Identifying Barriers and Problems in the Sustainable Supply Chain of the Chicken Meat Industry Using Grounded Theory

Fluctuations in the supply of health-oriented and environmentally friendly chicken meat in the market will lead to price fluctuations of this product. By identifying the barriers and problems of the chicken meat supply chain, it is possible to improve the sustainable performance of this industry and prevent price fluctuations. Therefore, in the present study, the barriers and problems were evaluated in the sustainable supply chain of the chicken meat industry. For this purpose, ​​Shiraz County in Fars province was considered. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with experts from the Livestock Support Organization, experts from the Ministry of Jihad for Agriculture, academic researchers and a number of top producers, observation of documents and direct observation of the researcher. Then, barriers and problems of sustainable supply chain were extracted to improve the performance of this system using grounded theory. The results showed that there are five main challenges affecting the sustainable supply chain of chicken meat, including poor performance and lack of logistics infrastructure development (integration of 8 key concepts), marketing problems and barriers in the process of supply chain (integration of 7 key concepts), negative effects of the supply chain of chicken meat on the quality of the environment (integration of 6 key concepts), lack of attention to customer orientation and consumer preferences (integration of 3 key concepts) and low demand for healthy chicken in the country (integration of 4 key concepts). Identifying the barriers and problems of the chicken meat supply chain can guide policy-makers to improve the performance of this chain and realize the supply of health-oriented and environmentally-friendly chicken meat at a reasonable price.