A co-ordination theory approach to restructuring the supply chain: an empirical study from the focal company perspective

In the wake of the global financial crisis, a growing number of firms have begun to reassess their strategic goals and subsequently restructure their global supply chains. Since supply chain restructuring often leads to dramatic changes in the business paradigm, there is a need to examine whether or not it affects the way that firms co-ordinate their business activities and integrate product innovations across the supply chain. Nevertheless, little has been known about the antecedents of supply chain restructuring and the impact of supply chain restructuring on manufacturing practices. To fill the void in this line of research, we propose co-ordination theory that can explain causal links between supply chain restructuring and key strategic variables essential for the supply chain success from focal company perspectives. These strategic variables may include the extent of co-ordination with suppliers, the degree of information sharing with suppliers, and the level of organisational integration. Our empirical analysis, based on the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey IV, confirms the validity of co-ordination theory in that business initiatives intended for greater co-ordination and information sharing with suppliers turned out to be a major driving force behind supply chain restructuring, which facilitates organisational integration.     

Developing environmental and social performance: the role of suppliers’ sustainability and buyer–supplier trust

We explore how environmental and social performance of manufacturing firms can be improved as sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) develops and evolves within a firm from internal to external practices. Importantly, this study considers how key suppliers’ sustainability performance and buyer–supplier trust mediate and moderate such a development. A conceptual framework is developed which relies on resource-based theories and emerging empirical evidence. Then, partial least square methodology is applied on survey data from a sample of Italian manufacturing firms. Results show that manufacturing firms’ sustainability performance improves as SSCM develops; however, while internal practices have a direct impact on performance, the effect of external practices on a manufacturing firm’s sustainability performance is fully mediated by key suppliers’ sustainability performance. Yet, buyer–supplier trust significantly influences the scope of such gains. Since evidence suggests that manufacturing firms are still struggling with how to leverage supply chain innovation potential for sustainable development, this study provides a timely and valuable contribution.     

A systematic review of China’s belt and road initiative: implications for global supply chain management

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is one of the world’s largest infrastructure projects, with its potential political and economic impact being widely discussed since its inception in 2013. Yet the phenomenon has received only limited attention in the Supply Chain Management (SCM) literature. In response, we first conduct a broad systematic review of the literature to assess how China’s BRI is portrayed. Using this as a backdrop, we then distil the likely impact of the BRI on location decisions and supply chain flows. Finally, in a broader discussion of the SCM literature, we explore the implications of the BRI for future research in four key areas: supply chain configuration, supply chain resilience, sustainable SCM, and cross border SCM. While these areas are not new, the BRI presents a unique context that can be used to enhance theory and understanding in each area. The BRI reduces time distance independent of geographical distance by diverting supply chain flows from established routes to new routes via far less accessible regions. This introduces new risks and sustainability issues that call for multi-criteria decision support systems. Another important issue is the adoption and diffusion of the BRI since this will ultimately determine project success.     

Understanding supply chain management: critical research and a theoretical framework

Increasing global cooperation, vertical disintegration and a focus on core activities have led to the notion that firms are links in a networked supply chain. This strategic viewpoint has created the challenge of coordinating effectively the entire supply chain, from upstream to downstream activities. While supply chains have existed ever since businesses have been organized to bring products and services to customers, the notion of their competitive advantage, and consequently supply chain management (SCM), is a relatively recent thinking in management literature. Although research interests in and the importance of SCM are growing, scholarly materials remain scattered and disjointed, and no research has been directed towards a systematic identification of the core initiatives and constructs involved in SCM. Thus, the purpose of this study is to develop a research framework that improves understanding of SCM and stimulates and facilitates researchers to undertake both theoretical and empirical investigation on the critical constructs of SCM, and the exploration of their impacts on supply chain performance. To this end, we analyse over 400 articles and synthesize the large, fragmented body of work dispersed across many disciplines such as purchasing and supply, logistics and transportation, marketing, organizational dynamics, information management, strategic management, and operations management literature.     

Flexible work-in-process production system in supply chain management under quality improvement

For a complex product production, any flexible manufacturing system with a work-in-process inventory is recommended for a supply chain management (SCM) system. Building a flexible manufacturing system increases the total cost of the supply chain; for this reason, a discrete investment is important. For flexible production systems, production rate within a finite specific interval of production rate as work-in-process inventory is calculated. The aim of the supply chain is to reduce the total cost when demand during the lead time is a random variable with a normal distribution. A crashing cost is utilised to reduce the duration of lead time within the supply chain system. A model is proposed to obtain the optimal flexible production rate with the reduced total cost of the supply chain. A classical optimisation technique is employed to obtain the closed-form and quasi-closed-form solutions of the decision variables. An improved algorithm is designed to obtain the global minimum cost of SCM under the framework of a flexible production system. An illustrative numerical example and sensitivity analysis are given to test the model. A numerical study proves that this model obtains the minimum cost with the optimal decision variables.     

The critical success factors of using social media for supply chain social sustainability in the freight logistics industry

This paper pioneers the investigation of the significant factors that influence corporate decisions on the use of social media for supply chain social sustainability, and it highlights a crucial research area that is currently understudied in supply chain management literature. A theoretical framework was developed in this study based upon the Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) and Human–Organization–Technology (HOT) theories to obtain the significant critical success factors (CSFs) which influence the use of social media for supply chain social sustainability in freight logistics firms in Nigeria. The Best-Worst Method was applied to analyse and rank the CSFs using their determined relative importance level. The research findings indicate that customer satisfaction, sufficient security and privacy, affordability and competitive pressure are the highest ranked CSFs to achieve supply chain social sustainability using of social media. This research has important implications for policy makers and practitioners to gain perspectives on how to foster the use of social media in the freight logistics sector for supply chain social sustainability.     

An optimal ordering strategy for a third-party managed supply chain

The rapid pace of new product introduction and global sourcing of raw materials and manufacturing facilities have created a complex and fragmented supply chain. Retailers in many consumer product industries are relying on third-party supply-chain managers (SCMs) to manage the global supply chain cost-effectively with short production lead times. To meet delivery requirements, the SCM must start the production process before receiving a firm order from retailers. We assume a two-stage production process where, in stage 1, a base product is produced. In stage 2, the base product is customised. The SCM absorbs the penalties associated with over- or underestimating retailers’ demand. Hence, the SCM has to decide on (a) the optimal production quantity of the base products and (b) the number of base products to be customised without delay. We develop a profit maximisation model for this strategy using a nonlinear objective function with two decision variables and one constraint. Applying Kuhn–Tucker conditions, closed-form solutions are obtained for the two decision variables. Also, formulations are given for two additional strategies: postpone customisation of all products and produce customised products only. An example illustrates the use of our model. We also examine the impact of demand variability on the effectiveness of the three strategies. Results show that postponement may not always be the best strategy for an SCM.     

Issues on the reduction of demand variance in the supply chain

To streamline an agile manufacturing system of a global firm facing a high demand of market service, supply chain management (SCM) plays an important role. In SCM, a phenomenon called ‘the bullwhip effect’ has attracted considerable attention. This study examines the bullwhip effect caused by order variance from retailers. It shows that based on portfolio theory, supplier's demand variance can be reduced by adjusting the order quantities of retailers through co-ordination. The results indicate that our approach can be a useful means for alleviating the bullwhip effect.     

Influence of power and trust on the intention to adopt electronic supply chain management in China

Electronic supply chain management (eSCM) has become a popular Web-based seamless supply chain process. Given that Chinese firms are important parts of global supply chains, it is imperative to investigate factors that would affect eSCM adoption in China. In this study, we examine the impact of three power sources – non-mediated, coercive-mediated and reward-mediated power – on the three dimensions of trust – competence, goodwill and contractual – and their influence in turn on a firm’s eSCM adoption intention in China. We collected data through a survey of 131 manufacturing and service firms in China. Our results show that non-mediated power is positively associated with competence and goodwill trust but negatively related to contractual trust. Coercive-mediated power only negatively affects competence and goodwill trust. Reward-mediated power does not affect any type of trust significantly. The results also provide empirical support for the positive effects of competence and contractual trust on the intention to adopt eSCM. This paper contributes knowledge about the power–trust relationship in China from a supply chain perspective and presents a multi-dimensional explanation of the relationships between power, trust and intention to adopt eSCM.     

Relative importance of contingency variables for advanced manufacturing technology

The academic literature on manufacturing technology was reviewed to identify key contingency variables that can moderate the influence of advanced manufacturing technologies on manufacturing performance. Using this literature as a basis, this research proposes an ordering of relative importance of individual contingency variables among a set of contingency variables that influence the advanced manufacturing technologies–manufacturing performance relationship. Plant level data from a large multi-industry sample of firms are analysed, using regression and Chow tests, to confirm the hypothesized ordering among the contingency variables. The findings indicate that lean manufacturing and work organization practices are the primary contingency variables that affect the advanced manufacturing technologies–manufacturing performance relationship. The implications of the results are discussed in the light of past findings and their impact on practice.     

How SMEs can benefit from supply chain partnerships

In recent literature on supply chain partnerships in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), there is controversy regarding the benefits of these partnerships. To resolve this controversy, specific information is needed on the implementation of these partnerships by SMEs; an area, that, thus far, has received little academic attention. In this paper, we examine different business functions (production, marketing and sales, purchasing and logistics, research and development (R&D) and finance) within a supply chain partnership. We collected data for each individual function from 279 high-tech SMEs and examined the relationship between the specific types of partnerships and the overall performance of the SMEs. The results indicate that it is only in the area of R&D that partnerships have a significant positive effect on overall firm performance. The results imply that SMEs primarily can benefit from particular types of supply chain partnerships, i.e. R&D partnerships. The results contribute to the debate in the literature by explaining why many SMEs were found not to benefit from these partnerships. We also provide implications for firms and how SMEs can better utilise supply chain management (SCM).     

Effect of firm characteristics,supplier relationships and techniques used on Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM): an empirical investigation on French industrial firms

Recent years have witnessed a focus on managing risks in supply chains. On the one hand, there are many cases where events like natural disasters, strikes and terrorism have significantly influenced the performance of organisational supply chains and in turn their competitiveness. And on the other hand, operational activities and strategic decisions of the firms (concerning, for e.g. supply, procurement, production, delivery, commercialisation, demand management, planning, etc.) can be different than expected and so create uncertainties. Uncertainties, whether they are external or internal, impact organisations leading to increased supply chain risk. Realising the potential implications of these situations on supply chain competitiveness, an attempt has been made to define risks and their sources and to identify the management that can help reduce the negative impact of risks on supply chains. In this paper, a framework for supply chain risk management (SCRM) is proposed and is applied using the data collected from 164 French companies, in manufacturing sector. The literature review, theoretical framework and empirical research undertaken in this work have led to identifying critical success management for SCRM. The focus of this paper is the inter-organisational management of supply chain risk: the collaborative relationship (with industrial and supply partners) can be considered as an efficient way to make SCRM. The paper finishes with a summary of the findings and conclusions, along with suggestions for future research projects.     

Distributed ledger technology in supply chains: a transaction cost perspective

With the emergence of distributed ledger technology (DLT), numerous practitioners and researchers have proclaimed its beneficial impact on supply chain transactions in the future. However, the vast majority of DLT initiatives are discontinued after a short period. With the full potential of DLT laying far down the road, especially managers in supply chain management (SCM) seek for short-term cost-saving effects of DLT in order to achieve long-term benefits of DLT in the future. However, the extant research has bypassed grounding long-term as well as short-term effects of DLT on supply chain transaction with empirical data. We address this shortcoming, following an abductive research approach and combining empirical data from a multiple case study design with the corresponding literature. Our study reveals that the effects of DLT on supply chain transactions are two-sided. We found six effects of DLT solutions that have a cost-reducing or cost avoidance impact on supply chain transactions. In addition, we found two effects that change the power distribution between buyers and suppliers in transactions and a single effect that reduces the dependency of supply chain transactions on third parties. While cost-reducing and avoidance as well as dependency-reducing effects are positive effects, the change in power distribution might come with disadvantages. With these findings, the paper provides the first empirical evidence of the impact of DLT on supply chain transactions, which will enable managers to improve their assessment of DLT usage in supply chains.     

Using supply chain management to enhance industry—university collaborations in IT higher education in Korea

Facing such serious problems in cultivating IT engineers as a mismatch in supply and demand of IT workers, shortage of globally competitive IT professionals, and insufficient education and training of university graduates, the Korean government has decided to adopt a new paradigm in national IT engineering education, based on supply chain management (SCM) in manufacturing. SCM weights improving competitiveness of the supply chain as a whole via a long-term commitment to supply chain relationships and a cooperative, integrated approach to business processes. These characteristics of SCM are believed to provide insight into a more effective IT education and industry-university relationship. On the basis of the SCM literature, a model for industry-oriented IT higher education is designed, and then applied in the field of computer-software engineering in Korea.     

How do digital technologies improve supply chain resilience in the COVID-19 pandemic? Evidence from Chinese manufacturing firms

Digital technologies (DTs) can assist businesses in coping with supply chain (SC) disruptions caused by unpredictability, such as pandemics. However, the current knowledge of the relationship between DTs and supply chain resilience (SCR) is insufficient. This study draws on information processing theory to develop a serial mediation model to address this deficiency. We analyze a sample set consisting of 264 Chinese manufacturers. The empirical results reveal that digital supply chain platforms (DSCPs), as well as supply chain traceability (SCT) and supply chain agility (SCA), fully mediate the favorable association between DTs and SCR. Specifically, the four significant indirect paths indicated that firms can improve SCR only if they use DTs to directly or indirectly improve SCT and SCA (through DSCPs). Our study contributes to the literature on resilience by examining the possible mechanism of mediation through which DTs influence SCR. The findings also offer essential insights for firms to modify their digital strategies and thrive in a turbulent environment.     

Multi-agent systems applications in manufacturing systems and supply chain management: a review paper

This paper offers a review of the development and use of multi-agent modelling techniques and simulations in the context of manufacturing systems and supply chain management (SCM). The objective of the paper is twofold. First, it presents a comprehensive literature review of current multi-agent systems (MAS) research applications in the field of manufacturing systems and SCM. Second, it aims to identify and evaluate some key issues involved in using MAS methods to model and simulate manufacturing systems. A variety of different MAS applications are reviewed in three different classified research areas: production design and development, production planning and control, and SCM. In presenting a detailed taxonomy of MAS applications, the paper describes MAS application domains from five different perspectives. The review suggests the MAS approach represents a feasible framework for designing and analysing real-time manufacturing operations, since the approach is capable of modelling different levels of agent behaviour and dynamical interactions. The paper also highlights a number of key issues which have to be taken into account in attempting to design MAS-based research paradigms for future applications in manufacturing systems.     

Processes and measurement of knowledge management in supply chains: an integrative systematic literature review

During the last 10 years, important contributions about knowledge management (KM) issues in supply chain management (SCM) have been published. The current paper aims to build upon previous literature reviews focused on KM in supply chains (SCs) from an integrative perspective, particularly recognising the studies conducted by Bhosale and Kant (2016. “Metadata Analysis of Knowledge Management in Supply Chain: Investigating the Past and Predicting the Future.” Business Process Management Journal 22 (1): 140–172) and Cerchione and Esposito (2016. “A Systematic Review of Supply Chain Knowledge Management Research: State of the Art and Research Opportunities.” International Journal of Production Economics 182: 276–292) as an effort to discuss the evolution of KM in the SC field. To this end, a systematic literature review including 210 papers is conducted over the period 2008–2017 from three positions previously not addressed jointly within the supply chain (SC) context: research methods employed by the authors; KM processes applied in the business processes across the SC; and intra and inter- organisational performance metrics linked with KM initiatives. Results exhibited that: (i) ‘Survey’ and ‘Case study’ are the two research methodologies mostly employed by authors (ii) the knowledge transfer is discussed in the majority of the studies reviewed, (iii) 114 intra and inter-organisational performance metrics are reported within the SC context from an empirical data approach. Findings concerning previous identified gap analysis and future lines of research are described.     

The blockchain-enabled technology and carbon performance: Insights from early adopters

This paper examined the drivers of blockchain technology adoption and carbon performance using the theory of technology-organization-environment (TOE) as the basis for the development of a technology adoption framework. Blockchain technology has passed the proof testing phase and is attracting early adopters who can gain benefits from it. Manufacturing firms that had adopted the blockchain technology and voluntary reported the carbon emission were targeted as the sample and survey data were collected from manufacturing firms that were registered with the Association of Malaysian Manufacturers. Unfavourable support of top management and the lack of technology competence were the main barriers to the adoption of blockchain technology among manufacturing firms. The results indicate that firms did not achieve low carbon performance and that a lack of pressure from competitors and technical competency to undertake blockchain technology were factors. No evidence existed demonstrating a linkage of early adopters of blockchain technology with and low carbon performance. Recommendations of this study include that firms should take the initiative to record the energy consumption, engage in the transfer of carbon credits, and monitor carbon performance using reliable technology to improve business transparency and sustainability.     

Examination of effect of information sharing on businesses performance in the supply chain process

Nowadays, supply chain management (SCM) has become one of the focal points of competition. The importance of information sharing in SCM is gradually increasing in terms of improving the business performance. In this study, an attempt to determine the effect of information sharing in the supply chain process (SCP) on cost, financial and business performance, in general, was made. The attempt was made by means of a measuring tool which is based on a theoretical approach. For this purpose, the structural equation model (SEM) was established by taking into account the supply chain structure, SCP, supply chain flexibility, environmental uncertainties and information sharing latent structures in businesses and the cost and financial performance indicators. In this study, differently from most other studies, two performance variables were included, and the model was created by defining these variables, which could be measured with more than one indicator, as latent variables. For this purpose, the data obtained from a questionnaire study performed on large firms within the scope of ISO 1000 were used. An attempt to reveal the factors affecting the cost and financial performance of businesses in SCM was made in the study. As a result of the analyses performed, the proposed SEM model was tested by taking into account various compliance criteria, and the validity and reliability of the model were determined.     

WEB SERVICE技术对于供应链管理系统的推动

首先介绍了供应链管理及供应链管理系统在应用中存在的问题，然后，全面地介绍了一种新兴的Web Service技术及其面向服务的体系结构，并且对于Web Service技术对于供应链管理系统的推动作用进行了深入的分析。最后，通过对两份统计报告和国际几大商用软件厂商的产品开发状况，展示了Web Service技术在SCM系统中应用的市场趋势。