Literature Review on Maturity Models for Digital Supply Chains

Abstract

Goal. Today, digital technologies have significant effects on supply chains as companies explore and exploit their opportunities. Digital supply chains promise advantages over traditional ones. A maturity model is a helpful tool to assess the current state of digitalization in supply chains and to guide companies towards implementation. The main goal of this paper is to investigate existing maturity models for digital supply chains and propose possibilities for future research.
 Design/Methodology/Approach. A structured literature review is conducted to identify relevant maturity models. Those are analyzed regarding their type and emphasis on a specific supply chain function or certain digitalization dimension.
 Results. Twenty-eight maturity models are identified. Each of them focuses on a particular supply chain function or a specific digital technology. A focus on manufacturing (Industry 4.0) and, consequently, a lack of research regarding other aspects of the supply chain digitalization becomes evident. Moreover, most papers lack coverage of all digitalization dimensions. Besides, more rigorous research regarding the quality of the maturity models, their evaluation, and application is needed.
 Limitations of the investigation. The conducted review is limited to two databases (Scopus and Web of Science). Two researchers conducted the analysis, which might lead to some bias. Furthermore, the analysis could be broadened and performed more in-depth to derive further insights.
 Practical implications. Practitioners might use the presented overview of existing maturity models to identify a well-developed one that fits their desired application scenario.
 Originality/value. This paper provides suggestions for future research and highlights interesting and relevant topics to investigate.