farmers, and wholesalers, but it was not possible for Adnams to facilitate these meetings within the time frame. The aim of the interviews was three-fold:
To probe into issues central to Adnams operations.
To attain a clear picture of day-to-day operations and the structure behind its green successes.
To explore Adnams’ motivation behind the supply chain project and any barriers to success.
Information from interviews with Adnams staff mostly mirrored our findings from the secondary research. However, two details differed:
Adnams reported a growth in customer demand for cask beers and dark ales, bucking the overall market trend towards lighter ale and lager. This is possibly linked to the consumption of cask beer with food in Adnams tied estate.
Adnams did not suffer pub closures that beset the larger pub groups such as Enterprise Inns and Punch Taverns plc (Death of the British pub: Punch Taverns warns 1,300 locals have no future, 2010). The company ascribes this to continued investment in the business, ‘good oldfashioned service,’ and a quality business offering.
Sustainable Supply Chain Best Practice: We have produced an extensive list of best practices. We analysed over 70 different case studies across diverse sectors. The sectors include: Food and Beverages, Brewery and Spirits, Construction, Hospitality, Retail, Home Improvement, and Packaging. We have highlighted examples from Britain and overseas. The case studies were divided into 11 broad themes (for more detail, see Appendix ‘Best Practice Across Industries’).
The themes and number of case studies covered per theme are: 1) Supply Chain Management (17)
6) Responsible Drinking/Serving (5)
2) Use of Renewable Energy/Energy
7) Recycling (4)
through Waste (11)
8) Transportation (including Load Sharing) (4)
3) Energy Efficiency (9)
9) Fair Trade/Organic (4)
4) Packaging Reduction and Innovation (9)
10) Community Programs (2)
5) Water Efficiency (6)
11) Rainwater Harvesting (1)
12