A review of operations management literature: a data-driven approach

Production and operations management has been a significant field of research for many years. However, other than an educated guess by researchers in the field or a perusal of textbook chapter titles, the major topics and their trends over time are not well established. This study provides a comprehensive review of production and operations management literature using a data-driven approach. We use Latent Semantic Analysis on 21,053 abstracts representing all publications in six leading operations management journals since their inception. 18 unique topic clusters were identified algorithmically. Just being aware of the history of research topics should be of great interest to all academics in the field, but to help future researchers we conducted three post hoc analyses: 1) analysis of methods used in all these studies, 2) citation rates by topic area over time, and 3) the growing prevalence of research covering multiple topics.     

National culture and operations management: a structured literature review

National culture has received a substantial amount of interest in the operations management literature. We present the first structured review of articles studying national culture in operations management. Our search returned 51 papers published in ten leading journals between 2000 and 2017. We sort and analyse the papers according to three focus areas of operations management (strategy, execution and improvement). We also analyse the papers according to whether they address the relevance of national culture, the impact of national culture or the actions managers can use to manage or mitigate the effects of national culture. We find that national culture appears as a relevant variable in all focus areas of operations management research but that the direction and strength of its impact remain undetermined. Only a handful of papers address how managers can actively deal with challenges related to national culture. We propose a research agenda and a guiding framework for future research.     

Bridging humanitarian operations management and organisational theory

The aim of the editorial note is to introduce the scope of this special issue (SI). We explain our editorial approach and provide a brief summary of eight articles included in the SI following multiple rounds of reviews. Finally, we outline future research questions which stemmed out of the discussions of this SI.     

Social media in operations and supply chain management: State-of-the-Art and research directions

Recently, industrial and academic communities in the operations and supply chain management (OSCM) field are paying increasing attention to social media. However, the value of social media in OSCM is quite unclear, and more investigations are still needed. To pave the way for directed future research, this paper systematically reviewed and synthesised 152 peer-review journal papers to identify research focus and gaps in this area, supported by an appropriate conceptual framework. The result reveals that the research interests in this area have increased dramatically within the last decade across various industries and regions. Different companies’ OSCM activities, such as sourcing and delivery, can benefit from employment of social media. This paper also indicates that future research can explore the value of social media in sourcing, delivery, product return and reverse logistics, forecasting and inventory management, and product development and production.     

Application of genetic algorithms in production and operations management: a review

Over the last decade, there has been a rapid growth of the use of genetic algorithms in the various areas of production and operations management. This paper provides a review of genetic algorithms research published in twenty-one major production and operations management journals from 1990–2001. More specifically, it identifies research trends and publication outlets of genetic algorithms applications. Our findings show that there are only a handful of production and operations management areas to which genetic algorithms have been applied as the solution approach. Furthermore, we recognize and discuss potential research areas and outlets in which researchers may target their work as well as the need for top ranked POM journals to consider publishing genetic algorithms related papers.     

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.     

Methods for mitigating disruptions in complex supply chain structures: a systematic literature review

Supply chain risk management is extremely important for the success of a company. Due to the increasing complexity of supply chains, avoiding and mitigating the effects of disruptions is very challenging. This article presents the results of a systematic literature review and content analysis in order to provide a comprehensive overview of the methods that are currently used for mitigating supply chain disruptions. The results of the review indicate that research in this field is interdisciplinary and that no common modelling language has emerged thus far. Prior research mostly redraws to graph theory and/or social network analysis, although a few methods have been developed recently specifically for supply chain risk management. We observe that prior contributions addressed risk and structure mostly separately and that only a few works focused on their intersection. The results of this review are consolidated in a research agenda that calls for research on the risk-structure-interface and the development of proxy methods.     

Industry 4.0 integration with socio-technical systems theory: A systematic review and proposed theoretical model

Industry 4.0 promises the fourth industrial revolution by integration of cyber and physical worlds through technology. Industry 4.0 implementation will result in human interaction with technical system in a specialised manner. Therefore, Industry 4.0 will also be a socio (human related) and technical (nonhuman related) system in pursuit of a common goal. The purpose of this study is to suggest a mechanism to include Socio-Technical Systems Theory perspective while designing architecture for integration while implementing Industry 4.0. Building on the previous literatures on Socio-Technical Systems Theory and Industry 4.0, the article proposes bringing the two approaches together and presents a framework for integration mechanism. Successful implementation of Industry 4.0 warrants vertical, horizontal and end-to-end integration. This study suggests a design mechanism for three types of integration mechanism in Industry 4.0 by considering the socio-technical systems impact on people, infrastructure, technology, processes, culture and goals. Further, the integration is also suggested for analysis on the impact of stakeholders, economic situation and regulatory frameworks around which the operating organizations are operating. This is the first paper to propose the consideration of Socio-Technical Systems theory while designing the horizontal, vertical and end-to-end integration for sustainable implementation of Industry 4.0.     

社会资本、知识管理能力和核心能力关系研究

在文献回顾的基础上,研究提出了社会资本、知识管理能力和核心能力之间关系的假设模型,并通过对浙江省82家高新技术企业的问卷调查验证这一模型。研究结果表明：高新技术企业结构资本、关系资本以及认知资本对知识管理能力均产生了显著的正向影响;高新技术企业知识管理能力在结构资本和核心能力、认知资本和核心能力之间起到了完全中介作用;高新技术企业关系资本不仅直接影响核心能力,还通过知识管理能力间接影响核心能力。     

A literature review of smart warehouse operations management

E-commerce, new retail, and other changes have highlighted the requirement of high efficiency and accuracy in the logistics service. As an important section in logistics and supply chain management, warehouses need to respond positively to the increasing requirement. The “smart warehouse” system, which is equipped with emerging warehousing technologies, is increasingly attracting the attention of industry and technology giants as an efficient solution for the future of warehouse development. This study provides a holistic view of operations management problems within the context of smart warehouses. We provide a framework to review smart warehouse operations management based on the characteristics of smart warehouses, including the perspectives of information interconnection, equipment automation, process integration, and environmental sustainability. A comprehensive review of relevant literature is then carried out based on the framework with four perspectives. This study could provide future research directions on smart warehouses for academia and industry practitioners.     

Performance-based contracting: a literature review and future research directions

This paper aims to provide a review and synthesis of the performance-based contracting (PBC) literature across academic disciplines. It also seeks to examine how the operations and supply management (OSM) discipline in particular relates to PBC studies in other study fields. The research is based on a systematic literature review of 241 peer-reviewed articles across disciplines, published between 1985 and 2014. A classification framework of PBC research is proposed, addressing key aspects of PBC design and management: performance specification and evaluation, the design of incentives and their impact on supplier behaviour and risks allocation depending also on the risk attitudes of buyers and suppliers. The comparative analysis of literature by discipline helps identify current empirical and theoretical limitations of relevant OSM studies. The paper concludes that future OSM research should expand its theoretical framework and empirical focus to better understand PBC design and management. Eight specific suggestions for future OSM research are offered, e.g. examining the potential of PBC as means for managing sustainability and innovation goals of supply chains. The paper helps advance OSM research in this area by providing a structured overview of definitions, theories, conceptual frames, methods and empirical studies from other disciplines.     

A literature review on performance measures of logistics management: an intellectual capital perspective

Today, logistics management requires a comprehensive set of performance indicators that measure both tangible assets and intellectual capital (IC) of organisations. Nevertheless, most of the measures used in the past mainly related to the financial aspect, although some specific components of IC, such as process efficiency and effectiveness, have been considered. Logistics literature lacks a comprehensive consideration of the diverse IC measures, and it is unclear which area of IC requires more focus and development. Therefore, to explore and identify an opportunity for improvement, this study reviews the academic literature related to IC measures in logistics management. This literature review considers 111 academic articles published between 1994 and 2016. Following the six dimensions of the IC-Index, all indicators obtained from the literature are classified according to IC elements. The key contribution of this review is that it addresses the following gaps in the literature: the limited adoption of comprehensive IC methods in logistics studies; underdevelopment of specific indicators and measures used; failure to consider all human capital as well as renewal and development elements; and, finally, lack of academic research considering the influences among the different IC elements and logistics and financial performance.     

The role of social media data in operations and production management

Social media data contain rich information in posts or comments written by customers. If those data can be extracted and analysed properly, companies can fully utilise this rich source of information. They can then convert the data to useful information or knowledge, which can help to formulate their business strategy. This cannot only facilitate marketing research in view of customer behaviour, but can also aid other management disciplines. Operations management (OM) research and practice with the objective to make decisions on product and process design is a fine example. Nevertheless, this line of thought is under-researched. In this connection, this paper explores the role of social media data in OM research. A structured approach is proposed, which involves the analysis of social media comments and a statistical cluster analysis to identify the interrelationships amongst important factors. A real-life example is employed to demonstrate the concept.     

Blockchain applications in supply chains,transport and logistics: a systematic review of the literature

This paper presents current academic and industrial frontiers on blockchain application in supply chain, logistics and transport management. We conduct a systematic review of the literature and find four main clusters in the co-citation analysis, namely Technology, Trust, Trade, and Traceability/Transparency. For each cluster, and based on the pool of articles included in it, we apply an inductive method of reasoning and discuss the emerging themes and applications of blockchains for supply chains, logistics and transport. We conclude by discussing the main themes for future research on blockchain technology and its application in industry and services.     

Three decades of workload control research: a systematic review of the literature

The workload control (WLC) concept has received much attention in the past three decades; however, a comprehensive literature review has not been presented. In response, this article provides a systematic review of the conceptual, analytical, empirical and simulation-based WLC literature. It explores the evolution of WLC research, determines the current state-of-the-art and identifies key areas for further study. The research finds that the field has evolved substantially. Early research focused on theoretical development and experimental testing of order release strategies; order release was then integrated with other planning stages, e.g., the customer enquiry stage, making the concept more suitable for customised manufacturing and leading to a comprehensive concept which combines input and output control effectively; recent attention has focused on implementing the resulting concept in practice and refining theory. While WLC is well placed to meet the needs of producers of customised products, future research should include: conducting further action research into how WLC can be effectively implemented in practice; studying human factors that affect WLC; and feeding back empirical findings to simulation-based WLC research to improve the applicability of WLC theory to real-life job shops.     

Process improvement in humanitarian operations: an organisational theory perspective

Contingency theory suggests the best way to organise and lead an organisation, or to make decisions, depends upon internal and external situational factors, e.g. organisational size, operational scope and environmental uncertainty. Humanitarian organisations use various process management tools, including codes of conduct and standards. Large non-governmental organisations (NGOs) seem especially attracted to standards. The purpose of this paper is to advance our understanding of process improvement techniques, with a focus on standards, in use by humanitarian NGOs. Content analysis is the method employed in this study. A sample of humanitarian NGO annual reports and web pages is studied to describe the NGOs and determine their approaches to process improvement. The sample contains a mix of NGOs based on their location (France or Canada), organisational size and scope of operations (development aid, disaster relief, etc.). Contingency theory is useful in linking contingency factors to process improvement approaches. NGO size, operational scope and organisational culture factors are linked to use of standards. This is one of the first (if not the first study) to adopt contingency theory in an investigation of process improvement approaches among humanitarian NGOs. It focuses on a managerial issue of great relevance – process improvement in humanitarian operations.     

The social preferences of local citizens and spontaneous volunteerism during disaster relief operations*

Existing studies on disaster relief operations pay limited attention to acts of spontaneous volunteerism by local citizens in the aftermath of disasters. The purpose of this paper is to explore how social preferences motivate citizens to help during post-disaster situations; above and beyond their own self-regarding interests. The paper begins by synthesising the literature on social preferences from the field of behavioural economics and social psychology with the discourse surrounding behavioural operations management and humanitarian operations management. By doing so, we identify the motivators, enablers and barriers of local citizen response during disaster relief operations. These factors inform a theoretical framework of the social preferences motivating spontaneous volunteerism in post-disaster situations. We evidence facets of the framework using archival and unstructured data retrieved from Twitter feeds generated by local citizens during the floods that hit Chennai, India in 2015. Our model highlights the importance of individual-level action during disaster relief operations and the enabling role of social media as a coordination mechanism for such efforts.     

A systematic review on the effectiveness of thermography in diagnosis of diseases

Collecting and analyzing appropriate information and performing comprehensive systematic studies, considering safety, effectiveness, and cost effectiveness of the technologies are prerequisites for making decisions on buying and using different diagnostic and therapeutic equipment. This study aimed to systematically identify and analyze available evidences related to the effectiveness of contact thermography technique in diagnosis of different diseases. This study was a systematic review of published and gray literature. We searched relevant databases, bibliography of related papers, and companies' websites, using appropriate search strategies and key words. The CASP tool was used by two experts to evaluate the quality of retrieved papers and inconsistencies were resolved by discussion. After removal of duplicate citations, 308 titles were identified through database searching, among which 276 were excluded on reviewing of the titles and abstracts. The full texts of the remaining papers (32) were assessed against the inclusion criteria and 14 papers were recognized qualified, which were categorized into three groups of: breast cancer, DVT, and others. The results showed although contact thermography is a safe, rapid and cheap technique to be used in screening and diagnosing different diseases, but results did not show any acceptable diagnostic value in comparison to other diagnostic techniques. It might be beneficial to use it as a complementary technique. More research is recommended in this area. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 23, 188–193, 2013