A conceptual model of sustainable supply chain management in small and medium enterprises using blockchain technology

Background: This article inspects the internal constituents on employees’ aptitudes and trepidations (EATs) for the adoption of enterprise application architecture (EAA) for supply chain management (SCM) in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) within Capricorn District Municipality. EATs trait origins widespread destruction and inflict in the adoption of EAA if not managed amicably, unless, the enterprise accentuate the importance of the 4th Industrial revolution with careful planning to deal with the aftermath and mitigate the inspirations instinctively. Thus, the logistics of EAA adoption is one of the main activities in information technology (IT) that requires meticulous knowledge in algorithms for a successful SCM.Objective: The principal objective of this study is to determine whether EATs affect the adoption of EAA for SCM in SMEs and to identify gaps and institute state of the art in research for future studies.Method: This study adopts a descriptive research method with the use of 310 respondents targeted at both SME owners and managers, sculpted over quantitative research. Based on the analyses of data, the linear regression model is executed. As a result, the author realised that ‘EATs affect the adoption of EAA’ as a dominant research focus of these studies. In this study, the response EATs as a primary influencer of the adoption of EAA, considered on linear regression model for attainable SCM. In practice, SMEs should link EAA to new technologies, enterprise capabilities, objectives and strategies, as well as the existing culture and performance philosophies.Results: The SMEs’ success in SCM activities is dependent on employees’ perceptions, attitudes, motivation and learning abilities that could ease the narratives on the adoption of EAA.Conclusion: These results provide the following comprehensions for future research: applying simplicity by getting them on board, introducing EAA through different channels of learning, building a coalition of willing mindsets, motivating its purpose and celebrating small progress. The research provides a profound understanding relevant in the contextual background to SMEs to adopt EAA for SCM that depends on the enterprise resources (ERs) acquisition and\or availability.

This bibliometric study entails an analysis of publications about green supply chain management (GSCM) within small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The research aims to scrutinize the research performance concerning GSCM in SMEs. This study identifies countries, leading journals, scholars, and research themes. This research adopts bibliometric methods to focus on publications between 2007 and 2024, sourced from the Scopus database and limited to English-language publications. The document type analyzed is articles, yielding 133 qualifying articles for analysis using Rstudio and VOSviewer. Results indicate rapid growth in studies on GSCM in SMEs since 2007. Influential countries in the realm of GSCM within SME contexts include China, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, and the United Kingdom. Furthermore, the Journal of Cleaner Production and author Le TT emerge as the most prolific scholarly output in this domain. Supply Chain Management, GSCM, and SMEs are frequently recurring keywords, totalling 407 keyword link strengths. Keyword analysis over time indicates a trend towards adopting newly pertinent terms such as human resources, technology, circular economy (CE), trade, and business. Thus, utilising GSCM signifies promising prospects for SMEs in the future. This study adopts bibliometric methods based on document-type articles from the Scopus database collected as of March 15, 2024. Publications based on document types such as conference papers, conference reviews, book chapters, and sources outside the Scopus database, such as WoS, are disregarded in this research. The study reveals that the sustainable implementation of GSCM in SMEs is an emerging requirement and complex to manage for SMEs, necessitating new concepts and appropriate strategies for implementation. This study objectively evaluates research progress in GSCM within SMEs, highlighting research achievements and gaps while discussing contributions to the scholarly community.

This research investigated Supply Chain Management (SCM) in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand, Slovakia, and Poland and compared the SCM practices among the three countries. The sole purpose was to first determine the various factors that influence SCM operations and SCM practices in each of the countries and then find out whether there is a difference among the three countries in terms of SCM operations and practices. The study was conducted using primary data collected from SME management personnel from the three countries. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the data using a 5-point Likert scale. The data was analyzed using multi-group Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The results of the study indicated that supply chain management practices and operations adopted by the small and medium enterprises in Thailand, Slovakia, and Poland were invariant. The environmental sustainability elements in SCM and the social aspects of sustainability in SCM have positively influenced SCM practices in all countries. The study recommended that SMEs in the countries should consider adopting the factors that support SCM, operationalizing the SCM through enhancing the capabilities of the end-user, and vitally taking into consideration the environmental sustainability elements in SCM, such as environmentally-friendly production processes, taking action towards waste management, and adopting production processes that inhibit the emission of harmful substances into the atmosphere by encouraging the implementation of policies that foster the use of renewable energy sources in production.

The sector of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) plays a key role in the economies of all of the countries in the world. These entities constitute the basis for the development of the national and global economies. In a contemporary complex and competitive business environment, the adaptation of appropriate strategies is a particularly important effort to furthering the development of companies from the SMEs sector. In this context, the application of the concept of sustainable supply chain management (SCM) in the operation strategy of SMEs seems to be a very important function. This supply chain also covers all three aspects of sustainable development: business, environmental, and social. The purpose of this article is to present the current state of the research in sustainable development in relation to managing the supply chain of SMEs, as well as the empirical findings in this area. The results found that all of the sustainability areas were very important in the supply chain management practices of the studied SMEs, despite the imbalance described in the literature. The study also presents the most important elements in the particular sustainability areas of SCM and SMEs.

The supply chain network is one of the most important areas of focus in the majority of business circumstances. Blockchain technology is a feasible choice for secure information sharing in a supply chain network. Despite the fact that maintaining security at all levels of the blockchain is difficult, cryptographic methods are commonly used in existing works. Effective supply chain management (SCM) offers various benefits to organizations, such as enhanced customer satisfaction, increased operational efficiency, competitive advantage, and cost reduction. Potential SCM for agricultural and food supply chains needs distributors, coordination and collaboration among farmers, retailers, and stakeholders. The use of technology like Block Chain (BC), sensors, and data analytics, can boost traceability and visibility, decrease waste, and ensure safety and quality throughout the supply chain. Therefore, this study develops a Hunger Games Search Optimization with Deep Learning Model for Sustainable agricultural and food Supply Chain Management (HGSODL-ASCM) technique. The fundamental goal of the HGSODL-ASCM technique is to improve decision-making processes for agricultural and food commodity production and storage in order to optimise revenue. In the provided HGSODL-ASCM technique, a bidirectional long short-term memory (Bi-LSTM) model is built to determine the amount of productivity and storage required to maximise profit. In order to boost the performance of the Bi-LSTM classification process, the HGSO algorithm has been utilized in this work. The presented HGSODL-ASCM technique can independently achieve the SCM policies via interaction with complicated and adaptive environments. A brief set of simulations were performed to ensure the improved performance of the HGSODL-ASCM technique. The simulation results demonstrated how superior the HGSODL-ASCM method is to other methods already in use.

This study was aimed at eliciting the perception of practitioners on sustainable supply chain management in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). A total of 15 companies from the SMEs in Malaysia were selected. 5 of these companies serve as suppliers to larger firms within and outside Malaysia, another 5 as manufacturers, and the rest as reverse logistics companies (collectors and recycling plant operating companies). All the companies were selected based on their involvement in sustainable supply chain management. A structured interview was conducted to uncover their perceptions and challenges in sustainable supply chain management. Feedback from the conducted interview revealed that most of the practitioners from these companies believe that sustainable supply chain management requires well-structured and efficient supply chain integration. In essence, this study enhanced the understanding of the requirements for an efficient sustainable supply chain management in the SMEs of a developing country and sustainable manufacturing in general.

Supply chain benchmarking of agroindustry can be done by emphasizing the perspective of sustainability. This paper aimed to analyze the efficiency of Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) in Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and provided a prospective benchmark with the potato chips industry as a study case. Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) estimated future input and output values to obtain prospective benchmarks and be added to the DEA formula later. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methods were used to measure SSCM performance. The results showed that 17 of 20 Decision-Making Units (DMUs) were efficient (score 1). The other 3 DMUs were classified and got an efficiency score of 0.965, 0.955, and 0.995. In future estimates calculation, the efficiency score of one of the inefficient DMUs has changed to 1, while the other two got the scores of 0.996 and 0.980. The limitation of this research mainly comes from the scope of assessment, which is limited to the supply chain’s downstream sector and assesses only a limited number of MSMEs in a particular region. SSCM efficiency measurement variables were adjusted to be assessed and applied to MSMEs. PERT was also beneficial to gain future estimates of the assessment scope.

Sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) integrates economic, social, and environmental goals within the supply chain to enhance long-term performance. It assists organizations in monitoring their performance concerning social, environmental, and economic factors to bolster sustainability. Yet, implementing SSCM poses significant challenges for most organizations, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This study aims to identify key barriers and strategies for overcoming them in SMEs. A thorough literature review revealed 80 barriers across nine categories: technological, economic and financial, supplier, information, market and networking, human resources, social and cultural, regulatory and institutional, and organizational barriers. Eight experts from SMEs in focus group discussions considered 55 relevant barriers and prioritized them using the best–worst method. Then, based on the top 15 barriers they deemed key, they adapted and improved 24 strategies based on the literature that, in their opinion, could support the implementation of and improve the SSCM in SMEs. The findings from this study highlight economic and financial barriers as the foremost challenges to the implementation of SSCM, mainly due to the lack of funding and capital to make changes in activities to include sustainability. The findings are valuable for SMEs seeking to implement SSCM, offering insights into potential barriers and strategies for surmounting them. Moreover, this study provides a structured approach that can be replicated to identify the most pressing barriers to overcoming and improving long-term sustainability.

This study examines the supply chain management of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Africa, aiming to demonstrate the patterns of publication in this field. An extensive examination of bibliometric analysis has been conducted using 338 published works obtained from the Dimensions database over the last 20 years. The study was conducted based on publications, sources, authors, and institutions as the primary units of analysis. The study determined the leading journals, prolific authors, partnering countries, and organizations involved in research on supply chain management specifically focused on micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Africa. Furthermore, it has been uncovered that the investigation of supply chain management in MSMEs in Africa needs to be revised in comparison to that of larger organizations. Moreover, publications in the field are not only insufficiently accessible, but also authored by scholars who are not of African descent. Given the crucial role of MSMEs in the African economy, scholars in this field are encouraged to prioritize research on the supply chain management of MSMEs as a critical issue for the twenty-first century. Furthermore, researchers are recommended to do additional analyses utilizing alternative databases such as Web of Sciences and Scopus.

The adoption of enterprise application architecture (EAA) for supply chain management (SCM) in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) was influenced by the owner’s physiognomies and incitements (OPIs) on a routine basis. The study employs a quantitative approach based on a linear regression model, which uses diagnosis tests “Cronbach's Alpha, normal distribution, and Kolmogorov-Smirnov test” that makes descriptive statistics possible on Pearson correlations, analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson's Coefficients, and linear regression. The study examines whether OPIs affect the adoption of EAA for SCM in SMEs within Capricorn District Municipality. The paper exploits the original data set of 310 SMEs, targeting predominantly both SMEs’ owners and managers to run linear regression models with the dependent variable “actual adoption of EAA” and independent variable “OPIs”. A novel piece of authenticity for the models is the incorporation of OPIs within the SCM activities and whether there were any, collaborative influences affecting the adoption of EAA. The findings have a bearing on SMEs’ SCM growth strategies, directed towards the technology acceptance model.

This article studies the adoption of blockchain technology in Indian Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in the context of innovations in supply chain management (SCM) using blockchain technology. Besides finance, SCM is one of the main areas where disruptive innovations based on blockchain technology are going to be deployed. Blockchain technology’s unique proposition lies in the attributes of trust, transparency, traceability, immutability, and decentralization. MSME’s form the backbone of the Indian economy. This article provides a socio-technical factors-based analysis of the adoption of blockchain technology in Indian MSME, particularly in a SCM context. Sustainability is an important variable that is expected to moderate the relationship between socio-technical factors and large-scale adoption. The relationships are tested via a survey of professionals in MSMEs in India who are both familiar with blockchain technology and sustainable SCM. This study shall offer a deeper understanding of the application of socio-technical systems theory for the adoption of blockchain technologies by MSMEs in India.

In the context of the Chinese government’s strategy for sustainable development, the study of sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) for enterprises has important practical significance. Drawing data from 172 Chinese firms, the model studied the moderating role of firm size on the SSCM practices and the sustainable performance of the firms (economic, environmental, and social), using hierarchical regression analysis on SPSS 22.0. The results suggest that SSCM practices and firm size are positively related to the firm’s environmental and social performance. Firm size moderates the effect of SSCM practices on economic performance. Additionally, SSCM internal practices have a significant positive impact on the economic performance of large enterprises, but not so much on the economic performance of the Small and medium enterprises(SMEs). This paper proposes a comprehensive SSCM practice performance model that identifies firm size as a moderating role. Through research on the moderating effect of firm size, the implementation and recommendation of SSCM for different firm size are given.

Purpose: Service industry is a massive sector accounting for about two-thirds of GDP of developed economies and is the field of an intensive competition between service companies and their supply chains. As a result, service supply chain management has become a subject of growing interest to researchers and business analysts. Healthcare industry is among the largest service industries with the highest potential for improvement in sustainability performance. The purpose of this study was to identify the concepts influencing the sustainability of hospital supply chain and provide a causal model for sustainable supply chain of hospital service.Design/methodology/approach: In this study, concepts that influence the sustainability of a hospital service supply chain were identified by in-depth interviewing of 18 experts in hospitals of Kerman, Iran. Delphi method was used to reorganize the initial concepts into 15 concepts. Finally, the Intuitionistic Fuzzy Cognitive Map (IFCM) method was used to develop the causal model of sustainable supply chain management for hospital service.Findings: Delphi method was used to reorganize 68 initial concepts into 15 concepts Contains: demand management, resource and capacity management, customer relationship management, supplier relationship management, service management, information management, financial performance management, Attention to the environment, contamination, energy consumption, legal requirements, employees, community and stakeholders, social accountability and business ethics. The results indicate that service delivery management is highly central among other concepts.Originality/value: with focusing on concepts such as service management, and capacity and resources management, The sustainability of the hospital supply chain can be improved.

The adoption of enterprise application architecture (EAA) for supply chain management (SCM) in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is influenced by the Owner’s Physiognomies & Incitements on a routine basis. EAA is essential for optimum SCM performance since it enlightens and enhances enterprise services, software, and hardware. The purpose of this study is to examine the Owner’s Physiognomies & Incitements for using EAA for SCM in SMEs in the Capricorn District Municipality. The empirical analysis is presented using data from a dissertation for a master's degree in commerce from 2018 to 2020. The study employs a quantitative approach based on a linear regression model. Cronbach's Alpha, descriptive statistics on the normality test, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Pearson Correlations, analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson's Coefficients, and linear regression are all included. Empirical investigation demonstrates that both the Owner’s Physiognomies & Incitements are directly associated with EAA adoption. Overall, the model accounts for a substantial proportion of the variation in EAA adoption for SCM in SMEs. This work leads to the conclusion that there is a positive correlation between variables. The findings of this study will confirm the positive and negative impact of owner physiognomies and incitements on the adoption of EAA for SCM in SMEs. More research is required to examine the links between psychographic and behaviouristic owner incitements.

This study examines the financial management of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Indonesia and Malaysia which are the drivers of the economy in both countries, but this sector has not been able to become an independent sector and become the foundation of the national economy in both countries. The problem is that financial management in Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) ignores the importance of financial management standards, the problem is that poor financial management makes Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) insignificant in advancing the economy. The method used is descriptive qualitative with a case study approach. Data were obtained from MSME actors by distributing questionnaires and interviews. The results of this study indicate that MSME financial management in Indonesia is not as good as Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Malaysia, meaning that Malaysia has better MSME management, this can be seen from various research indicators, namely: planning indicators, budget use, recording, reporting and controlling. Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Indonesia and Malaysia when compared to Indonesian Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) do not have good planning, have not carried out standard records, standardized reporting, are not concerned with standard financial statements, balance sheets, profit and loss, cash flow, do not have or install systems in their business units, such as control of systems and procedures, billing records of sales notes, it is very clear that Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Indonesia have not done so. Meanwhile, from the other side, when compared to Indonesian MSME respondents, the level is very small, more so for micro cart businesses, small shops that are not in the form of their own buildings, the context is very small. In Malaysia, micro, small and medium enterprises are not comparable to the conditions in Indonesia, while in Malaysia, the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) already have a more appropriate place. Thus, it is easier for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Malaysia to get banking support, while Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Indonesia are still difficult to upgrade and are still difficult to enter the bank compared to Malaysia.