Metaverse supply chain and operations management

Abstract

ABSTRACT The metaverse and Web 3.0 have created a new digital world with specific properties and behaviours replicating and influencing the behaviours and processes of physical entities. This study aims to advance our understanding of how the metaverse will impact supply chain and operations management (SCOM). Using elements of a structured literature search and building on the concepts of cyber-physical systems, digital supply chain twins, cloud supply chains, and Industry 4.0/Industry 5.0, we propose a framework for metaverse SCOM encompassing multiple socio-technological dimensions. We conclude that further metaverse developments could result in a co-existence of physical SCOM, metaverse SCOM, and SCOM for coordination of the physical and metaverse worlds. We offer a structured future research agenda pointing to new research questions and topics stemming from metaverse-driven visibility, computational power for data analytics, digital collaboration, and connectivity. New research areas can emerge for the novel metaverse SCOM processes and decision-making areas (e.g. joint demand forecasting for metaverse and physical products, digital inventory allocation in the metaverse, integrated production planning for the metaverse and physical worlds, and pricing and contracting for digital products), as well as new performance measures (e.g. virtual customer experience level, availability of digital products, and digital resilience and sustainability).