*3.1. Ghanaian Fresh Pineapple Supply Chain to Europe*

In Ghana, supply chains of suppliers to the EU and UK markets are structured differently with different levels of sophistication. Most of the firms aggregate as export organizations and associations as actors in the supply chain to export mainly by sea. The main organisation for fresh pineapple exports is the Sea-Freight Pineapple Exporters of Ghana (SPEG). The Sea-freight Pineapple Exporters Association of Ghana (SPEG), formed in 1994, has about 30 export companies in good standing as members who account for over 80% by volume and close to 95% by value of the total Ghanaian pineapple exports to Europe (Data from SPEG). The organisation is made up of Exporters and Producers/Exporters of Ghanaian pineapples and their focus is to promote growth within the Ghanaian pineapple industry by providing sea-freight and other support services for the benefit of its members. SPEG ships fruits to Port Vado in Italy, Port Vendres in France and Antwerp in Belgium.

The Ghanaian fresh pineapple supply chain to Europe comprises mainly of these 30 firms from SPEG with six large producers-exporters members accounting for over 65% of total exports by volume. These major players are Jei River Farm, Golden Exotics, Koranco Farms, Volta River Estates, Hans Peter Werder (HPW), Prundent Farms and Bomarts Farms all belonging to the Sea-Freight Pineapple Exporters of Ghana. The pineapple sector is characterized by heterogeneous producers which vary in size, technical standards and export volume. Many producers involve small-holders, some involved in out-grower schemes, supplying pineapples to medium to small exporters and domestic market operators [23,73]. In 2018, the association exported 35, 200 MT of fresh pineapples; 18, 280 MT in 2019; 17,402 MT in 2020 and 16,500 MT in 2021. Each company employs a 50 to 550 workforce and an annual turnover of 40,000 USD to 500,000 USD (Data from the survey and verified with SPEG). Additionally, three pineapple processing companies (Blue Skies from the United Kingdom, Tonggu Fruits from The Netherlands and First Catering) export fresh-cut pineapple and other fruits to extraordinarily demanding European retailers such as Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury's. These companies produce and export pineapple fruits of Smooth Cayenne, MD2, organic, Fairtrade and a mix of other varieties. The flow of pineapples from Ghana to the EU and UK was depicted by Fold and Gough [23] from which we derived Figure 3. *Sustainability* **2022**, *14*, x FOR PEER REVIEW 11 of 16 such as Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury's. These companies produce and export pineapple fruits of Smooth Cayenne, MD2, organic, Fairtrade and a mix of other varieties. The flow of pineapples from Ghana to the EU and UK was depicted by Fold and Gough [23] from which we derived Figure 3.

**Figure 3.** Pineapple Flows from Ghana to EU and UK . **Figure 3.** Pineapple Flows from Ghana to EU and UK.

the Ghana fresh pineapple exports.''

ought to be amendable for prompt deployment.

*3.2. Supply Chain Agility as a Methodological Framework in a Stable (Pre-COVID-19) and Turbulent (COVID-19) Business Environments 3.2. Supply Chain Agility as a Methodological Framework in a Stable (Pre-COVID-19) and Turbulent (COVID-19) Business Environments*

Under a stable (pre-COVID-19) business environment of the Ghana Pineapple Export Supply Chain scenario, Yawson and Aguiar [65] (p. 210) reported that their Agility Gap Under a stable (pre-COVID-19) business environment of the Ghana Pineapple Export Supply Chain scenario, Yawson and Aguiar [65] (p. 210) reported that their Agility Gap

framework is a valuable tool to understand international export supply chains for fresh pineapple export chains of Costa Rica, Ivory Coast and Ghana. The framework was found

(Dartford, UK). and Wealmoor UK Ltd (Greenford, UK). Therefore, this type of framework used to evaluate strategic supply chain agility could be employed in the supply chain of other subsectors of the economy and industries to guide managers in the identification of agility gaps to enhance competitiveness. As a tool, it also enables supply chain actors to identify and address supply chain strategic issues such as market channel selection, the conditions of market access, and current and future business environment conditions in fresh produce supply chains. This application, we expect when engaged in should improve supply chain agility, performance and competitiveness of the actors in

Alternatively, within the context of supply chain agility as a methodological framework in a turbulent (COVID-19) business environment the framework of the Ghana Pineapple Export Supply Chain scenario, we argue that all the four components (managed system, managing system, information system and organisation) come into sharp focus for intervention at various degrees (see [36,65,66]). It important to emphasise that despite the varied degree of relative intervention required, each component ought to be addressed with dispatch. There are therefore ample grounds to argue that the strategic agility framework offers an adaptable vehicle to serve as a panacea to fresh produce supply chain challenges in a stable (pre-COVID-19) as well as turbulent COVID-19 pandemic business environment. However, the configuration of the components under turbulent environments

This first set of scenarios based on Yawson and Aguiar [66] presents the first step of the framework enabling the identification of the state of the pineapple export supply chain framework is a valuable tool to understand international export supply chains for fresh pineapple export chains of Costa Rica, Ivory Coast and Ghana. The framework was found to be valid at the business level such as in the cases of Compagnie Fruitière (UK) Ltd (Dartford, UK). and Wealmoor UK Ltd (Greenford, UK). Therefore, this type of framework used to evaluate strategic supply chain agility could be employed in the supply chain of other subsectors of the economy and industries to guide managers in the identification of agility gaps to enhance competitiveness. As a tool, it also enables supply chain actors to identify and address supply chain strategic issues such as market channel selection, the conditions of market access, and current and future business environment conditions in fresh produce supply chains. This application, we expect when engaged in should improve supply chain agility, performance and competitiveness of the actors in the Ghana fresh pineapple exports."

Alternatively, within the context of supply chain agility as a methodological framework in a turbulent (COVID-19) business environment the framework of the Ghana Pineapple Export Supply Chain scenario, we argue that all the four components (managed system, managing system, information system and organisation) come into sharp focus for intervention at various degrees (see [36,65,66]). It important to emphasise that despite the varied degree of relative intervention required, each component ought to be addressed with dispatch. There are therefore ample grounds to argue that the strategic agility framework offers an adaptable vehicle to serve as a panacea to fresh produce supply chain challenges in a stable (pre-COVID-19) as well as turbulent COVID-19 pandemic business environment. However, the configuration of the components under turbulent environments ought to be amendable for prompt deployment.

This first set of scenarios based on Yawson and Aguiar [66] presents the first step of the framework enabling the identification of the state of the pineapple export supply chain in the stable (pre-COVID-19) business environment and the state of the supply chain in turbulent (COVID-19) business environment. Secondly, the framework enables the identification of the components in the supply chain that needs strategic agility interventions and urgency. Thirdly, the two scenarios when compared show that the COVID-19 pandemic aggravated the need for strategic agility interventions in all four components of the supply chain. Fourth, to enable the recommendation of strategic agility interventions in the supply chain, there is the need for a reference to the scores of the elements in Table 2 reported earlier to identify the areas that need strategic agility interventions in the supply chain. We suggest that strategic agility challenges due to the turbulent environment caused by the COVID-19 disruption most likely affected the managed system, which is the need for the modification of the "Production infrastructure to make it more flexible to respond to high variations in demand in the supply chain. Additionally, other challenges for supply chain agility will mostly occur for "Field infrastructure for production, "External logistics infrastructure (e.g., shipping, air)", and "Input suppliers (e.g., fertilizers, pesticides). These managed system elements challenges in the COVID-19 disruptions create strategic agility challenges for the Ghanaian Pineapple Export supply chain. This is in line with other research which argues for investment and innovation in fresh fruit supply chains to build resilience [7,58,78]. The disruptions certainly required improved communications in the supply chain for governance in the unpredictable environment. Therefore, Ghanaian exporters required increasing sophistication of Market Information Systems and an increasing need to improve the gathering of market information to importers to enable them to communicate with exporters and monitor demand and prevailing market conditions in the EU as suggested by [1,49]. Finally, addressing each of these elements provides a holistic strategic agility intervention to be followed with stakeholder consultation and participation in the implementation of the intervention.
