Transforming information into supply chain agility: an agility adaptation typology

2019 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 329-355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dawn M. Russell ◽  
David Swanson
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Information Processing ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Real World ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Supply Chain Agility

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediators that occupy the gap between information processing theory and supply chain agility. In today’s Mach speed business environment, managers often install new technology and expect an agile supply chain when they press<Enter>. This study reveals the naivety of such an approach, which has allowed new technology to be governed by old processes. Design/methodology/approach This work takes a qualitative approach to the dynamic conditions surrounding information processing and its connection to supply chain agility through the assessment of 60 exemplar cases. The situational conditions that have created the divide between information processing and supply chain agility are studied. Findings The agility adaptation typology (AAT) defining three types of adaptations and their mediating constructs is presented. Type 1: information processing, is generally an exercise in synchronization that can be used to support assimilation. Type 2: demand sensing, is where companies are able to incorporate real-time data into everyday processes to better understand demand and move toward a real-time environment. Type 3: supply chain agility, requires fundamentally new thinking in the areas of transformation, mindset and culture. Originality/value This work describes the reality of today’s struggle to achieve supply chain agility, providing guidelines and testable propositions, and at the same time, avoids “ivory tower prescriptions,” which exclude the real world details from the research process (Meredith, 1993). By including the messy real world details, while difficult to understand and explain, the authors are able to make strides in the AAT toward theory that explains and guides the manager’s everyday reality with all of its messy real world details.

Developing a model for supply chain agility and innovativeness to enhance firms’ competitive advantage

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (7) ◽  
pp. 1511-1534 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chih-Jou Chen
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Competitive Advantage ◽  
Dynamic Capabilities ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Structural Equations ◽  
Survey Method ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Supply Chain Agility ◽  
It Integration ◽  
The Impact

Purpose Developing agility and innovativeness as dynamic capabilities are important for firms to sustain their competitive advantage in today’s global economy. The purpose of this paper is to develop and empirically test a framework to investigate how the supply chain agility and innovativeness are achieved through IT integration and trust in members of supply chain and how these, in turn, can enhance firms’ competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach This research employs a survey method and data are collected from senior managers working in the supply chain or IT area. The model and hypotheses are tested utilizing data from 204 usable Taiwan manufacturing firms via structural equations modeling methodology. Findings The study demonstrates that both IT integration and trust in supply chain members significantly enhance supply chain agility and innovativeness, which in turn positively affect firm’s competitive advantage. The results indicate that IT integration and trust are antecedents and major joint partnership resources for improving supply chain agility and innovativeness. Research limitations/implications Data are collected from manufacturing industry in Taiwan and single respondent from each firm, the generalizability of current findings to other industries or countries should require additional investigation. Practical implications The study suggests that a firm should focus on IT integration and trust in supply chain members to achieve supply chain agility and innovativeness. To take advantage of supply chain agility and innovativeness, through maximizing firm’s competitive advantage, firms should continually adapt to the fast changing business environment and search for creative ways to satisfy new market needs. Originality/value Given the attention paid to supply chain agility and innovativeness in terms of importance to responding to business uncertainty and competitiveness, and more recently, as important capabilities in managing supply chain management, this paper investigates how IT integration and trust can contribute to supply chain agility and innovativeness. Provide evidence regarding the impact of IT integration and trust on agility of supply chains, innovativeness and competitive advantage.

A systematic review of the literature on supply chain agility

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bharat Singh Patel ◽  
Murali Sambasivan
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Directions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Supply Chain Agility ◽  
Agility Assessment ◽  
Future Research Directions

Purpose The purpose of this study is to critically examine the scholarly articles associated Murali Sambasivan with the diverse aspects of supply chain agility (SCA). The review highlights research insights, existing gaps and future research directions that can help academicians and practitioners gain a comprehensive understanding of SCA. Design/methodology/approach The present study has adopted author co-citation analysis as the research methodology, with a view to thoroughly investigating the good-quality articles related to SCA that have been published over a period of 22 years (1999-2020). In this study, 126 research papers on SCA – featuring diverse aspects of agility – from various reputed journals have been examined, analysed and assimilated. Findings The salient findings of this research are, namely, agility is different from other similar concepts, such as flexibility, leanness, adaptability and resilience; of the 13 dimensions of agility discussed in the literature, the prominent ones are quickness, responsiveness, competency and flexibility; literature related to SCA can be categorised as related to modelling the enablers, agility assessment, agility implementation, leagility and agility maximisation. This research proposes a more practical definition and framework for SCA. The probable areas for future research are, namely, impediments to agility, effective approaches to agility assessment, cost-benefit trade-offs to be considered whilst implementing agility, empirical research to validate the framework and SCA in the domain of healthcare and disaster relief supply chains. Practical implications This paper provides substantial insights to practitioners who primarily focus on measuring and implementing agility in the supply chain. The findings of this study will help the supply chain manager gain a better idea about how to become competitive in today’s dynamic and turbulent business environment. Originality/value The originality of this study is in: comprehensively identifying the various issues related to SCA, such as related concepts, definitions, dimensions and different categories of studies covered in literature, proposing a new definition and framework for SCA and identifying potential areas for future research, to provide deeper insights into the subject and highlight areas for future research.

The structural impact of supply chain management teams

2019 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 290-310
Author(s):  
Xun Li ◽  
Clyde W. Holsapple ◽  
Thomas J. Goldsby
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chain Management ◽  
Organizational Structure ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Structural Elements ◽  
Global Business ◽  
Chain Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Supply Chain Agility ◽  
Hierarchical Position

Purpose In today’s constantly evolving global business environment, multidivisional firms (MDFs) require an organizational structure for supply chain management (SCM) that facilitates the development of supply chain agility. This research aims to investigate what structural elements of an MDF’s SCM team contribute to supply chain agility. Design/methodology/approach A two-sample field study was conducted. Four MDFs with top-performing supply chains (Sample 1) were first studied to identify agility-supporting structural elements. Then, quantitative data from 35 MDFs with contrasting levels of supply chain agility (Sample 2) were collected to test the theoretical propositions advanced from Sample 1 findings. Findings The results reveal four structural elements that exert a positive impact on an MDF’s supply chain agility: hierarchical position of the divisional top supply chain executive, scope of divisional supply chain operations, hierarchical position of the top supply chain executive at the headquarters and scope of SCM coordination by the headquarters. Originality/value First, this study provides a comparatively comprehensive understanding of the SCM organization structure in MDFs. Second, this study is one of the first to provide empirically supported theoretical insights about the linkage between an MDF’s organizational structure for SCM and supply chain agility.

Evaluating the Risks Associated with Supply Chain Agility of an Enterprise

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 15-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anirban Ganguly ◽  
Debdeep Chatterjee ◽  
Harish V. Rao
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Intense Competition ◽  
Agile Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chain Agility ◽  
Risk Management Strategies

In the present day, business environment marked by intense competition and uncertainties, the ability of an organization and its supply chain to respond quickly to an unforeseen change in the business environment forms the key to its sustenance in the market. Since an agile supply chain comprises of a plethora of components, it is imperative that there should be a set of uncertainties associated with its functioning. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate a set of critical risks associated with the agility of an organization's supply chain. Identification and prioritization of the risks to assess their relative criticality form the backbone of the research process. This research is expected to aid the decision-makers develop robust risk management strategies as related to their organizational supply chain agility, thereby ensuring their growth and sustainability in the market.

Cassandra-based data repository design for food supply chain traceability

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandeep Kumar Singh ◽  
Mamata Jenamani
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Radio Frequency Identification ◽  
Query Language ◽  
Data Repository ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Real ◽  
Traceability System ◽  
Real Time Data

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to design a supply chain database schema for Cassandra to store real-time data generated by Radio Frequency IDentification technology in a traceability system. Design/methodology/approach The real-time data generated in such traceability systems are of high frequency and volume, making it difficult to handle by traditional relational database technologies. To overcome this difficulty, a NoSQL database repository based on Casandra is proposed. The efficacy of the proposed schema is compared with two such databases, document-based MongoDB and column family-based Cassandra, which are suitable for storing traceability data. Findings The proposed Cassandra-based data repository outperforms the traditional Structured Query Language-based and MongoDB system from the literature in terms of concurrent reading, and works at par with respect to writing and updating of tracing queries. Originality/value The proposed schema is able to store the real-time data generated in a supply chain with low latency. To test the performance of the Cassandra-based data repository, a test-bed is designed in the lab and supply chain operations of Indian Public Distribution System are simulated to generate data.

Potential use of real‐time data capture and job‐tracking technology in the field

Facilities ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 23 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 31-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seán T. McAndrew ◽  
Chimay J. Anumba ◽  
Tarek M. Hassan ◽  
Alistair K. Duke
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Facilities Management ◽  
Application Service Provider ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Application Service ◽  
Current State

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to discuss the scope for improving the delivery of FM services through the use of wireless web‐based communications infrastructure, delivered via an application service provider (ASP) business model. This paper discusses the findings from case studies of three organisations and their approach to the management of facilities.Design/methodology/approachAn investigation was undertaken to ascertain the current state of play in terms of managing and tracking processes within the facilities management department of three different organisations. These case studies were chosen from distinct sectors, namely health care, higher education, and banking. Emphasis is placed on analysing how the organisations currently operate with their existing FM systems and the degree of influence technology has on existing processes. This was considered mainly in terms of computer‐aided facilities management (CAFM) and computer‐integrated facilities management (CIFM).FindingsThe study found that a new wireless web‐based service for FM systems would be considered useful. Although notoriously slow adopters of new technology, there was an acceptance by the facilities managers interviewed that a wireless web‐based approach would improve current practice, especially with respect to real‐time job reporting and tracking and in the determination of FM operative working time utilisation.Practical implicationsFurther work by the author is focusing on the development of a suitable demonstrator to illustrate the key concepts of a wireless web‐based FM service which will then be tested and evaluated. For further information, visit the research project web site at www.wirelessfm.org Originality/value – The paper hopefully stimulates discussion in the area of emerging wireless technologies that have the potential to streamline and improve current practices for the management of facilities, in particular that of real‐time job reporting and tracking.

Real-time data processing in supply chain management: revealing the uncertainty dilemma

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (10) ◽  
pp. 1003-1019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabrina Lechler ◽  
Angelo Canzaniello ◽  
Bernhard Roßmann ◽  
Heiko A. von der Gracht ◽  
Evi Hartmann
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Supply Chain Management ◽  
Data Processing ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Chain Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Real Time Data Processing

Purpose Particularly in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) business conditions, staff in supply chain management (SCM) look to real-time (RT) data processing to reduce uncertainties. However, based on the premise that data processing can be perfectly mastered, such expectations do not reflect reality. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether RT data processing reduces SCM uncertainties under real-world conditions. Design/methodology/approach Aiming to facilitate communication on the research question, a Delphi expert survey was conducted to identify challenges of RT data processing in SCM operations and to assess whether it does influence the reduction of SCM uncertainty. In total, 14 prospective statements concerning RT data processing in SCM operations were developed and evaluated by 68 SCM and data-science experts. Findings RT data processing was found to have an ambivalent influence on the reduction of SCM complexity and associated uncertainty. Analysis of the data collected from the study participants revealed a new type of uncertainty related to SCM data itself. Originality/value This paper discusses the challenges of gathering relevant, timely and accurate data sets in VUCA environments and creates awareness of the relationship between data-related uncertainty and SCM uncertainty. Thus, it provides valuable insights for practitioners and the basis for further research on this subject.

scholarly journals Modeling of an IoT-enabled supply chain for perishable food with two-echelon supply hubs

2017 ◽  
Vol 117 (9) ◽  
pp. 1890-1905 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingfeng Zhang ◽  
Lin Zhao ◽  
Cheng Qian
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Food Supply Chain ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Real ◽  
Industrial Parks ◽  
Iot Devices ◽  
Real Time Information

Purpose The huge demand for fresh goods has stimulated lots of research on the perishable food supply chain. The characteristics of perishable food and the cross-regional transportation have brought many challenges to the operation models of perishable food supply chain. The purpose of this paper is to address these challenges based on the real-time data acquired by the Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Design/methodology/approach IoT and the modeling of the Supply Hub in Industrial Parks were adopted in the perishable food supply chain. Findings A conceptual model was established for the IoT-enabled perishable food supply chain with two-echelon supply hubs. The performance of supply chain has improved when implementing the proposed model, as is demonstrated by a case study. Originality/value By our model, the supply hubs which act as the dominators of the supply chain can respond to the real-time information captured from the operation processes of an IoT-enabled supply chain, thus to provide public warehousing and logistic services.

How supply chain analytics enables operational supply chain transparency

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-68 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suning Zhu ◽  
Jiahe Song ◽  
Benjamin T. Hazen ◽  
Kang Lee ◽  
Casey Cegielski
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Information Processing ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Business Practices ◽  
Information Processing Theory ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Processing Theory ◽  
Organizational Information ◽  
Organizational Information Processing Theory ◽  
Analytics Capability

Purpose The global business environment combined with increasing societal expectations of sustainable business practices challenges firms with a host of emerging risk factors. As such, firms seek to increase supply chain transparency, enabling them to monitor operational activities and manage supply chain risks. Drawing on organizational information processing theory, the purpose of this paper is to examine how supply chain analytics (SCA) capabilities support operational supply chain transparency. Design/methodology/approach Using data from 477 survey participants, hypotheses are tested using seemingly unrelated regression. Findings The results reveal that: analytics capability in support of planning functions indirectly affects organizational supply chain transparency (OSCT) via SCA capabilities in source, make, and deliver functions; SCA capabilities in source, make, and deliver positively influence OSCT; and supply uncertainty moderates the relationship between SCA capabilities in make and OSCT. Research limitations/implications This research suffers from limitations inherent in all survey-based research. Nonetheless, the authors found convincing evidence that suggests firms can employ SCA capabilities to meet transparency requirements. Practical implications The findings inform design of SCA systems, noting the importance of linking planning tools with tools that support source, make, and deliver functions. The research also shows how transparency can be increased via employing SCA capabilities. Originality/value This is one of first studies to empirically demonstrate that SCA capabilities can be used to increase supply chain transparency. The research also advances organizational information processing theory by illustrating an analytics capability paradox, where increased levels of certain analytics capabilities can become counterproductive in the face of supplier uncertainty.

A supply chain performance measurement approach using the internet of things

2017 ◽  
Vol 117 (2) ◽  
pp. 267-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdallah Jamal Dweekat ◽  
Gyusun Hwang ◽  
Jinwoo Park
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Internet Of Things ◽  
Performance Measurement ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Supply Chain Performance ◽  
Time Data ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Performance Measurement Systems ◽  
And Control

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce a more practical approach for supply chain performance measurement (SCPM) and to approve the promising role of internet of things (IoT) technologies in SCPM systems. Design/methodology/approach This is a conceptual paper that includes literature review analysis, designing a new approach for SCPM, and a case study scenario for proving its applicability. Findings The case study scenario shows that IoT can enhance SCPM, as it has the capability to enable real-time data collection, increase data efficiency as long as enable real-time communication within the supply chain (SC). Practical implications The proposed approach can help to develop performance measurement systems and applications enabled by IoT technologies. These systems can be used to monitor, manage, and control the overall SC in real time and in a more integrated and cooperative manner. Originality/value This paper provides a structured systems building approach tailored to show how to employ IoT technologies in the field of SCPM. This approach could help in establishing new performance measurement applications, and it is believed that both practitioners and researchers will benefit from it.

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