantially
higher emissions occurring upstream (particularly from
trellising and viticulture practices) and at the winery
(particularly bottling) and embedded in the packaging,
which together account for over half of the total carbon
emissions from the chain.
The combination of the emissions data and the
categorisation of activities in the material flow from the
consumers’ perspective provide valuable insights for decision-
makers and the prioritisation of R&D. For example, trellising
systems are the single largest contributor of emissions in the
value chain, and might therefore warrant prioritisation in an
effort to reduce the chain’s carbon footprint. However, this
activity is undertaken during the establishment of a vineyard
and is therefore a difficult and costly activity to change at a
later date. Moreover, the fact that consumers attach no value
to it (the sustainability of the production process was of little
importance to the majority of consumers surveyed) means
that there is no incentive for growers or the chain to tackle this
source of emissions – unless, of course, technology is
forthcoming which provides low energy trellising at a lower
cost. Failure to recognise the lack of value attached to this
activity by consumers could, in theory, result in capital
investment and/or R&D expenditure being directed towards
 Sustainable value chain – a case study of Oxford Landing Supply Chain Management: An International Journal
Claudine Soosay, Andrew Fearne and Benjamin Dent Volume 17 · Number 1 · 2012 · 68 –77

Table I Importance of wine attributes (mean scores)

Full sample Oxford Landing Buyers Oxford Landing Buyers – Tesco
Price per bottle 5.6 5.6 5.6
Type of wine (e.g. dry/sweet) 5.5 5.6 5.6
Colour 5.5 5.5 5.5
Grape variety 4.8a 5.3 5.4b
Which wines are on promotion 4.7a 5.1b 5.1b
Information on the back label 4.4 4.6 4.5
Recommendations from friends/relatives 4.3 4.4 4.3
Country of origin 4.3a 4.7 4.8b
Brand name 4.1a 4.7 4.8b
Specific region within a country 4.0 4.4 4.4
Year of vintage 3.6 4.1 4.2
Recommendation in newspapers/magazines 3.5 3.8 3.8
Alcohol content 3.5 3.7 3.8
Appearance of the bottle 3.4 3.7 3.6
Type of closure 3.4 3.4 3.3
Environmentally sustainable production process 3.3 3.5 3.4
Environmentally sustainable packaging 3.3 3.4 3.4
Design of the front label 3.2 3.6 3.6
Distance the wine has travelled 2.8 3.1 3.0
Weight of the bottle 2.8 3.0 3.0
Suitability for vegetarians/vegans 2.4 2.6 2.5
Number of respondents 1,100 377 181
Notes: 1 ¼ Not at all important, 3 ¼ Not very important, 5 ¼ Quite important, 7 ¼ Extremely important; a and b attributes are those for which the difference in
mean scores for the different respondent groups are statistically significant, at the 5 per cent level

Table II Most important attribute (regular purchase)

Full sample (%) Oxford Landing Buyers (%) Oxford Landing Buyers – Tesco (%)
b
Price per bottle 25 22 27a
Type of wine (e.g. dry/sweet) 12a 9 8b
Colour 15a 11b 12
Grape variety 11b 15a 14
Which wines are on promotion 12 15 13
Information on the back label 1 1 1
Recommendations from friends/relatives 3 4 4
Country of origin 4 5 6
Brand name 3 6 3
Specific region within a country 2 2 2
Year of vintage 1 2 1
Recommendation in newspapers/magazines 1 1 1
Alcohol content 2 2 2
Appearance of the bottle 1 1 1
Type of closure 2 1 2
Environmentally sustainable production process 1 2 1
Environmentally sustainable packaging 1 1 1
Design of the front label 1 1 2
Distance the wine has travelled 1 1 0
Weight of the bottle 0 0 1
Suitability for vegetarians/vegans 1 1 2
Number of respondents 1,029 377 176
Notes: a and b attributes are those for which the difference in percentage of respondents for the different respondent groups are statistically significant, at the
5 per cent level

72
 Sustainable value chain – a case study of Oxford Landing
Claudine Soosay, Andrew Fearne and Benjamin Dent
Figure 1 Material flow and carbon emissions in the Oxford Landing Value Chain
more sustainable trellising systems, in the expectation that
consumers would be willing to pay more for the final product,
as a result of the reduced carbon footprint and increased
sustainability of the production process. Instead, this analysis
suggests that in the absence of any other commercial benefit
derived from reducing the related emissions, government
R&D funding may be required to investigate how best to
tackle this source of greenhouse gases.
6.3 Information flow and relationships
Information flow and the nature of relationships in the Oxford
Landing supply chain was assessed through the semi-
structured interviews with people responsible for different
functional activities (e.g. quality control, sales, and
distribution), at different levels (e.g. operational or strategic)
and both within and between supply chain partners.
Overall, relationships in the Oxford Landing supply chain
are strong – we found little evidence of dysfunctional conflict
or opportunistic behaviour and several examples of trust and
commitment. However, the flow of information was not so
strong, particularly consumer information, which rarely
extended beyond highly aggregated sales data or beyond the
domain of the winemaker – growers and input suppliers are
blind to consumer preferences and Yalumba’s knowledge of
73
Supply Chain Management: An International Journal
Volume 17 · Number 1 · 2012 · 68 –77
sustainable wine production far exceeds its knowledge of wine
consumers.
Input suppliers and grape growers
Yalumba provided viticulture advice direct to their growers,
and had a policy of keeping prices as stable as possible
(“Never the highest; never the lowest”), which contributed to
long standing relationships with many growers. However, to
ensure the smooth flow of grapes to its winery, Yalumba
exerted complete control over timing of grape harvesting,
which frustrated some growers. Some growers also wanted
more feedback on grape quality.
Yalumba: internal value chain management
Unanimously, employees liked working for Yalumba. Its
family culture was cited widely as a major contributor to high
job satisfaction, with many interviewees saying they sacrificed
willingly the higher financial rewards available elsewhere. This
resulted in long term stability at all levels of management.
However, while feedback on company performance was
effective, there was less clarity over both strategic direction
and the reasons behind particular decisions. The procedures
and systems typical of large companies were not present or
not uniformly administered, for example departmental and
individual key performance indicators and staff appraisals.
The reported informality of information flows meant some
 Sustainable value chain – a case study of Oxford Landing Supply Chain Management: An International Journal
Claudine Soosay, Andrew Fearne and Benjamin Dent Volume 17 · Number 1 · 2012 · 68 –77

Table III Supporting information for the attribution of carbon emissions

Primary inputs
(23.2 per cent of emissions)
Primary production
(28.2 per cent of emissions)
Winemaking
(5.3 per cent of emissions)
Bottling and packaging
(30.2 per cent of emissions)
Retailing
(1.2 per cent of emissions)
Consumers
(10 per cent of emissions)
This phase refers to the amount of fertilisers and pesticides used; as well as wooden posts deployed in the vineyard
trellis system. Trellises are essential to good grape production as they help control vigorous vines, sunlight penetration,
spray penetration and air flow around the grapevines. It appears that majority of the vineyards use timber posts, which
result in a very high CO2 emission in its production phase
This phase refers to the viticulture in the vineyards. 28.2 per cent emission can be largely attributed to the
decomposition of biomasses, timber decay and sequestration by the vines’ growth and production of sugar in the
grapes. In addition, land management refers to emissions associated with power, fuel and freight during growth, harvest
and transport of grapes to the winery
At the winery, there are very low emissions from winemaking. The emissions stem mainly from the fermentation and
production of grapes during the blending and crushing processes
At this phase, 30.2 per cent of chain emissions are largely attributed to the bottling and packaging of wine. Although
this is not emitted at the winery itself, the figure takes into account the CO2 involved in the production of glass bottles,
pulp and paper products; and wine closures at the supplier level. For instance, glass manufacture is a high-temperature
energy-intensive process. When using raw materials, glass is manufactured from sand, limestone and soda ash, all of
which are abundant natural minerals. However, both limestone and soda ash are carbonates, which generate significant
amounts of C02 during the melting process
There is very little CO2 emission generated from the export of wine from Australia to the United Kingdom. What is most
crucial is not the distance, but the mode of transport used. Sea transport allows for bulk shipments and is far more eco-
friendly than airfreight. The figures show that the emission per bottle during export is insignificant
The 10 per cent of emissions at the consumption stage is due to the travel, storage and consumption of wine by the end
consumer. At this phase, the purchase quantities are significantly lower than at the chain level. The figures show that
transportation of wine from the supermarket to the final consumption signifies a rather high CO2 emission per bottle

people feel under-informed, especially across departmental
boundaries. The operational information flow between
production/bottling, warehousing/logistics and sales could
have also been improved in terms of the visibility of forecasts,
orders and production schedules.
Amcor and Yalumba and Tesco
Yalumba were customers of three Amcor divisions (glass,
corrugated packaging and closure systems). In each case,
Yalumba were significant customers, though still representing
only a part of the total market, and the firms had worked
together to develop light weight bottles, for which Yalumba
had limited exclusivity rights. However, some of Tesco’s
requirements, such as shelf-ready packaging, required thicker
cardboard, involving more raw materials, which ran counter
to the chain’s effort to reduce its environmental burden.
Yalumba and Tarac
Tarac Technologies re-process the waste from wine making in
a closed loop system, which produced inputs for the wine
industry. Their relationship with Yalumba was transactional.
For example, Tarac rarely received information directly on
what days/volumes Yalumba were crushing, which
contributed to Tarac’s challenges with storing waste product
prior to processing.
Yalumba and Collotype Labels
Collotype produced all Oxford Landing labels, and had
developed the Wine Find tab at Yalumba’s request, and
Yalumba had exclusive rights for one year. Yalumba’s
importance was reflected in Collotype’s introduction of an
additional bespoke quality check by its production manager to
prevent problems.
Yalumba and Harcus Design (labels)
The relationship was long standing, but the consumer
research revealed that there was scope for greater alignment
between designs and consumers’ requirements from labels, in
particular providing an explanation of what food went best
with the wine.
Yalumba and Logistics Suppliers
In both cases, the relationship was effective, but only
transactional, without long term contracts. However,
Yalumba’s forecasting of requirements was adequate for
efficient planning.
Yalumba and Negociants UK
Negociants UK are the independent import/export arm of
Yalumba, with Oxford Landing representing over 70 per cent
of its business by volume and value. However, it lacked
autonomy, referring back to Yalumba’s head office for most
decisions, constraining its ability to respond to the dynamic
marketplace. Nor was it involved in developing the Oxford
Landing marketing strategy, and had very limited access to
consumer data and research beyond sales figures, preventing
it from contributing quantitative consumer-intelligence into
the relationship with Tesco, rather relying on unrepresentative
qualitative data or generic consumer reports.
Yalumba and Tesco
Around 30 per cent of Oxford Landing sales were made via
Tesco. Tesco rated Yalumba highly, and the products were
recognised as offering good value for its price point. The
characteristics of Yalumba (being family-owned, with a long
history and commitment to sustainability) were recognised as
supporting Tesco’s vision for a rounded category, although
the impact was impossible to quantify, and may only affect

74
 Sustainable value chain – a case study of Oxford Landing
Claudine Soosay, Andrew Fearne and Benjamin Dent
ranging decisions rather than sales negotiations. Logistically,
Tesco rated them in the top ten performing suppliers.
Historically, Tesco and Yalumba’s strategies had been
aligned, with Tesco seeking to attract new consumers to wine
and educate existing customers to grow both volume and
value of sales. However, at the time of the research, the global
financial crisis was driving an even closer focus on price-
competition between UK supermarkets, and hence their
suppliers. Accordingly, Yalumba’s policy of protecting the
Oxford Landing brand by resisting heavy discounting was
running counter to Tesco’s priority of attractive promotions.
Although Yalumba, via Negociants, could propose an
annual promotion programme, Tesco retained control, and
given Yalumba’s historic reluctance to use deep promotion
mechanics, Oxford Landing was not prioritised for Tesco’s
prime promotion slots.
In terms of information flows, Tesco had only occasional
communication with Oxford Landing’s General Manager and
Yalumba made little use of the consumer data available from
Tesco’s Clubcard.
Negociants UK and Tesco
Tesco primarily dealt with Negociants, rather than directly
with Yalumba. This chain was one of over 150 wineries
supplying over 1,000 different wines, and accordingly
Negociants had to compete hard for attention, and
communications was occasionally difficult. Yalumba’s policy
of protecting the Oxford landing brand meant Negociants
were at risk of being marginalised compared to larger
suppliers who had the financial resources and brand
strategies to offer deeper promotions.
Yalumba and Consumers
Consumers generally liked Oxford Landing wines, but
showed little brand loyalty for off-promotion sales. Yalumba
communicated with consumers only through their bottles’
labels, and did not undertake any direct marketing or
consumer research in the UK.
Tesco and Consumers
Tesco’s market share has been growing for over ten years,
reflecting their strengthening relationship with consumers.
Their shopper loyalty card provides comprehensive
information to support marketing and merchandising
decisions, with suppliers expected to use this information to
support individual product lines.
Overall, the Oxford Landing chain is characterised by
efficient material flow, reasonable information flows and
strong relationships. However, the ability to accurately predict
short and long term supply and demand can be challenging,
costly (in terms of wasted investment) and result in missed
opportunities for Yalumba. Thus, the greatest opportunity for
improvement lies in leveraging already strong relationships, to
improve the flow of information (strategic and operational)
and enable more effective forecasting of supply and demand.
7. Discussion and conclusion
The objective of this case study was to explore the value of
Sustainable Value Chain Analysis (SVCA) as a tool for
promoting better alignment between the allocation of
resources in the supply chain industry and consumer
preferences in a specific target market. The case study
shows how existing practices and assumptions about what it is
that consumers value and where it is that emissions occurs can
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Supply Chain Management: An International Journal
Volume 17 · Number 1 · 2012 · 68 –77
be effectively challenged by combining diverse datasets and
mapping the results in a way that highlights “hotspots” and
specific areas that warrant attention.
What emerged from the SVCA is that there are complex
trade-offs between the activities that consumers value and
those that are responsible for carbon emissions in the Oxford
Landing supply chain and this supply chain is well equipped
to manage the challenge of maximising commercial returns in
a socially and environmentally sustainable way, given the
strong relationships that exist, at almost all stages of the chain.
However, the weak information flows indicate that the key
stakeholders in the chain have yet to grasp the potency of
these relationships and use them to make more use of the
information that exists – about what it is that consumers
value and where/how emissions can be reduced – for their
collective competitive advantage.
The case study also demonstrates that the value of
emissions data as an input to sustainable value chain
management and decision-making is enhanced substantially
when viewed alongside the categorisation of activities in the
material flow analysis, in which consumer value is used to
categorise the physical activities undertaken. The combined
information highlights the most promising opportunities, such
as eliminating wasteful activities and identifying activities,
which offer the greatest scope for adding value to consumers
through improved environmental performance. The results of
combining VCA and LCA enable a more reasoned risk
analysis to be weighed as a factor, assuming that truly
sustainable competitive advantage requires firms in any
industry to serve those markets which are most valuable in a
manner which is ecologically sustainable. This allows the
chain to make decisions on resource allocation based on what
consumers value (and what they do not value), then to
prioritise this allocation based on their impact on the
commercial and environmental sustainability of the chain
and its products.
Commercially beneficial initiatives offer the most attractive
solutions to the challenge of sustainability. However, if they
are insufficient or ineffectively pursued, there may be a need
for government to introduce alternative, and typically less
efficient, interventions. Accordingly, SVCA has the potential
to better inform discussions between government and
industry by providing a basis for assessing the alignment
between sustainability and competitive advantage. For
example, the case study illustrated the potential for SVCA
to inform government’s sustainability policy and how to
achieve its objectives through the most economically efficient
and practically effective programs and policies. Essentially, if
consumer values are aligned with government’s objectives, the
latter might be achieved most efficiently through establishing
and promulgating consumer insight. This would encourage
the development of commercial strategies predicated on
exploiting these values. Conversely, where purchasing
behaviour does not support government’s aims, alternative
strategies and interventions will be required. The same logic
can be applied to social policy outcomes, such as dietary-
related health, or economic outcomes, such as the extent of
demand for locally-produced food and drink.
8. Limitations and scope for further research
There are limitations to the study being confined to a
particular chain and focussing on a single product, i.e. Oxford
 Sustainable value chain – a case study of Oxford Landing
Claudine Soosay, Andrew Fearne and Benjamin Dent
Landing wine to the United Kingdom. The researchers
acknowledge the complexity of assessing a product family or a
range of products within an organisation or entire chain,
which limits the generalisation of our findings. Second, LCA
is a technique for assessing the potential and real
environmental damage during all stages of a product’s life
including energy, raw materials, land use and wastes in the
liquid, air and solid forms. This study only measured CO2
emissions at various stages in the chain as we argue that
carbon labelling is predominantly used in LCA and deemed
as credible, cost effective and relatively easy to communicate.
Third, SVCA is an intensive, time-consuming and expensive
methodology, notwithstanding the difficulties of securing
agreement and participation of every major player in the
chain. Despite these limitations, there is scope for further
research to provide meaningful findings using different
products from various chains, which could strengthen the
applicability of SVCA in other industries. Furthermore, we
propose carrying out an online survey with various
organisations producing similar products as a more cost
effective approach so that analysis can be carried out at an
industry level. We believe that this methodology could offer
important implications to supply chain researchers,
practitioners and government departments by providing
important information on the sustainability of any product,
process or chain which in turn, allows managerial and policy
decision making for improving the competitiveness in supply
chains and industry sectors of the nation.
Notes
1 Grape marc is the solid remains of grapes after pressing
for juice. It contains the skins, pulp and seeds of the fruit.
2 Filter cake is formed by the substances that are retained
on a filter after the wine is filtered.
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About the authors
Claudine Soosay is a Senior Lecturer teaching logistics, supply
chain and operations management at the University of South
Australia. Her current research areas include cold chain
management, supply chain governance, sustainable operations
and technology management. She has published in various
journals and is actively involved in a number of industry
associations in Australia. Claudine Soosay is the corresponding
author and can be contacted at: Claudine.Soosay@unisa.edu.au
Andrew Fearne is a Professor of Food Marketing and
Supply Chain at the University of Kent. He is also the
Director of the Centre for Value Chain Research. He has been
researching consumer requirements and expectations in a
wide range of food supply chains in the UK, shedding light for
farmers, processors and retailers on the changes needed to lift
agribusiness performance in supply chains and the consumer
food experiences in supermarkets into better value chains for
stakeholders and better and safer eating experiences for
consumers.
Benjamin Dent is studying for a PhD at the University of
Queensland, after degrees at Cambridge University and
Imperial College, London, and 12 years working on
environment and food policies for the UK government. His
interest is in creating competitive advantage from carbon
management in agri-food value chains. He also founded and
now chairs Kent Farmers’ Market Association, providing
support to 40 markets in South East England.