Supply chain risk management in the COVID-19 pandemic: strategies and empirical lessons for improving global logistics service providers’ performance

PurposeThe enormous impact of the COVID-19 pandemic showcases the key role of supply chain risk management (SCRM) in achieving and maintaining business performance, competitiveness and survival in the “new normal”. The purpose of this paper is to explore what impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had and may yet have on supply chains (SCs), which SCRM approaches have proved successful and how logistics service providers (LSPs) have applied the knowledge they have gained to improve their SCRM practices and resilience so as to prepare better for the next major disruption.Design/methodology/approachThis paper combines an extensive literature review with a multiple-case study of 10 internationally operating LSPs and how they have handled the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic so far. To bridge the research-practice gap, this study draws on the dynamic-capabilities view and provide insights that are valuable to both academia and practice.FindingsThis study provides empirical evidence on the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on SCs, which has posed several challenges to LSPs. The study identifies eight factors that are critical to the adaptive capabilities of LSPs and, therefore, to their resilience in extreme conditions. The findings of this study show that these factors determine whether an SCRM system is robust and agile enough to allow an LSP to anticipate potential disruption and to respond fast enough when disruption occurs. Specifically, this study finds that robustness and agility demonstrably strengthen business performance, while learning from experience proves key to reconfiguring an SCRM design in response to acute disruption.Originality/valueThis paper is among the first to provide rich, empirical and practically applicable insights into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on business in relation to SCRM. These novel insights offer inspiring opportunities for further research.

IS YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN READY FOR THE NEXT DISRUPTION? BUILDING RESILIENT CHAINS

ABSTRACT The ability to recover from disruptions is important for organizations and supply chains. Empirical data were used to investigate factors that affect supply chain recovery from disruptions, including collaboration, visibility, flexibility, analytical orientation, and supply chain risk management. A literature review was conducted to build an online questionnaire that was applied to manufacturing firms in Brazil. This work’s statistical method includes confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Our results indicate that a package of resilience capabilities - collaboration, flexibility, visibility, and analytical orientation - positively affect supply chain resilience. Improving such capabilities, therefore, will allow supply chains to recover better from disruptions. It was also discovered, however, that supply chains do not recover from disruptions by way of supply chain risk management alone. Mutual impacts also exist between the group of resilience capabilities and supply chain risk management.

The effect of supply chain finance on supply chain risk, supply chain risk resilience, and performance of Vietnam SMEs in global supply chain

The purpose of the article is to examine the response of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam to supply chain finance and then have a strategy to use supply chain risk resilience to control supply chain risk and improve supply chain effectiveness and SMEs performance. The analysis results are based on three months of data collected from 890 SMEs in Vietnam. The results show that supply chain finance has a statistically significant positive impact on supply chain effectiveness, SMEs performance and supply chain risk resilience. At the same time, supply chain finance has a negative impact on the supply chain risk of Vietnam SMEs in the global supply chain. Finally, we offer recommendations to help SMEs improve supply chain effectiveness and performance through the supply chain finance tool.

Opinions of the Software and Supply Chain Assurance Forum on Education, Training, and Certifications

This article provides an overview of discussions held at the Software and Supply Chain Assurance (SSCA) forum held May 1-2, 2018, in McLean, Virginia. The two-day event focused on education and training for software assurance (SwA) and Cyber-Supply Chain Risk Management (C-SCRM). Attendees discussed questions such as “What are some challenges facing industry, academia, and government organizations in this area?” “Who needs education or training?” “What needs to be taught?” and “What strategies do or do not work?” Discussions related to the current environment, hiring and retaining qualified employees, defining roles and responsibilities, and the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) that are most in-demand.

SUA CADEIA DE SUPRIMENTOS ESTÁ PREPARADA PARA A PRÓXIMA INTERRUPÇÃO? CONSTRUINDO CADEIAS RESILIENTES

ABSTRACT The ability to recover from disruptions is important for organizations and supply chains. Empirical data were used to investigate factors that affect supply chain recovery from disruptions, including collaboration, visibility, flexibility, analytical orientation, and supply chain risk management. A literature review was conducted to build an online questionnaire that was applied to manufacturing firms in Brazil. This work’s statistical method includes confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. Our results indicate that a package of resilience capabilities - collaboration, flexibility, visibility, and analytical orientation - positively affect supply chain resilience. Improving such capabilities, therefore, will allow supply chains to recover better from disruptions. It was also discovered, however, that supply chains do not recover from disruptions by way of supply chain risk management alone. Mutual impacts also exist between the group of resilience capabilities and supply chain risk management.

The contemporary state of big data analytics and artificial intelligence towards intelligent supply chain risk management: a comprehensive review

PurposeThis paper aims to conduct a systematic literature review of the research in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data Analytics (BDA) in Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM). Finally, future research directions in this field have been suggested.Design/methodology/approachThe papers were searched using a set of keywords in the SCOPUS database. These papers were filtered using the Title abstract keywords principle. Further, more papers were found using the forward-backward referencing method. The finalized papers were then classified into eight categories.FindingsThe previous papers in AI and BDA in SCRM were studied. These papers emphasized various modelling and application techniques for AI and BDA in making the supply chain (SC) more resilient. It was found that more research has been done into conceptual modelling rather than real-life applications. It was seen that the use of AI-based techniques and structural equation modelling was prominent.Practical implicationsAI and BDA help build the risk profile, which will guide the decision-makers and risk managers make their decisions quickly and more effectively, reducing the risks on the SC and making it resilient. Other than this, they can predict the risks in disasters, epidemics and any further disruption. They also help select the suppliers and location of the various elements of the SC to reduce the lead times.Originality/valueThe paper suggests various future research directions that fellow researchers can explore. None of the previous research examined the role of BDA and AI in SCRM.

Hidden Supply Chain Risk and Incoterms®: Analysis and Mitigation Strategies

Among the many sources of financial and operational risk in supply chains are the Incoterms®, which are terms of trade used to decide who does what in a cargo movement, when risk passes from seller to buyer and who pays for which part of the movement. Wrong Incoterms® create unexpected costs or risks, at best, and inoperable contracts at worst, with all the challenges implied. This paper analyzes risk in supply chain management (SCM) through the lens of the responsibilities and costs imposed by Incoterms®. The authors also conducted a survey of 100 supply chain decision makers on supply chain contracts creation and Incoterms® knowledge in the population. Failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) of Incoterms® reveals many scenarios that pose financial, operational, and even legal risk to firms. Results suggest Incoterms® rules are poorly understood by supply chain practitioners in general, are often chosen by personnel who are not aware of the implications of their choices, and are therefore frequently chosen incorrectly or non-strategically, thereby increasing cost and risk. This paper discusses the implications of the analysis and survey results on supply chain performance as well as mitigation strategies for practitioners in strategically using Incoterms® to remove cost, risk, and delay from supply chain transactions.