Lunch at the TU Delft
Since 2009 I study at the TU Delft. A regular day means being on campus from 8:45 to around 17:30. To be able to survive a 9 hour working day, it is probably most important to have good lunch and foods in between. Usually, I pack my own lunch: 6-8 sandwiches and a banana/apple. However, being a student and therefore having a very diverse schedule (each weak is different), it is not always possible to have done the groceries I need every day to pack the lunch I described. This results in the one and only lunch possibility: Sodexo. This company equips the TU Delft campus with everything needed to serve food: machinery, storage facilities, kitchens, cooks and other employees. This makes Sodexo a production facility. Their scale of operation is mainly in the Randstad, which makes them a regional production facility.
For the description of this network, I will use the TU Delft as an example, since I am personally experienced with this organisation. Sodexo is hired by the TU Delft and they maintain a continuous organisational interaction. Sodexo takes care of the supplier, who in principle has little contact with the client. Most of the contact will go via Sodexo. The consumers have both contact with Sodexo and the TU Delft, since they are buying their food from Sodexo, which is situated in the TU Delft faculties. Sodexo has certain contact with the government, since the government sets the norms concerning food production.
Resource Dependency
Pfeffer and Salancik (1978) present resource dependancy as a mechanism that explains strategic behaviour of firms. It is preferable for an organisation to be little dependent from other firms in the network as possible. In this network, we see that the TU dependancy is larger since it has outsourced its catering and supply of catering to Sodexo. However, Sodexo is still dependent on the contracts it has with the TU Delft. If the TU Delft does not continue cooperation with Sodexo, they loose a big client.
A strategy applied by Sodexo and the TU Delft is by gaining control. A long term contract has given Sodexo the right to fullfill nearly all catering functions on the TU Delft campus, not serving lunch but everything food related. This gives TU Delft a long term control over their expenses concerning food, while it gives Sodexo a long term monopoly on the TU Delft campus.
Resource networks
The existing network created by the TU Delft and Sodexo has rules that are defensive when speaking of the limits of the playing field. By limits I mean the geopraphical limits of the TU Delt campus, in which the playing field consists of the cafeteria's and public space of the campus. By creating the contract described above, Sodexo has won the right to serve food on the TU Delft campus. Other catering services can only sell food on permission of the TU Delft. This defensive form of networking creates barriers to entry of the network.
Sodexo & TU Delft: easy loop closing?
Concerning the defensive network that the TU Delft created with Sodexo, it will be rather difficult to work towards a closed material loop if the innovation has to come from outside the network. As described before, the network is hard to break through due to the contract made between Sodexo and TU Delft. So any influences on the catering system of the TU Delft from outside have no effect since Sodexo is (almost) the only catering service allowed to serve on the Campus. However, when the innovation comes from inside the network, it may be easier for the TU Delft and Sodexo to work towards a closed loop material cycle. This is because there is a clear power relation: TU Delft can steer their client towards a new way of working. At the same time the TU Delft has a lot of resources to make an innovation happen: many students can cooperate and there may be a large capital reserved by the TU Delft for this. However, as far is I know the above is hypothetical. I have not heard about any plans for working towards a closed loop cycle.
Since 2009 I study at the TU Delft. A regular day means being on campus from 8:45 to around 17:30. To be able to survive a 9 hour working day, it is probably most important to have good lunch and foods in between. Usually, I pack my own lunch: 6-8 sandwiches and a banana/apple. However, being a student and therefore having a very diverse schedule (each weak is different), it is not always possible to have done the groceries I need every day to pack the lunch I described. This results in the one and only lunch possibility: Sodexo. This company equips the TU Delft campus with everything needed to serve food: machinery, storage facilities, kitchens, cooks and other employees. This makes Sodexo a production facility. Their scale of operation is mainly in the Randstad, which makes them a regional production facility.
Sodexo network
Sodexo has multiple clients in the network and per client the network is quite the same. The network is pictured below.
For the description of this network, I will use the TU Delft as an example, since I am personally experienced with this organisation. Sodexo is hired by the TU Delft and they maintain a continuous organisational interaction. Sodexo takes care of the supplier, who in principle has little contact with the client. Most of the contact will go via Sodexo. The consumers have both contact with Sodexo and the TU Delft, since they are buying their food from Sodexo, which is situated in the TU Delft faculties. Sodexo has certain contact with the government, since the government sets the norms concerning food production.
Resource Dependency
Pfeffer and Salancik (1978) present resource dependancy as a mechanism that explains strategic behaviour of firms. It is preferable for an organisation to be little dependent from other firms in the network as possible. In this network, we see that the TU dependancy is larger since it has outsourced its catering and supply of catering to Sodexo. However, Sodexo is still dependent on the contracts it has with the TU Delft. If the TU Delft does not continue cooperation with Sodexo, they loose a big client.
A strategy applied by Sodexo and the TU Delft is by gaining control. A long term contract has given Sodexo the right to fullfill nearly all catering functions on the TU Delft campus, not serving lunch but everything food related. This gives TU Delft a long term control over their expenses concerning food, while it gives Sodexo a long term monopoly on the TU Delft campus.
Resource networks
The existing network created by the TU Delft and Sodexo has rules that are defensive when speaking of the limits of the playing field. By limits I mean the geopraphical limits of the TU Delt campus, in which the playing field consists of the cafeteria's and public space of the campus. By creating the contract described above, Sodexo has won the right to serve food on the TU Delft campus. Other catering services can only sell food on permission of the TU Delft. This defensive form of networking creates barriers to entry of the network.
Sodexo & TU Delft: easy loop closing?
Concerning the defensive network that the TU Delft created with Sodexo, it will be rather difficult to work towards a closed material loop if the innovation has to come from outside the network. As described before, the network is hard to break through due to the contract made between Sodexo and TU Delft. So any influences on the catering system of the TU Delft from outside have no effect since Sodexo is (almost) the only catering service allowed to serve on the Campus. However, when the innovation comes from inside the network, it may be easier for the TU Delft and Sodexo to work towards a closed loop material cycle. This is because there is a clear power relation: TU Delft can steer their client towards a new way of working. At the same time the TU Delft has a lot of resources to make an innovation happen: many students can cooperate and there may be a large capital reserved by the TU Delft for this. However, as far is I know the above is hypothetical. I have not heard about any plans for working towards a closed loop cycle.
Dear Daniel,
BeantwoordenVerwijderenNice blogpost, nice argumentation, nice writing, I liked it!
On the con side: maybe your introduction about your own lunch could contain a little more information about Sodexo itself, for it is hard to understand the company from this blog when you don't know it. Furthermore, maybe close your post with a little summarizing statement, this would be nice for the harmony within the text.
Overall I think you have explained quite a tough topic very clearly.
Kind regards,
Hans Peter