Agile supply chain management: where did it come from and where will it go in the era of digital transformation?

Abstract

In today's dynamic business environment, agile supply chain (ASC) has become a key strategic move to cope with market instability, handle competitive pressures and strengthen operational and organizational performance. Meanwhile ASC is a good example of a strategy drawing heavily on digitization since as a demand chain management it was information-centric and technology-centric from its inception. Yet, despite this relationship, a lack of coherence and clarity around the input of technology for ASC has impeded to portray accurately the relative importance of digitization in ASC strategies. This study provides a comprehensive and integrative review of 90 articles on ASC. By so doing, we contribute to the discussion about digitization in the supply chain in several ways. First, the paper reports descriptively and analytically how technology was addressed within the ASC literature. Second, it maps a nomological network of ASC research. Third, it finds that technology appears as a necessary but not-sufficient enabling factor for ASC deployment. Finally, a research agenda is proposed to suggest future research avenues to improve contributions to ASC performance.