Rural Supply Chain Management: A Multidimensional Framework for Future Research in Europe

Innovations affect urban and rural areas differently. Although the supply chain management (SCM) literature recognises the interaction between urban and rural areas in terms of flow of products, people and communication, the rural perspective is clearly missing. An inductive approach was applied using an interdisciplinary panel of international experts to explore challenges and opportunities in the integral fields of rural development and SCM. Four key dimensions emerged that deal with rural logistics, policy, community and innovation. The results characterise rural SCM as multidimensional and classify the research field according to these four key dimensions. The resulting holistic framework brings the wide-ranging character of the research field together. The study provides foundations for the future research and theory building in this emerging research field. It also supports the development of rural markets and businesses in their efforts to cope with challenges that are particularly relevant to retail and service industries.