Evaluating Supply Chain Resource Limits From News Articles and Earnings Call Transcripts: An Application of Integrated Factor Analysis and Analytical Network Process

Author(s):  
Chih-Yuan Chu ◽  
Elif E. Gunay ◽  
Omar Al-Araidah ◽  
Gül E. Kremer

Abstract Due to the impact of globalization, companies have extended their borders across nations to launch products more competitively. However, globalization affects various uncertainties and risks that may limit the performance of supply chains. Research indicates that models that incorporate uncertainties and risks will help to improve the resilience of global supply chains. In the era of technology, we experience the abundance of textual data from various web-media resources related to companies, which can be deployed to understand the impact of risks on the chain. Accordingly, this study aims to utilize textual data collected from news articles and earnings call transcripts to assess the vulnerability of the suppliers and the chain. Among many, we considered supply chain resource limits as a subcomponent of vulnerability and collected textual data associated with its sub-factors. Then, we proposed an integrated factor analysis and Analytical Network Process (ANP) method to model the company’s supply chain resource limits index. Specifically, factor analysis was used to determine the latent constructs of the variables that are grouped under resource limits and their correlations. This latent construct and correlations were then applied as the interdependencies among variables in the ANP to discover the final importance weights of the variables in terms of supply chain resource limits. The results of the study showed that the shortages of capacity, components, and energy supply are the most critical sub-factors. The company’s supply chain resource limits index (SCRLI) can be further calculated to assist decision-makers of an enterprise in supply chain configuration design, and improve the supply chain resilience.

Logistics ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
João M. Lopes ◽  
Sofia Gomes ◽  
Lassana Mané

The constraints imposed by the pandemic COVID-19 increased the risks of the disruption of supply chains, bringing new challenges to companies. These effects were felt more intensely in less-developed countries, which are highly dependent on imports of products and raw materials. This study aims to assess the impact of supply chain resilience in a less-developed country (Guinea-Bissau) using complex adaptive system theory. We used a qualitative methodology through multiple case studies. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four companies. The semi-structured script contains questions about supply chain disruptions, vulnerabilities and resilience. The main results show that the companies in Guinea-Bissau, due to their dependence on the outside world and the absence of formal, larger and more diversified supply chains, suffered serious consequences with the disruption imposed by the pandemic. It was also concluded that the more resilient the supply chain, the fewer the impacts of crisis events and that the resilience of companies at this level depends on their obtaining competitive advantages over their competitors. The main practical implications of this study are the need to formalize the supply chain, diversify the supply of services and products of companies dependent on the exterior, adopt metrics that allow for the early detection of situations of supply chain disruption, effectively manage stocks and promote proactive crisis resolution strategies. Studies on the impact of resilience on supply chains in crises are scarce, especially on companies located in underdeveloped countries.


2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryam Al Naimi ◽  
Mohd Nishat Faisal ◽  
Rana Sobh ◽  
S.M. Fatah Uddin

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is twofold: to investigate the antecedents of resilience and to highlight the importance of resilience in achieving reconfiguration in supply chains.Design/methodology/approachThis paper draws on literature on supply chain resilience and collects data from 253 companies in Qatar to understand the influence of the antecedents of supply chain resilience and the impact of resilience on reconfiguration using partial least squares structural equation modeling.FindingsThe findings show that antecedents like risk management culture, agility and collaboration positively affect the supply chain resilience. Further, the study establishes that companies can leverage their supply chain resilience to reconfigure supply chain in case of disruptions.Practical implicationsThis study is important for supply chain managers in Qatar, as the country faced major disruption of supply chains in wake of the blockade imposed by its neighbors with which it had the only land route and maximum trade. The findings from this study should aid mangers in developing resilient supply chains.Originality/valueThis paper highlights the role of supply chain resilience in achieving reconfiguration. Further, novelty of the work reported in this paper lies in its context where supply chains recently faced actual disruptions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 429-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda Caroline Hendry ◽  
Mark Stevenson ◽  
Jill MacBryde ◽  
Peter Ball ◽  
Maysara Sayed ◽  
...  

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate how local supply chains prepare for and respond to the threats and opportunities presented by constitutional change, thereby building resilience.Design/methodology/approachMultiple case study analysis of 14 firms in the food sector is presented in the context of the UK’s impending exit from the European Union (Brexit). Organisations studied include farmers, processors, retailers and non-government organisations (NGOs). Data from interviews and roundtable discussions has been interpreted using the dynamic capabilities perspective, covering the sensing, seizing, and transforming stages.FindingsThe data highlights the importance of both vertical and horizontal collaboration between supply chain actors as they seek to anticipate the impact of the disruption and influence the future shape of the constitution. There is also evidence to suggest firms in possession of dynamic capabilities can innovate to build resilience and enhance their competitive position. Characteristics of the disruption posed by constitutional change are identified and contrast with those of many other threats more typically described in the literature. As a result, the process of building resilience is different.Research limitations/implicationsThe study could be extended to include post-Brexit interviews to further understand the seizing and transforming stages whilst the impact of Brexit on actors that remain within the EU could also be considered.Practical implicationsPractitioners need to work together to influence the future shape of the constitution; and they need to reconfigure their operations and supply chains where necessary to become more resilient to the threat posed by Brexit, such as by reducing their reliance on EU funding streams and trade. The study also has policy implications.Originality/valueThe first study of supply chain resilience to constitutional change and a rare empirical study of resilience across multiple supply chain tiers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 430-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirstin Scholten ◽  
Pamela Sharkey Scott ◽  
Brian Fynes

Purpose Organisations must build resilience to be able to deal with disruptions or non-routine events in their supply chains. While learning is implicit in definitions of supply chain resilience (SCRes), there is little understanding of how exactly organisations can adapt their routines to build resilience. The purpose of this study is to address this gap. Design/methodology/approach This paper is an in-depth qualitative case study based on 28 interviews across five companies, exploring learning to build SCRes. Findings This study uncovers six learning mechanisms and their antecedents that foster SCRes. The learning mechanisms identified suggest that through knowledge creation within an organisation and knowledge transfer across the supply chain and broader network of stakeholders, operating routines are built and/or adapted both intentionally and unintentionally during three stages of a supply chain disruption: preparation, response and recovery. Practical implications This study shows how the impact of a supply chain disruption may be reduced by intentional and unintentional learning in all three disruption phases. By being aware of the antecedents of unintentional learning, organisations can more consciously adapt routines. Furthermore, findings highlight the potential value of additional attention to knowledge transfer, particularly in relation to collaborative and vicarious learning across the supply chain and broader network of stakeholders not only in preparation for, but also in response to and recovery from disruptions. Originality/value This study contributes novel insights about how learning leads both directly and indirectly to the evolution of operating routines that help an organisation and its supply chains to deal with disruptions. Results detail six specific learning mechanisms for knowledge creation and knowledge transfer and their antecedents for building SCRes. In doing so, this study provides new fine-grained theoretical insights about how SCRes can be improved through all three phases of a disruption. Propositions are developed for theory development.


2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Silvestre

Abstract This paper is a research brief on sustainable supply chain management and covers some of the key elements of literature’s past debate and trends for future directions. It highlights the growth of this research area and reinforces the importance of a full consideration of all three key dimensions of sustainability when managing sustainable supply chains, i.e., the financial, environmental and social dimensions. Therefore, supply chain decision makers need to unequivocally assess the impact of their decisions on the financial, environmental and social performances of their supply chains. This paper also argues that risks and opportunities are the key drivers for supply chain decision makers to adopt sustainability within their operations, and that barriers to sustainability adoption exist. This research highlights that, depending on the focus adopted, supply chains can evolve and shift from more traditional to more sustainable approaches over time. The paper concludes with some promising avenues for future investigation.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sachin Modgil ◽  
Rohit Kumar Singh ◽  
Claire Hannibal

PurposeMany supply chains have faced disruption during Covid-19. Artificial intelligence (AI) is one mechanism that can be used to improve supply chain resilience by developing business continuity capabilities. This study examines how firms employ AI and consider the opportunities for AI to enhance supply chain resilience by developing visibility, risk, sourcing and distribution capabilities.Design/methodology/approachThe authors have gathered rich data by conducting semistructured interviews with 35 experts from the e-commerce supply chain. The authors have adopted a systematic approach of coding using open, axial and selective methods to map and identify the themes that represent the critical elements of AI-enabled supply chain resilience.FindingsThe results of the study highlight the emergence of five critical areas where AI can contribute to enhanced supply chain resilience; (1) transparency, (2) ensuring last-mile delivery, (3) offering personalized solutions to both upstream and downstream supply chain stakeholders, (4) minimizing the impact of disruption and (5) facilitating an agile procurement strategy.Research limitations/implicationsThe study offers interesting implications for bridging the theory–practice gap by drawing on contemporary empirical data to demonstrate how enhancing dynamic capabilities via AI technologies further strengthens supply chain resilience. The study also offers suggestions for utilizing the findings and proposes a framework to strengthen supply chain resilience through AI.Originality/valueThe study presents the dynamic capabilities for supply chain resilience through the employment of AI. AI can contribute to readying supply chains to reduce their risk of disruption through enhanced resilience.


2017 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 254-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xun Li ◽  
Qun Wu ◽  
Clyde W. Holsapple ◽  
Thomas Goldsby

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the impact of three critical dimensions of supply chain resilience, supply chain preparedness, supply chain alertness and supply chain agility, all aimed at increasing a firm’s financial outcomes. In a turbulent environment, firms require resilience in their supply chains to prepare for potential changes, detect changes and respond to actual changes, thus providing superior value. Design/methodology/approach Using survey data from 77 firms, this study develops scales for preparedness, alertness and agility. It then tests their hypothesized relationships with a firm’s financial performance. Findings The results reveal that the three dimensions of supply chain resilience (i.e. preparedness, alertness and agility) significantly impact a firm’s financial performance. It is also found that supply chain preparedness, as a proactive resilience capability, has a greater influence on a firm’s financial performance than the reactive capabilities including alertness and agility, suggesting that firms should pay more attention to proactive approaches for building supply chain resilience. Originality/value First, this study develops a comparatively comprehensive definition for supply chain resilience and explores its dimensionality. Second, this study provides empirically validated instruments for the dimensions of supply chain resilience. Third, this study is one of the first to provide empirical evidence for direct impact of supply chain resilience dimensions on a firm’s financial performance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1946
Author(s):  
Linh Thi Truc Doan ◽  
Yousef Amer ◽  
Sang-Heon Lee ◽  
Phan Nguyen Ky Phuc ◽  
Tham Thi Tran

Minimizing the impact of electronic waste (e-waste) on the environment through designing an effective reverse supply chain (RSC) is attracting the attention of both industry and academia. To obtain this goal, this study strives to develop an e-waste RSC model where the input parameters are fuzzy and risk factors are considered. The problem is then solved through crisp transformation and decision-makers are given the right to choose solutions based on their satisfaction. The result shows that the proposed model provides a practical and satisfactory solution to compromise between the level of satisfaction of constraints and the objective value. This solution includes strategic and operational decisions such as the optimal locations of facilities (i.e., disassembly, repairing, recycling facilities) and the flow quantities in the RSC.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sachin Modgil ◽  
Shivam Gupta ◽  
Rébecca Stekelorum ◽  
Issam Laguir

PurposeCOVID-19 has pushed many supply chains to re-think and strengthen their resilience and how it can help organisations survive in difficult times. Considering the availability of data and the huge number of supply chains that had their weak links exposed during COVID-19, the objective of the study is to employ artificial intelligence to develop supply chain resilience to withstand extreme disruptions such as COVID-19.Design/methodology/approachWe adopted a qualitative approach for interviewing respondents using a semi-structured interview schedule through the lens of organisational information processing theory. A total of 31 respondents from the supply chain and information systems field shared their views on employing artificial intelligence (AI) for supply chain resilience during COVID-19. We used a process of open, axial and selective coding to extract interrelated themes and proposals that resulted in the establishment of our framework.FindingsAn AI-facilitated supply chain helps systematically develop resilience in its structure and network. Resilient supply chains in dynamic settings and during extreme disruption scenarios are capable of recognising (sensing risks, degree of localisation, failure modes and data trends), analysing (what-if scenarios, realistic customer demand, stress test simulation and constraints), reconfiguring (automation, re-alignment of a network, tracking effort, physical security threats and control) and activating (establishing operating rules, contingency management, managing demand volatility and mitigating supply chain shock) operations quickly.Research limitations/implicationsAs the present research was conducted through semi-structured qualitative interviews to understand the role of AI in supply chain resilience during COVID-19, the respondents may have an inclination towards a specific role of AI due to their limited exposure.Practical implicationsSupply chain managers can utilise data to embed the required degree of resilience in their supply chains by considering the proposed framework elements and phases.Originality/valueThe present research contributes a framework that presents a four-phased, structured and systematic platform considering the required information processing capabilities to recognise, analyse, reconfigure and activate phases to ensure supply chain resilience.


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