The costs for discarded items at the packer link is about one fourth the
value of the same item if discarded by the retailer or consumer. All busi-
nesses in the chain could benefit from not paying to cool, pack, trans-
port, distribute, and retail items that are discarded by the marketeror
consumer. The visual models will thus provide a tool for identifying re-
alistic changes for improving the entire chain.
Examples of Soft Systems Methodology
Applications of a Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) by the author to
fresh fruit and vegetable systems are described in the following sections.
England
Two British companies that specialize in fresh produce importing
agreed to participate in a study that included using SSM for describing
their operations. The objectives of the study by Prussia and Hubbert
(1992) were to: (1) learn the operations of fresh produce importing com-
panies and (2) evaluate the applicability of SSM for modeling multi-
business postharvest systems.
Both companies were major suppliers to British supermarket chain
stores. The corporate directors and other top-level managers in both com-
panies were interviewed. They identified five to seven of the main ac-
tivities they controlled by giving verbs representing each activity. Root
Definitions (RD) were developed based on questions related to each el-
ement of the CATWOE for their system and subsystems. One possible
RD for the total system of one company was:
A system owned by the Board of Directors and administered by a
Managing Director with the purpose of converting supermarket re-
quirements into the decisions and actions necessary to consistently
deliver fresh produce at the desired times, quantities, and qualities
and at margins lower than the costs for supermarkets to internalize
the operations given that margins are limited and it is difficult to
source fresh produce.
Over 15 Conceptual Models (CM) at various levels of detail were de-
veloped from the RDs. The total system CM had activities for adminis-
ter, support sales, trade, ensure quality, and handle product. The CM for
the tradesubsystem included sub-subsystems for the activities: buy, sell,
and manage. One possible RD for the tradesubsystem was: