Unveiling the Petal Path: Exploring the Cut Flower Industry's Global Supply Chain

We turn to flowers as a means of conveying our deepest human feelings, spanning from intense love to sincere apologies, exuberant admiration for our mothers, or the deep sorrow of losing someone dear. Our fondness for flowers is so strong that we're anticipated to allocate £2.2 billion per year for the purpose of indulging ourselves and others with the ideal bunch of blooms. Flowers are grown on a global scale, and the
cut flower industry has seen tremendous growth in the last decade, with African countries gaining prominence as suppliers and the Netherlands expanding its role as gateway to Europe and the rest of the world. The biggest flower-growing nations are the Netherlands, Colombia, Kenya,
and Israel, but many other countries like South Africa, Ecuador and Malaysia are now investing in the industry. This business case will allow students to examine the cut flower supply chains for the three most popular flowers in the United Kingdom, the rose, the lily, and the tulip and investigate the logistics and supply chain challenges for peak season demands such as Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. Students will be required to investigate different segments of the flower supply chains for example: supermarket flowers, specialist florist or flowers for designers etc. Furthermore, the procurement cycle for this short life product and new technologies that can make cut flowers more accessible and
sustainable will be investigated.