Agile supply chain strategy and supply chain performance: complementary roles of supply chain practices and information systems capability for agility

The paper examines the mediating effect of supply chain (SC) practices on the relationship between agile supply chain (ASC) strategy and SC performance. It further examines the moderating effect of information systems (IS) capability for agility on this mediated relationship. Using the theoretical lenses of complementarity and the information processing view of the supply chain, we hypothesise that strategic supplier partnership, customer relationship, postponement and lean practices, mediate the relationship between ASC strategy and SC performance. We further hypothesise that IS capability for agility moderates each of these mediated relationships. We empirically test the hypotheses using survey data from members of senior and executive management in the logistics/supply chain functions of 205 firms. The paper contributes to the literature on ASCs by theoretically explaining and empirically demonstrating how SC practices and IS capability for agility act together to effect a positive relationship between ASC strategy and supply chain performance.     

An inductive framework for enhancing supply chain integration

We report the inductive development of a framework for enhancing the integration of supply chains. The framework has been motivated by the need to enhance the participation of small and medium enterprise (SME) suppliers and resellers in the supply chain. Extant diagnostics are geared towards enabling enterprises to evaluate or benchmark themselves on a self-administered rating scale in relation to their peers. In contrast, the present framework aims to enable small-sized suppliers and resellers to systematically imbibe supply chain integration practices, to the extent applicable, from their more advanced trading partners, after possibly adapting them to their own business circumstances. The broad approach has been to first conduct in-depth case study research into enterprises that excel in one or more facets of integration (customer integration, supplier integration etc.) and then induce items pertaining to various themes and sub-themes of supply chain integration. The resulting framework is thus an empirically well-grounded and fine-grained, actionable complement to extant, broader-brushed mechanisms and diagnostics for supply chain integration.     

The performance impact of supply chain agility and supply chain adaptability: the moderating effect of product complexity

Even though research has suggested that supply chain agility and supply chain adaptability are distinct capabilities, little is known about their performance effects and about the contextual conditions under which they are effective. Based on a sample of 143 German firms, we empirically investigate the effects of supply chain agility and supply chain adaptability on cost performance and operational performance using hierarchical regression analysis. We ground our investigation in the dynamic capabilities view and contingency theory. We find that supply chain agility and supply chain adaptability positively affect both cost performance and operational performance. We further find evidence for a mediating role of supply chain agility in the links between supply chain adaptability and performance. Product complexity positively moderates the links between supply chain adaptability and cost performance, and supply chain adaptability and operational performance. The results contribute to the literature by offering a more nuanced understanding of the performance implications of supply chain agility and supply chain adaptability, thereby addressing the crucial question of why their benefits may or may not materialise under varying levels of product complexity.     

Workforce agility through employee involvement

This paper develops and empirically tests a theoretical model of the impact of several workforce management practices on workforce agility. We apply an employee involvement lens to examine a range of practices, viewing them as sets, rather than a hodgepodge of sporadic individual practices. Beyond examining which sets of practices are more or less effective, we develop a unique conceptualization of how these practices interact to promote workforce agility. Our resulting hierarchical model envisages lower-order practices as providing a supportive environment, upon which higher-order practices build, to foster workforce agility. Empirical testing supports this model.     

Blockchain technology for enhancing swift-trust,collaboration and resilience within a humanitarian supply chain setting

There has been tremendous interest in blockchain technology (BT) (also known as distributed ledger technology) around the globe and across sectors. Following significant success in the financial sector, other sectors, such as humanitarian sector, have started deploying BT at various levels. Although the use of BT in the humanitarian sector is in its infancy, donors and government agencies are increasingly calling for building BT-enabled swift-trust (ST) and more collaborative relationships among various humanitarian actors in order to improve the transparency and traceability of disaster relief materials, information exchanges and flow of funds in disaster relief supply chains. Our study, which is informed by organisational information processing theory and relational view, proposes a theoretical model to understand how BT can influence operational supply chain transparency (OSTC) and ST among actors engaged in disaster relief operations. Our model also shows how BT-enabled ST can further improve collaboration (CO) among actors engaged in disaster relief operations and enhance supply chain resilience (SCR). We formulated and tested six research hypotheses, using data gathered from international non-governmental organisations with the help of the Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) database. We received 256 usable responses using a pre-tested survey-based instrument designed for key informants. Our results confirm that our six hypotheses were supported. Our study offers significant and valid contributions to the literature on ST, CO and SCR and BT/distributed ledger technology. We have also noted the limitations of our study and have offered future research directions.     

Antecedents and enablers of supply chain agility and its effect on performance: a dynamic capabilities perspective

This paper investigates the fundamental building blocks of supply chain agility, which are conceptualised as supply- and demand-side competence. While the former refers to production and supply management related activities, the latter refers to distribution and demand management related activities. The model further assesses the influence of supply chain agility on operational performance, as well as its mediating role in the relationship between supply- and demand-side competence and performance. Within this framework, process compliance, i.e. how well supply chain management processes are internally executed by the firm's employees, is viewed as an enabler (moderator) on the relationship between supply chain competencies and supply chain agility. Theoretical substantiation is provided by the resource-based view of the firm augmented with the dynamic capabilities perspective. The model is tested with data from 121 supply chain management professionals. Implications for both academic theory development and supply chain and production management practice are provided.     

Hidden truth behind .NET?s exception handling today

The emergence of exception handling (EH) mechanisms in modern programming languages made available a different way of communicating errors between procedures. For years, programmers trusted in correct documentation of error codes returned by procedures to correctly handle erroneous situations. Now, they have to focus on the documentation of exceptions for the same effect. But to what extent can exception documentation be trusted? Moreover, is there enough documentation for exceptions? And in what way do these questions relate to the discussion on checked against unchecked exceptions? For a given set of Microsoft .NET applications, code and documentation were thoroughly parsed and compared. This showed that exception documentation tends to be scarce. In particular, it showed that 90% of exceptions are undocumented. Furthermore, programmers were demonstrated to be keener to document exceptions they explicitly throw while typically leaving exceptions resulting from method calls undocumented. This conclusion lead to another question: how do programmers use the EH mechanisms available in modern programming languages? More than 16 different .NET applications were examined in order to provide an answer. The major conclusion of this work is that exceptions are not being correctly used as an error-handling mechanism. These results contribute to the assessment of the effectiveness of the unchecked exceptions approach.     

Mitigating global supply chain risks through corporate social responsibility

This paper presents a decision model that captures supply-side disruption risks, social risks, and demand-side uncertainty within an integrated global supply chain and corporate social responsibility (CSR) modelling and analysis framework. The global supply chain decision-makers must decide on the level of investment in CSR activities and the choice of trading partners (manufacturer or retailer) given their CSR consciousness and perceived riskiness in order to maximise profit and minimise their overall risk. The model incorporates individual attitudes towards disruption risks among the manufacturers and the retailers, with the demands for the product associated with the retailers being random. The model allows one to investigate the effects of heterogeneous CSR activities in a global supply chain and to compute the resultant equilibrium pattern of product outputs, transactions, product prices, and levels of social responsibility activities. The results show that CSR activities can potentially be used to mitigate global supply chain risk.     

Managing demand uncertainty through fuzzy inference in supply chain planning

In this paper, we investigate methods for managing the irregular and uncertain demands involved in supply chain planning. We first build a supply chain planning model based on fuzzy linear programming, which defines demand as a fuzzy parameter. Next, we propose a fuzzy inference approach for converting fuzzy demand into crisp demand. In the proposed fuzzy inference-based approach, judgments of upcoming demand from both internal and external experts are used as input variables to reflect the expected demand irregularity. By adopting fuzzy inference, we can compensate for the limitations of the existing demand treatment approaches, which usually demonstrate poor forecasting performance in cases of irregular demand and thus reduce the accuracy of supply chain planning. To verify the feasibility of the proposed approach, we present an illustrative example of a Korean electronics company.     

Metrics for supply chain sustainability

Most interpretations of sustainable development recognise that there are constraints on long-term human activities imposed by material and energy availability and by the capacity of the planet to accommodate wastes and emissions; inter- and intra-generational equity within these constraints is then an ethical principle underlying sustainability. This leads to identifying three dimensions of sustainable development: techno-economic, ecological and social. This paper reviews the development of indicators to reflect these three dimensions, applicable to industrial sectors, companies and broad groups of products or services. Indicators of environmental and economic performance are relatively well established. They can be combined to indicate the sustainability of products, services and supply chains. Indicators of social performance are more problematic, particularly indicators to describe the social value of products and services. Cases from the process, petroleum and petrochemicals, electronics and fast moving consumer goods sectors are reviewed, showing that social indicators must be developed through public participation.     

Sustainable supply chains for supply chain sustainability: impact of sustainability efforts on supply chain risk

Supply chain managers across the globe are finding it difficult to manage the increasingly complex supply chains despite adopting a variety of risk mitigation strategies. Firms on the other hand have also been adopting various kinds of environmental and social sustainability practices in recent times to reduce carbon footprint and improve their image on the social front. However, very few studies in the extant literature have examined the impact of sustainability practices on supply chain risk. We address this important gap in literature by empirically testing this relationship, using primary data from six manufacturing sectors and 21 different countries including developed as well as emerging markets across the globe. Our findings indicate that risk mitigation strategies do not always reduce the actual supply chain risk experienced by firms, whereas sustainability efforts help reduce supply chain risk, especially in emerging market contexts. In addition, we find that, while reactive risk mitigation strategies on their own fail to reduce supply chain risk, they are effective when used in conjunction with sustainability efforts. We also find that preventive risk mitigation efforts are only effective in mature supply chains such as the OECD countries.     

Evaluation of agility in supply chains using multi-grade fuzzy approach

Modern business organisations recognise agility in supply chains to be a vital strategy for survival in a competitive scenario. The assessment of agility in supply chains is quite important as it is an indicator of strategic agile position. There exists a need for evaluating agility in supply chains for the case organisation. This study begins by developing a conceptual model for evaluation. This is followed by gathering single factor assessment vector and weights by experts. Then multi-grade fuzzy approach has been used for the evaluation of agility in the supply chain. The evaluation exercise indicated that the case organisation is agile; but still there exist chances for improving the agility level. Then the weaker areas have been identified and the improvement proposals have been implemented. The implementation result indicated that there is a significant improvement in the agility level of the case organisation.     

Developing a resilient supply chain through supplier flexibility and reliability assessment

In this study, we examine the optimal allocation of demand across a set of suppliers in a supply chain that is exposed to supply risk and environmental risk. A two-stage mixed-integer programming model is used to develop a flexible sourcing strategy under disruptions. Our model integrates supplier selection and demand allocation with transportation channel selection and provides contingency plans to mitigate the negative impacts of disruptions and minimise total network costs. Finally, a numerical example is presented to illustrate the model and provide insights. The findings suggest that developing contingency plans using flexibility in suppliers’ production capacity is an effective strategy for firms to mitigate the severity of disruptions. We also show that flexibility and reliability of the suppliers and regions play a significant role in determining contingency plans for during disruption. Findings generally show that highly flexible suppliers receive less allocation, and their flexible capacity is reserved for disruptions. For firms that do not incorporate risk management into supplier selection and allocation, the recommendation is to source from fewer, more reliable suppliers with less risk of disruption. Our findings also emphasise that the type of disruption has important implications for supplier selection and demand allocation. This study highlights the supply chain risk management strategy of regionalising as a means for minimising the impact of environmental disruptions.     

Policy mechanisms for supply chain coordination

The problem is to determine a review period and stocking policy that are mutually beneficial to a producer and a retailer. In our model, the retailer uses a periodic review, base stock policy for ordering the item from the producer's Distribution Center (DC). Excess customer demand is assumed to be lost. A make-to-order production system supplies to the DC. We show that given a review period, unless the manufacturer agrees to share the cost of carrying a fraction of the safety stocks at the retailer, the two will not agree upon the level of stocks to be carried in the store. We prove that there is an equilibrium value for this fraction, such that the retailer and the manufacturer are always in agreement with regard to the stocking level. We then show that complete coordination on the stocking level as well as the review period can be achieved solely through carrying out negotiations on credit terms. These theoretical results are used to construct an algorithm for calculating the optimal policy parameters for a supply chain. As part of the analysis we suggest a modification of the base stock policy for the positive lag lost sales case of periodic review inventory models that consistently outperforms the base stock policy in our numerical studies.     

Mitigating supply chain disruptions through interconnected logistics services in the Physical Internet

This paper investigates the resilience of inventory models using interconnected logistics services in the Physical Internet (PI). With traditional supply chain network design, companies define and optimise their own logistics networks, resulting in current logistics systems being a set of independent heterogeneous logistics networks. The concept of PI aims to integrate independent logistics networks into a global, open, interconnected system. Prior research has shown that new inventory models enabled by and applied to PI could help reduce inventory levels thanks to its high flexibility. Continuing along these lines, this paper examines how inventory models applying PI deal with disruptions at hubs and plants. To attain this, a single product inventory problem with uncertain demands and stochastic supply disruptions is studied. A simulation-based optimisation model is proposed to determine inventory control decisions. The results suggest that the PI inventory model, with greater agility and flexibility, outperforms the current classic inventory models in terms of resilience. Moreover, the difference in performance increases when the product value, penalty costs and disruption frequency increases. This paper indicates a novel approach to build a resilient supply network.     

Ontology-based interoperability solutions for textile supply chain

Existence of interoperability within the enterprises is essential for textile supply chain to efficiently face the challenges from contemporary competitors,to find new business opportunities and to render better customer service.Exchange of business documents,being semantically consistent,is the way to achieve interoperability.However,heterogeneity of the structures of the enterprises poses challenges for establishing interoperability.Ontology based semantic interoperability framework has now been proven as an effective solution for enterprise interoperability.In this paper,the existing ontology-based interoperability solutions in the context of textile supply chain have been compiled and research gaps have been identified.The ontological methods,such as unified process for ontology(UPON) and methontology have been analyzed,and UPON have been shown as a suitable ontology development method for textile supply chain.     

Dynamic allocation of uncertain supply for the perishable commodity supply chain

Dynamic logistics control of a perishable commodity is especially crucial due to the difficulties in preservation of freshness, disposal of deteriorated commodities, and uncertainty of supply caused by seasonal fluctuation or abrupt variation of the weather. First, this paper formally presents the Dynamic Allocation Problem with Uncertain Supply (DAP/US) for the perishable commodity supply chain (PC-SC). The objectives of the DAP/US problem are to maximize the total net profit of the strategic alliance of the PC-SC and to determine the optimal orders placed to suppliers and the resultant amount of perishable commodities allocated to retailers. Secondly, a two-stage extended-Genetic Algorithm (eGA) is developed to control the dynamic orders and allocation quantities to prioritized suppliers and retailers, respectively. Thirdly, simulation experiments are conducted and it is shown that eGA demonstrates promising performance under various sizes of problem domains and different statuses of supply uncertainty. Lastly, analytical simulations are also conducted to compare eGA with the traditional approach that ignores the differences among suppliers' supply uncertainties. The simulation results show that eGA achieves great improvement in both the net profit and shortage rates for all sizes of the PC-SCs, with half of their suppliers and retailers having high supply capabilities and fast turnover demands, respectively.     

A real-options-based analysis for supply chain decisions

Flexibility allows firms to compete more effectively in a world of short product life cycles, rapid product development, and substantial demand and/or price uncertainty. We develop a supply chain model in which a manufacturing firm can have the flexibility to select different suppliers, plant locations, and market regions and there can be an implementation time lag for the supply chain operations. We use a real options approach to estimate the value of flexibility and to determine the optimum strategy to manage the flexibility under uncertainty in the currency exchange rate. To price the operational flexibility, we develop a Monte Carlo simulation technique that is able to incorporate a large number of variables into the valuation. We show that without considering time lag impact, the value of the operational flexibility can be significantly overestimated.     

Disruptive technologies for advancing supply chain resilience

Disruptive technologies provide a new paradigm for supply chain risk management and bring opportunities and challenges for the improvement of supply chain resilience (SCRes). This study summarizes the application cases of some disruptive technologies in the SCRes and analyzes the benefits and damages brought by disruptive technologies to the SCRes. The results show that disruptive technologies can provide the supply chain with flexibility, visibility, agility, and other capabilities at various stages of risk management. Hence, technology advancements greatly increase the level of the SCRes. Although disruptive technologies undermine the construction of SCRes, these damages can be eliminated through technology iteration or other disruptive technologies. Furthermore, disruptive technologies will provide better stability for the SCRes. The study also makes several suggestions for the use of disruptive technologies in the construction of the SCRes.     

Implications of postponement for the supply chain

As a marketing, logistics and manufacturing concept, postponement has been around in the literature for a long time. Its application can also be dated to the 1920s. However, only in recent times has it been used as a supply chain strategy. Postponement fosters a new way of thinking about product design, process design and supply chain management. In this paper, we rethink the supply chain from a postponement point of view and present the implications of postponement for the decoupling point, supply chain integration, control of the supply chain and capacity planning issues. The objective is to extend the significance of postponement towards the perspective of a holistic supply chain context.