Management of supply chains with attribute-sensitive products: a comprehensive literature review and future research agenda

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 885-903
Author(s):  
Mehdi Amini ◽  
Carol C. Bienstock ◽  
Mihalis Golias

PurposeMismanagement of supply chain operations may lead to waste of products and incur substantial monetary losses. This is particularly true for products with attributes that hasten deterioration, e.g. time, temperature, humidity and barometric pressure. Attribute-sensitive products must be carefully monitored throughout all supply chain processes to ensure acceptable quality to the end customers. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the scientific literature on attribute sensitive products and on attribute sensitive supply chains. The collected studies were reviewed using the content analysis method, focusing on the following aspects of attribute sensitive products: (1) industries; (2) product categories; (3) decisions involved; (4) processes; (5) current issues; (6) sustainability concerns; (7) research methods used; (8) objectives of decision makers; (9) solution approaches used; (10) incentives driving management and (11) future research issues. Based on the analysis of findings, gaps are identified, and future research directions are proposed.Design/methodology/approachLiterature review and content analysis.FindingsThe authors discovered that, while the importance of product attributes vary from one industry to the other, overall the time attribute was critical in all of the industries considered in this literature review. Coordination, customer satisfaction, reliability and safety were key issues in attribute sensitive product supply chains (asp-SCs). Similar to the typical supply chains, asp-SCs face economic, social and environmental sustainability issues. However, the majority of the studies in our analysis emphasized importance of the social sustainability. The majority of the papers were reviewed and analyzed and adopted the modeling approach as a research method. Furthermore, it was found that asp-SCs were mostly driven with customer demands and social pressure.Research limitations/implicationsBased on the literature review and content analysis, there are a number of directions for the work conducted in this study to be extended in several directions. First, the literature search could be expanded by relaxing some of the restrictions (e.g. include the conference papers and articles from on-line business journals). Second, additional scientific publishers can be considered (e.g. Emerald Insight–www.emeraldinsight.com; Inderscience–www.inderscience.com). The latter two extensions would allow a more precise assessment of published to date work on asp-SC operations. Third, our findings could be validated based on interviews with professionals and executives from companies dealing with asp-SCs. Such validation will allow identification of the differences between the state of the art and the state of practice.Practical implicationsSupply chains that handle attribute sensitive products (asps) must consider the complexity of products that significantly change their properties due to factors such as time, temperature, barometric pressure, humidity. Mismanagement of operations within such supply chains may lead to significant product waste, as well as substantial monetary losses.Originality/valueThis study presented a comprehensive literature review and content analysis of studies dealing with asps in the following industries: fashion, food, healthcare, humanitarian and pharmaceutical industries

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vishnu C.R. ◽  
R. Sridharan ◽  
Angappa Gunasekaran ◽  
P.N. Ram Kumar

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the distinction and relationships between the significant strategic capabilities for managing risks in supply chains. This intersectional review exposes a substantial conceptual contradiction between the perspectives reported by various researchers. Further, the current paper classifies the literature into four categories according to the broad objectives investigated by the research papers. Design/methodology/approach Initially, a bibliometric analysis aligned with the concepts of a systematic literature review is conducted followed by a descriptive review focusing on models and methods. The software called BibExcel is utilized to extract and analyze the bibliographic information in a textual form from the research articles associated with strategic capabilities of the logistics sector. The results are exported to the software known as Gephi to visualize keyword co-occurrence analysis as networks. A well-structured descriptive review is also conducted to identify avenues for future research. Findings Despite conventional supply chain capabilities like efficiency and effectiveness, eight significant strategic capabilities of supply chains for managing risks are identified from the literature. These capabilities with positive connotations include flexibility, reliability, resilience, robustness, agility, adaptability, alignment and responsiveness. Considering the vast literature on flexibility/reliability along with its numerous dimensions and scope, the authors found that resilience, robustness, agility, adaptability, alignment and effectiveness are achievable through flexibility/reliability. Accordingly, it is appropriate to state reliability and flexibility as supply chain capabilities to achieve the other six supply chain competencies. Furthermore, the entire literature in this domain can be classified into four genres according to the addressed objectives, namely, concept development/validation, capability assessment, network design and performance evaluation. Research limitations/implications The information revealed from the keyword co-occurrence analysis along with the research implications provided in the penultimate section will assist budding researchers in framing novel and promising research objectives. Supply chain administrators and policymakers can utilize the literature classification and the notable references provided in this review for locating potential methods for assessing supply chain strategic capabilities, designing the supply chain and evaluating the performance of the supply chain. Originality/value An integrated bibliometric and descriptive literature review procedure is utilized in this paper. Furthermore, this critical review is the first work on comprehensively mapping the research relationships among various strategic capabilities required for mitigating supply chain risks.


2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (5/6) ◽  
pp. 592-608 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hella Abidi ◽  
Sander de Leeuw ◽  
Matthias Klumpp

Purpose – This paper aims to identify the state of the art of performance measurement and management in humanitarian supply chains; to categorize performance measurement indicators in the five supply chain phases of Gunasekaran and Kobu (2007) and evaluate them based on the evaluation criteria of Caplice and Sheffi (1995); and to define gaps and challenges in this field and give insights for future research in this domain. Design/methodology/approach – A literature review has been conducted using a structured method based on Denyer and Tranfield (2009) and Rousseau et al. (2008). The state of the art on humanitarian supply chain performance management with a focus on measurement frameworks and indicators and their applications in practice is classified in three categories. The first category is the definition and measurement of success in humanitarian supply chains. The second category is managing performance, which focuses on describing and analyzing the actual practice of managing performance. The third category shows the challenges in performance management that humanitarian supply chain actors deal with. Findings – Findings reveal that performance measurement and management in humanitarian supply chains is still an open area of research, especially compared to the commercial supply chain sector. Furthermore, the research indicates that performance measurement and management in humanitarian supply chains has to be developed in support of the supply chain strategy. Based on the findings of the literature review on performance measurement and management in the commercial and humanitarian field, a first classification of 94 performance measurement indicators in humanitarian supply chains is presented. Furthermore, the paper shows key problems why performance measurement and management systems have not been widely developed and systematically implemented in humanitarian supply chains and are not part of the supply chain strategy. The authors propose performance measurement guidelines that include input and output criteria. They develop a research agenda that focuses on four research questions for designing, deploying and disseminating performance measurement and management in humanitarian supply chains. Practical implications – The result helps the humanitarian supply chain community to conduct further research in this area and to develop performance measurement frameworks and indicators that suit humanitarian supply chains. Originality/value – It is the first systematic approach to categorize research output regarding performance measurement and management in humanitarian supply chains. The paper shows the state of the art in performance measurement and management in humanitarian supply chains and develops a research agenda.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 223-240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhijeet Ghadge ◽  
Maximilian Weiß ◽  
Nigel D. Caldwell ◽  
Richard Wilding

Purpose In spite of growing research interest in cyber security, inter-firm based cyber risk studies are rare. Therefore, this study aims to investigate cyber risk management in supply chain contexts. Design/methodology/approach Adapting a systematic literature review process, papers from interdisciplinary areas published between 1990 and 2017 were selected. Different typologies, developed for conducting descriptive and thematic analysis, were established using data mining techniques to conduct a comprehensive, replicable and transparent review. Findings The review identifies multiple future research directions for cyber security/resilience in supply chains. A conceptual model is developed, which indicates a strong link between information technology, organisational and supply chain security systems. The human/behavioural elements within cyber security risk are found to be critical; however, behavioural risks have attracted less attention because of a perceived bias towards technical (data, application and network) risks. There is a need for raising risk awareness, standardised policies, collaborative strategies and empirical models for creating supply chain cyber-resilience. Research limitations/implications Different types of cyber risks and their points of penetration, propagation levels, consequences and mitigation measures are identified. The conceptual model developed in this study drives an agenda for future research on supply chain cyber security/resilience. Practical implications A multi-perspective, systematic study provides a holistic guide for practitioners in understanding cyber-physical systems. The cyber risk challenges and the mitigation strategies identified support supply chain managers in making informed decisions. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first systematic literature review on managing cyber risks in supply chains. The review defines supply chain cyber risk and develops a conceptual model for supply chain cyber security systems and an agenda for future studies.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bjørn Jæger ◽  
Mesay Moges Menebo ◽  
Arvind Upadhyay

PurposeThe increasing rate of environmental concern and awareness by society has attracted attention from researchers and organisations to consider how to proceed towards green supply chains. The purpose of this paper is to identify operational bottlenecks in the multi-tier supply chain to guide organisations towards where to concentrate their efforts to address their supply chain environmental challenges.Design/methodology/approachThis paper presents a literature review identifying green supply chain challenges of multi-tier supply chains. Following the literature review is a case study of the Ethiopian health supply chain with 11 interviews, 11 international and 6 national surveys and data from public health information systems. An analysis based on multi-tier supply chain modelling is used to identify environmental supply chain bottlenecks.FindingsThis research found that the supply chain actors face severe challenges towards enhanced green supply chain performance mainly because of poor inventory management (IN), inefficient tracking and tracing (TR) and fake or sub-standard products in the supply chain, especially counterfeit medicines (CO). Specific environmental bottlenecks within each of the challenge areas IN, TR and CO where identified serving as recommendations for where supply chain actors should focus their work towards greener supply chains.Research limitations/implicationsThe data come from participants in a single country, Ethiopia; although the supply chain challenges are common for developing countries in general.Practical implicationsThis research presents a modelling approach to identify supply chain activities considered as environmental bottlenecks in multi-tier supply chains. The environmental bottlenecks pinpoint supply chain activities to focus on for a transition towards green supply chains for manufacturers, public and private health organisations, hospitals and health care units.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the literature on GSCM by developing a multi-tier modelling approach for identifying environmental supply chain bottlenecks. The applicability of the model is demonstrated by the identification of environmental bottlenecks in a healthcare supply chain supporting decisions on what challenges a green supply chain strategy should address. It serves as a basis for future research on where to implement GSCM practices in supply chains (SCs).


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bingfeng Bai ◽  
Junjun Gao ◽  
Yang Lv

Purpose This paper aims to assess the links among these demand chain constructs by conducting a full-scale systematic review of all demand chain management (DCM) literature reviews published in marketing and operations management journals from 2013 to 2020. Marketing and supply chain management are central to DCM; thus, this study briefly describes the contributions to knowledge provided by the papers contained in this issue. In addition, some additional areas of research in which the DCM can be gainfully deployed are outlined. Design/methodology/approach This paper makes a systematic literature review of 70 literature samples by means of content analysis and comprehensive analysis. These approaches guarantee a replicable, rigorous and transparent research process and minimize researcher bias. The analytical categories required for the content analysis are defined along the constructs of marketing and supply chain management. Findings As can be expected, this paper highlights the key role of the two constructs in the strategy of DCM. In this light, the paper claims to provide evidence of a link between the constructs of marketing and supply chain management. This paper reviews the connotation of DCM through literature review, distinguishes the relationship between DCM and supply chain management from a strategic management perspective and discusses the future research direction. Research limitations/implications This study assesses the link between the strategic constructs of marketing and supply chain management through research embedded in literature reviews, pinpointing research gaps and potential future research directions in the field. Contributing to DCM theory building, a thorough review provides qualitative comparison of the link between marketing and supply chain management. Originality/value Although some literature reviews have been conducted in the past on the constructs of DCM, no full review of literature reviews aiming to test a strategic theoretical link in the demand chain related to supply chain and marketing.


Author(s):  
Nasrun Mohamad ◽  
Asmak Ab Rahman

Purpose – This paper aims to present the results of a comprehensive literature review with regard to the application of Tawarruq in the Islamic banking system covering the period between 2011 and before. The review aims to synthesize the previous research, capsulize the structural overview inasmuch as future research might be oriented and identify the gaps and direction for future research. Design/methodology/approach – A range of published and unpublished documents was collated and filtered based on the defined rules to identify the determinants of the writing. The documents were then be classified into few segments in which content analysis was conducted to capsulize the essence of the subject matter described in the literature. Findings – The analysis demonstrates that most of the studies discussed the fundamental theories which concerning the area of jurisprudence, while a few of them did discuss the application aspect in the banking environment. However, none of the operational process is discussed in-depth, whereas the risk of Shari’ah non-compliance might arise in the detail transaction. Research limitations/implications – The databases used in the search might not contain all the documents that could be relevant for the review. Furthermore, the defined-rule for document searching and selection excluded the out-of-scope documents that might be relevant. Originality/value – This paper identifies the gaps that become apparent in the literature in assisting researchers to ascertain the interesting areas as well as the direction for future research.


2014 ◽  
Vol 19 (5/6) ◽  
pp. 643-663 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elcio M. Tachizawa ◽  
Chee Yew Wong

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive framework that synthesizes approaches and contingency variables to manage the sustainability of multi-tier supply chains and sub-suppliers. Design/methodology/approach – Using a systematic literature review, the authors analyse 39 studies and relevant theories to develop a comprehensive framework that integrates research efforts so far. Findings – The authors build a conceptual framework that incorporates four approaches to manage the sustainability of multi-tier supply chains. They also identify several contingency variables (e.g. power, dependency, distance, industry, knowledge resources) and their effect on the proposed approaches. Research limitations/implications – Based on the framework, six research propositions that advance the theories on multi-tier supply chain management, allow lead firms to develop comprehensive sustainable supply chain strategies and set the ground for future research in the area were developed. Originality/value – This study provides a novel framework for studying sustainability in multi-tier supply chains that goes beyond the single-tier perspective and incorporates the extended supply chain.


2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 1387-1424 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Datta

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the knowledge existing in the literature on supply chain resilience for identifying the supply chain practices adopted for securing resilience in given uncertain event. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review is conducted to identify 84 conceptual and empirical studies. The research findings are synthesized in categories of uncertain events, supply chain practices and outcomes. Findings A set of propositions linking the uncertain events, mechanisms and supply chain resilience improvement is developed. It was found that the sufficient conditions for resilience under unexpected disasters are substantially different from those required for resilience against disruptions caused by internal practices or complexity. Originality/value Practitioners can benefit from the knowledge of interventions and mechanisms to improve their supply chain resilience in the face of different unpredictable situations. The contribution of this paper is twofold: first, it develops an actionable theory of supply chain resilience by developing testable propositions in the context of supply chains exposed to uncertainties resulting from unexpected disruptions, complexity of supply chains and adoption of certain internal practice; second, the paper highlights the key shortcomings of existing literature and provides opportunities for further research and improvement.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 216-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Leanne Christ ◽  
Roger Leonard Burritt

Purpose Water is critical to all life on Earth and a crucial business resource which evidence suggests is often mismanaged. Corporate water accounting is an emerging practice designed to help corporations address water issues. Indirect water management in supply chains is important, but hitherto little consideration has been given to supply chain water accounting. This paper aims to synthesise available literature and infer how future research can further knowledge and take-up in practice. Design/methodology/approach An integrative literature review is used to synthesise the current state of knowledge and the prospects for academic research looking to further practice in supply chain water accounting. Findings Literature reveals two contrasting issues in need of further research, first, between normative and practical approaches to supply chain water accounting and, second, the focus on external reporting versus management. Research limitations/implications One main limitation is recognised. Technical aspects of supply chain water accounting tools, for example, water footprints and material flow cost accounting are not considered as focus is on the take-up of corporate supply chain water accounting in practice. Practical implications This study sets out an agenda for the future of supply chain water accounting which can be used to guide research and stimulate extension in practice and take-up of important indirect considerations in corporate water accounting in supply chains. Originality/value The integrative literature review leads to the identification of future research opportunities and a set of research questions relating to useful information, links with internal decision-making and external collaboration, application in companies of different sizes and to furthering the take-up of corporate water accounting practice in the increasingly important collaborative supply chain relationships which span the globe.


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.


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