scholarly journals Characterizing supply chain visibility – a literature review

2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 308-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sirirat Somapa ◽  
Martine Cools ◽  
Wout Dullaert

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a literature review that aims to provide insight into the characteristics and effectiveness of supply chain visibility (SCV), as well as to identify metrics that capture these aspects in business processes. Design/methodology/approach A systematic review of the supply chain literature is conducted to identify the characteristics and the effectiveness of SCV. The synthesis of SCV effectiveness and its metrics are based on the process-oriented approach which relates the effectiveness of SCV to improved business performance. Findings This study reveals that the characteristics of SCV can be captured in terms of the accessibility, quality, and usefulness of information. The benefits of SCV are found to extend beyond improvements to operational efficiency of business processes or to the strategic competencies of an organization. Practical implications This study underlines that clear agreements between all players involved in the SC can help to solve problems caused by information completeness (type and amount of information), and unlock the full potential of SCV projects. Originality/value By using a process-oriented approach, this review provides a comprehensive explanation of the functions of SCV, as well as its first-order effects, in terms of automational, informational, and transformational characteristics.

Author(s):  
Anuj Dixit ◽  
Srikanta Routroy ◽  
Sunil Kumar Dubey

Purpose This paper aims to review the healthcare supply chain (HSC) literature along various areas and to find out the gap in it. Design/methodology/approach In total, 143 research papers were reviewed during 1996-2017. A critical review was carried out in various dimensions such as research methodologies/data collection method (empirical, case study and literature review) and inquiry mode of research methodology (qualitative, quantitative and mixed), country-specific, targeted area, research aim and year of publication. Findings Supply chain (SC) operations, performance measurement, inventory management, lean and agile operation, and use of information technology were well studied and analyzed, however, employee and customer training, tracking and visibility of medicines, cold chain management, human resource practices, risk management and waste management are felt to be important areas but not much attention were made in this direction. Research limitations/implications Mainly drug and vaccine SC were considered in current study of HSC while SC along healthcare equipment and machine, hospitality and drug manufacturing related papers were excluded in this study. Practical implications This literature review has recognized and analyzed various issues relevant to HSC and shows the direction for future research to develop an efficient and effective HSC. Originality/value The insight of various aspects of HSC was explored in general for better and deeper understanding of it for designing of an efficient and competent HSC. The outcomes of the study may form a basis to decide direction of future research.


2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (8) ◽  
pp. 7-9
Author(s):  
Israel Odede

Purpose The paper aims to critically examine the bibliographic utility as a roadmap to increase library consortia and provide an insight into a new library consortia strategy that integrates librarians into a system of sharing both resources and knowledge. Design/methodology/approach This study adopted a literature review approach with a focus on bibliographic utility as a necessary prerequisite for effective library consortia, which is a paradigm shift from the concept of individual ownership to a collective access of distributed network resources and knowledge. Findings The reviewed literature indicated that significant bibliographic utilities and integrated library systems are factors that shaped and developed consortia activities in libraries. Originality/value The bibliographic utility has limited literature, and a few published scholarly studies have combined bibliographic utility and library consortia as strategies to share resources and knowledge


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhavana Mathur ◽  
Sumit Gupta ◽  
Makhan Lal Meena ◽  
G.S. Dangayach

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the causal linkages among supply chain practices, effectiveness of supply chain performance (SCP) and organizational performance (OP) in Indian healthcare industries.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is helpful in developing a framework for linking a healthcare supply chain practice to its OP, and thus identifies how such a linkage can be connected to the effectiveness of SCP. Such effort also enables the authors to derive a set of recommended supply chain practices for SC performance.FindingsFrom the literature review, this paper finds that, in the context of Indian healthcare industries, efficient SC performance may play a critical role for overall OP improvement, as there is a close interrelationship between supply chain management (SCM) practices and SCP that may have a more significant effect on OP improvement.Research limitations/implicationsThe principle limitation of the paper is that it is performed only in a particular industry and with a questionnaire survey which could be extended in future for other industries also. Another limitation of the paper is that it is focused only on the SCP of medical device and equipment supply chain which is a small portion of the whole healthcare supply chain, and therefore requires further research covering various other domains of healthcare supply chain. Another limitation of the study is that the sample survey has been taken from only one respondent per company at one point of time which may create biasness in the results. Thus, future research should collect data through multiple members from the organization.Practical implicationsThis study contributes to know the effect of SCM practices on healthcare SCP and provides a practical and useful tool to evaluate the extent of effectiveness of SCP and finally their impact on the healthcare OP. Finally, this study provides conceptual and descriptive literature regarding SCM practices that leads to improvement in healthcare performance.Social implicationsThis study adds to the knowledge on healthcare SCM performance by exploring the relationship between supply chain practices, healthcare SCP and healthcare OP and by developing and testing a research framework thus help in improving patient satisfaction.Originality/valueThis study attempts to show how the potential benefits of supply chain practices can no longer be ignored in healthcare supply chain.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Surya Prakash ◽  
Gunjan Soni ◽  
Ajay Pal Singh Rathore

Purpose The research on supply chain risk management (SCRM) is visibly on the rise, although its literature still lacks the state of the art that critically analyzes its content. The SCRM literature seems to require studies that utilize risk typology, sources of risk, etc. for reviewing the topic. The purpose of this paper is to bridge the gap by synthesizing the information obtained from 343 articles across 85 journals. This study also presents a critical analysis of the content of SCRM in a structured manner to identify the directions for future research. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review (SLR) was devised and adopted, which involved the selection, classification, and evaluation of 343 research articles published over a period of 11 years (2004-2014). The content of extant SCRM literature was critically analyzed and synthesized from the perspective of the risk management process (RMP). Findings The analysis of extant literature shows that there is a marked rise in research in the SCRM area, especially after the year 2005. It was observed that not only risk but also different forms of uncertainties make supply chain (SC) operations difficult to manage. The SCRM actions yielded most benefits when their implementation was at chain or network level and managed strategically. The analysis also reveals that the manufacturing sector is most affected by risks and highly investigated by researchers. Practical implications A complete process for SCRM based on risk stratification, objectives of risk management, and RMP will be a guiding model for firms to manage risks. The research gaps identified and future directions provided here will encourage researchers and managers to devise new methods, tools, and techniques to address the risks in modern SC operations. Originality/value An SLR and risk-based content classification of SCRM literature were performed. To identify, locate, select, and analyze the SCRM literature, a structured and systematic process was adopted with some very rarely used methods such as two levels of search keywords, and strings were formulated to locate the most relevant articles in major academic databases.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Harmen S. Wijbenga ◽  
Paul C. van Fenema ◽  
Nynke Faber

Purpose The purpose of the study is to diagnose recurrent logistics problems in a public organization’s network of logistics entities, determining the maturity level of each supply chain (SC) function, and trying to link problems within the SC functions to the maturity level by using the case study method. Design/methodology/approach Extant research on supply chain management (SCM) maturity is combined with notions of SC flows and disciplines. The resulting SCM Disciplines Maturity model comprises multiple diagnostic steps. It is illustrated by means of a developmental case study at a large public organization facing recurrent logistics problems in routine processes. Findings The model is shown to be a useful instrument to obtain insight into linkages between recurrent logistics problems and the way an SCM organization harbors multiple SCM disciplines. Originality/value The paper examines recurrent logistics problems in relation to SCM maturity, a relatively unknown research subject. It shows how SCM maturity thinking can support the diagnosis of recurrent problems. In a rapidly changing world, it enables further research on diagnosis as a dynamic capability.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yugowati Praharsi ◽  
Mohammad Abu Jami’in ◽  
Gaguk Suhardjito ◽  
Hui Ming Wee

Purpose This study aims to apply a Lean Six Sigma framework to support continuous improvement in the maritime industry (shipbuilding, logistics services and shipping companies) during COVID-19 pandemics. By applying the concepts of Lean Six Sigma and supply chain resilience, the most suitable continuous improvement method for the maritime industry is developed to maintain a resilient supply chain during COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach A specific shipbuilding, logistics services and shipping company in Indonesia is chosen as the research object. The Lean Six Sigma framework reveals the wastes through the supply chain resilience concept, and implements internal business processes to maintain optimal system performance. Findings The paper identifies important implementation aspects in applying Lean Six Sigma to shipbuilding, logistics services and shipping. The DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve and control) approach is applied to achieve supply chain resilience. Resilient measures are generated for the case companies to maximize performance during the pandemics. Practical implications This paper provides a new insight for integrating Lean Six Sigma and resilience strategies in the maritime industry during COVID-19 disruptions. The authors provide some insights to sustain the performance of the maritime industries under study. Originality/value This study is part of the first research in the maritime industry that focuses on continuous improvement during COVID-19 using Lean Six Sigma and supply chain resilience.


2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 215-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Vera-Baquero ◽  
Ricardo Colomo Palacios ◽  
Vladimir Stantchev ◽  
Owen Molloy

Purpose – This paper aims to present a solution that enables organizations to monitor and analyse the performance of their business processes by means of Big Data technology. Business process improvement can drastically influence in the profit of corporations and helps them to remain viable. However, the use of traditional Business Intelligence systems is not sufficient to meet today ' s business needs. They normally are business domain-specific and have not been sufficiently process-aware to support the needs of process improvement-type activities, especially on large and complex supply chains, where it entails integrating, monitoring and analysing a vast amount of dispersed event logs, with no structure, and produced on a variety of heterogeneous environments. This paper tackles this variability by devising different Big-Data-based approaches that aim to gain visibility into process performance. Design/methodology/approach – Authors present a cloud-based solution that leverages (BD) technology to provide essential insights into business process improvement. The proposed solution is aimed at measuring and improving overall business performance, especially in very large and complex cross-organisational business processes, where this type of visibility is hard to achieve across heterogeneous systems. Findings – Three different (BD) approaches have been undertaken based on Hadoop and HBase. We introduced first, a map-reduce approach that it is suitable for batch processing and presents a very high scalability. Secondly, we have described an alternative solution by integrating the proposed system with Impala. This approach has significant improvements in respect with map reduce as it is focused on performing real-time queries over HBase. Finally, the use of secondary indexes has been also proposed with the aim of enabling immediate access to event instances for correlation in detriment of high duplication storage and synchronization issues. This approach has produced remarkable results in two real functional environments presented in the paper. Originality/value – The value of the contribution relies on the comparison and integration of software packages towards an integrated solution that is aimed to be adopted by industry. Apart from that, in this paper, authors illustrate the deployment of the architecture in two different settings.


2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (7) ◽  
pp. 1589-1614 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morten Brinch

Purpose The value of big data in supply chain management (SCM) is typically motivated by the improvement of business processes and decision-making practices. However, the aspect of value associated with big data in SCM is not well understood. The purpose of this paper is to mitigate the weakly understood nature of big data concerning big data’s value in SCM from a business process perspective. Design/methodology/approach A content-analysis-based literature review has been completed, in which an inductive and three-level coding procedure has been applied on 72 articles. Findings By identifying and defining constructs, a big data SCM framework is offered using business process theory and value theory as lenses. Value discovery, value creation and value capture represent different value dimensions and bring a multifaceted view on how to understand and realize the value of big data. Research limitations/implications This study further elucidates big data and SCM literature by adding additional insights to how the value of big data in SCM can be conceptualized. As a limitation, the constructs and assimilated measures need further empirical evidence. Practical implications Practitioners could adopt the findings for conceptualization of strategies and educational purposes. Furthermore, the findings give guidance on how to discover, create and capture the value of big data. Originality/value Extant SCM theory has provided various views to big data. This study synthesizes big data and brings a multifaceted view on its value from a business process perspective. Construct definitions, measures and research propositions are introduced as an important step to guide future studies and research designs.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  

Purpose This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies. Design/methodology/approach This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context. Findings Companies can enhance their supply chain by combining data analytics and the digitization of activities. Manager focus on internal dynamic capabilities and effectiveness of data acquisition and utilization increases the possibility of improved operational and business performance. Originality/value The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Faisal Rasool ◽  
Marco Greco ◽  
Michele Grimaldi

Purpose In the previous decade, a substantial amount of research has been undertaken to measure the digitalized supply chain (DSC) performance. This paper aims to present a systematic literature review on DSC performance measurement metrics to apprehend current practices, recognize gaps and advocate future research itineraries. Design/methodology/approach To guarantee a replicable, rigorous and transparent research process, the authors used a systematic literature review methodology to synthesize the research. A combination of 25 keywords was used to obtain 248 scientific studies in the first step. The balance scorecard (BSC) model was used to categorize 299 gathered performance metrics into 4 BSC perspectives. Findings The review highlighted the need for qualitative performance measuring metrics for DSC. During the review, only one study was identified that primarily focused on developing performance metrics for DSC. Additionally, the review identified that metrics related to internal and financial perspectives received the most attention while the “growth and learning” perspective received the least attention. The review also identified that external partners, such as distributors and suppliers, were virtually ignored in previous literature. Originality/value Although numerous literature reviews have been conducted in the past on the performance measuring metrics for supply chain management, no literature review aiming to synthesize the measuring metrics for DSC has yet been undertaken.


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