ABSTRACT
Technology, market, and competitive dynamics are requiring firms in restaurant/food service supply chains to improve their analytics capabilities, which have tended to lag behind other comparable industries. The global COVID-19 pandemic has further encouraged industrial leaders to evaluate new challenges and opportunities. Our research provides insights into current applications of analytics technologies and organizationally integrates these insights for decision-makers in restaurant supply chains. The study applies decision theory as a framing perspective to this phenomenon, thereby advancing the academic literature on the interface between data management, analytical techniques, and computing. We combine data drawn from interviews of leading players in U.S. and Chinese-based restaurant chains with insights from trade publications and social media posts to identify best practices for analytics usage and supporting organizational changes. Our analysis provides examples of ways in which business leaders are applying analytics technologies to structured and unstructured data to address targeted objectives for demand/supply processes and to foster higher order organizational learning. In keeping with the stated objectives of this special issue of Production and Operations Management, this study provides an overview of both current state-of-the-art and next-generation capabilities for analytics in the restaurant industry. We further identify specific limitations of current processes, opportunities for development and theory-based research, and challenges to implementation.
ABSTRACT
This paper examines older adult care services during the outbreak of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Specifically, it investigates emerging developments initiated or augmented by the pandemic and discusses their permanency in a postpandemic world. Primary survey data are collected from both older adult care-providing organizations (supply) and individuals receiving or considering care (demand) in the United States. Qualitative support from various sources supplements the surveys. The results indicate a movement toward deinstitutional care options, which began prepandemic but intensified during the outbreak. Care organizations confirm this development, reporting more occupancy-related concerns. Findings also suggest that telehealth and digital communication tools have substantially expanded. Benefits, issues, and future projections of these trends are discussed, and some suggestions for industry reform are proposed. These results illuminate many actionable ideas for various stakeholders, including older adults, industry practitioners, and policymakers.