Supply Chain Management Activities Research Articles

Participatory development of a target policy profile to support soil-transmitted helminth elimination.

Soil-transmitted helminths (STH) are parasitic worms that infect nearly a quarter of the world's population, particularly those living in communities without access to adequate water, sanitation, and housing. Emerging evidence suggests that it may be possible to interrupt transmission of STH by deworming individuals of all ages via community-wide MDA (cMDA), as opposed to only treating children and other focal populations. Transitioning from a policy of STH control to STH elimination in targeted areas would require a fundamental shift in STH policy and programming. This policy change would require updated guidance to support countries as they adapt their current approaches for STH surveillance, supply chain management, community mobilization, and core programmatic activities in pursuit of STH elimination. There is an opportunity to engage with key stakeholders, such as program implementers and implementation partners, to understand what evidence they need to confidently adopt a new policy guideline and to deliver guideline adherent management at scale. We aimed to engage with STH stakeholders to develop a Target Policy Profile (TPoP), a single document that describes optimal characteristics and evidence requirements that STH stakeholders prioritized in future potential STH transmission interruption efforts. Steps in TPoP development included a scoping review and key informant interviews (KIIs), which were used to design a two-stage Delphi technique to identify and verify TPoP components. The scoping review resulted in 25 articles, and 8 experts participated in KII's. Twenty respondents completed the first Delphi survey and 10 respondents completed the second. This systematic effort resulted in a net of 3 key information domains (background/context, clinical considerations, and implementation considerations) encompassing 24 evidence categories (examples include evidence regarding safety and adverse events, implementation feasibility, or evidence dissemination). For each evidence category, STH stakeholders reviewed, endorsed, or revised a range of options for how the evidence could be presented. This information can be used by guideline committees or global policy makers prior to convening guideline advisory groups. The TPoP tool may also speed the process of stakeholder consensus building around guidelines, accelerating progress towards implementing evidence-based policy at scale.

An integrated G-MACONT approach for healthcare supplier selection

PurposeSupplier selection along with continuous evaluation of their performance is a crucial activity in healthcare supply chain management for effective utilization of scarce resources while providing quality service at an affordable price, and minimizing chances of stock-out, avoiding serious consequences on the illness or fatality of the patients. Presence of both qualitative and quantitative evaluation criteria, set of potential suppliers and participation of different stakeholders with varying interest make healthcare supplier selection a challenging task which can be effectively solved using any of the multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods.Design/methodology/approachTo deal with various qualitative criteria, like cost, quality, delivery performance, reliability, responsiveness and flexibility, this paper proposes integration of grey system theory with a newly developed MCDM tool, i.e. mixed aggregation by comprehensive normalization technique (MACONT) to identify the best performing supplier for pharmaceutical items in a healthcare unit from a pool of six competing alternatives based on the opinions of three healthcare professionals.FindingsWhile assessing importance of the six evaluation criteria and performance of the alternative healthcare suppliers against those criteria using grey numbers, and exploring use of three normalization procedures and two aggregation operations of MACONT method, this integrated approach singles out S5 as the most compromised healthcare supplier for the considered problem. A sensitivity analysis of its ranking performance against varying values of both balance parameters and preference parameters also validates its solution accuracy and robustness.Originality/valueThis integrated approach can thus efficiently solve healthcare supplier selection problems based on qualitative evaluation criteria in uncertain group decision making environment. It can also be deployed to deal with other decision making problems in the healthcare sector, like supplier selection for healthcare devices, performance evaluation of healthcare units, ranking of physicians etc.

Improving the Quality of the Logistics and Supply Chain Management Faculty According to a Competency-Based Approach at Vietnamese Universities

In the context of global economic integration, the logistics and supply chain management industry is becoming a spearhead sector driving the development of Vietnam's economy. However, the current growth of this industry is facing difficulties due to a shortage of high-quality human resources in terms of both quantity and skills. The teaching activities of logistics and supply chain management at Vietnamese universities still have many limitations and do not meet the specific needs of developing students' capacity after graduation. This article is based on a survey of the general situation of teaching logistics and supply chain management at Vietnamese universities. In which, the current situation of the teaching staff is still lacking in experience and expertise in the field of logistics and supply chain management. In addition, teaching methods are still quite traditional and do not meet the requirements for interaction, application, practical skills, and creative thinking for students. Through analyzing the factors affecting the teaching process, the article introduces a solution to improve the quality of the teaching staff of logistics and supply chain management based on a competency-based approach.

The Impact of Opportunistic Behavior on the Effectiveness of Export-Oriented Agricultural Product Chain Linkages: A Case Study in Vietnam

Exporting goods in general, and exporting agricultural products in particular, generate important capital accumulation for importing and developing production, serving the industrialization and modernization efforts of countries. From the economic activities in Vietnam in recent years, it is evident that linking agricultural products for the purpose of exports indeed generates substantial revenue to the national budget. It is an important factor and contributes significantly to the sustainable development of the country's economy. During the process of international integration and globalization, organizations always strive to seek external collaboration opportunities with partners in the product value chain to ensure the efficiency and responsiveness of the value chain, as well as to leverage resources and supply capabilities for their customers (Cao and Zhang, 2011). The linking process ensures product quality, promotes organizational development, and ensures high effectiveness in the collaboration activities among members (Walter, 2003). Cooperative behavior and activities in supply chain management have achieved significant importance (Kocoglu et al., 2011). Lambert et al. (1998) define ensuring product supply chain as the linkage of companies aiming to deliver products and services to the market. Keywords: Opportunistic behavior; Beliefs and judgments, Commitment, Perception of safety, Risk in the linkage, Effectiveness of the chain linkage.

Green supply chain technology and organization performance: Moderating role of environmental dynamism and product-service innovation capability

The green supply chain management (GSCM) system is considered as an environmentally friendly approach which considers different environmental issues in supply chain flow. There are different underlying technologies used in implementing GSCM; yet, we still have limited knowledge concerning how green SCM technology can enhance organizational performance. Further, the conditions that indirectly affect organizational performance within this context remain underexplored. Drawing on this gap of knowledge, the purpose of this research work is to investigate how adoption of GSCM can improve organizational performance. We also argue that the dynamism of the environment and the product-service innovation capability of organizations will have conditioning effects on this relationship. Grounded on the dynamic capability view as a theoretical lens, a conceptual model has been developed which is explored through feedback from 307 organizations involved in green supply chain management activities. We find that environmental dynamism and product-service innovation capability have moderating impacts on adopting green supply chain technology and organizational performance. The outcomes also indicate that green supply chain technology can considerably improve business value under certain contextual factors.

Risk Analysis in Halal Supply Chain Management Activities on Aceh Noodle Products (Case Study: Mie Aceh Razali)

Risk Analysis in Halal Supply Chain Management Activities on Aceh Noodle Products (Case Study: Mie Aceh Razali)

Implementasi Green Supply Chain Management untuk Pasokan Telur Ayam Menggunakan Metode Fuzzy AHP

The need for chicken eggs is inseparable from the supply chain network. Green aspects in fulfilling supply chain networks have an impact on the environment such as market cleanliness and egg quality. The current condition of Kemang Market in supply chain management has not led to environmental aspects. The purpose of this study is to identify priority criteria that can be applied to green supply chain management activities in Kemang Market, Bogor Regency. The method used is Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) to determine the main criteria in applying green supply chain management practices to chicken eggs in Kemang Market, Bogor Regency. The results showed that the main criteria used in the GSCM practice of chicken eggs are top management support in implementing supply chain operational activities, namely through clean market environment programs and monitoring systems related to egg arrival and dispensing systems in the market.

Building responsive and resilient supply chains: Lessons from the COVID‐19 disruption

Since the first case was identified, COVID-19 has spread to more than 200 countries. As of October 25, 2022, it had resulted in over 6 million deaths and 600 million confirmed cases. The rapid widespread of COVID-19 led to large-scale disruptions with major supply and demand shocks in supply chains, causing significant negative impacts on the global economy. The World Bank reported that the world GDP growth rate for 2020 was −3.27%, indicating the worst recession since 1961. First, the initial epidemic-control efforts blocked the flows of raw materials across the world, and limited labor movements by imposing temporary travel restrictions. As a result, many firms struggled with supply disruptions and labor shortages, setting off a chain reaction of disruption in global supply chains. Fortune (2020) reported that as of February 21, 2020, 94% of the Fortune 1000 companies had experienced supply-chain disruptions due to COVID-19.1 According to the Institute for Supply Management, almost 75% of companies reported supply-chain disruptions in some capacity due to coronavirus-related transportation restrictions.2 A survey conducted by the National Association of Manufacturers reported that 78.3% of manufacturers believed that COVID-19 had a significant negative influence on their financial performance, and 35.5% of them had experienced some type of supply chain disruptions.3 Second, the demand for essential personal-protective equipment increased dramatically because the virus was easily transmitted from person to person through air-borne droplets; accompanied by a drop in the need for other manufactured products (Nicola et al., 2020). For example, COVID-19 had caused a surge in the demand of face masks that were necessary to prevent infection among frontline workers (who were directly exposed to the virus when treating infected patients or conducting nucleic acid tests) and individuals in public places. China was the main producer of masks at the start of the crisis, accounting for approximately half of world production. In January 2020, China could produce 20 million masks per day, which was insufficient to equip even just healthcare workers in China. As a result of extensive efforts by the government and companies, Chinese production increased six-fold and reached 116 million masks per day by the end of February, 2020. But even this was insufficient to meet its own demand, and China imported a large quantity of masks. Similarly, Germany also experienced very limited availability of face masks in the spring of 2020. To increase the supply of face masks, the German government contracted with hundreds of companies and introduced a series of incentives to encourage local, non-medical manufacturers to temporarily transform to produce masks. More generally, demand patterns for supplies of all types became less predictable from the beginning of pandemic. Significant changes on the demand side included quick shifts of buying patterns (from physical stores to online stores) and rapid shifts of product mix (e.g., decline in office equipment to be used on site, but increases in appliances for home-office use). Compared with previous pandemics, COVID-19 has affected supply chains more durably and globally. As this special issue approaches publication, the COVID-19 pandemic has lasted for over 3 years. The extended duration of this external shock has been sufficient to permanently change the behavior of supply-chain partners (Poelman et al., 2021). These changes have encouraged firms to demonstrate an innovative bent, leading to structural process changes in a variety of industries. For example, demand for in-person restaurant dining decreased, whereas demand for take-away foods greatly increased, though by 2022, this pattern had begun to reverse. Under this change, firms needed to explore new ways of organizing their supply chains with respect to factors like product diversity and cooperation with more partners in the supply chains. This made it possible to define products and services to benefit quickly from pandemic-related opportunities (van der Vegt et al., 2015). The COVID-19 pandemic has also affected global supply chains as economic integration interacted with travel restrictions and worldwide lockdowns (Nikolopoulos et al., 2021) to create unprecedented challenges for enterprises to respond to changes in demand and supply, employee shortages, and lack of access to financial capital. These long lasting, structural, and global supply-chain impacts have led enterprises to increase responsiveness and resilience (2Rs) via management mechanisms and technological innovations. Based on the media reports and literature review, such innovative measures include cross-enterprise cooperation (e.g., Unilever and Terra Drone), government-enterprise cooperation (e.g., Hubei Provincial Government and JD Logistics), adjustments to manufacturing activities (e.g., BYD, Foxconn, Pernod Ricard, and Bauer shifted their production to face masks/shields), as well as the adoption of digital technologies (e.g., JD Logistics, New HAVI). This 2R emphasis represents a major departure from the usual emphasis on cost reduction (Caunhye et al., 2016). Observing that some companies have performed well in responding quickly to changes in demand and supply, and flexibly to disruptions, we seek to learn from the innovative practices and experiences of that have yielded success in dealing with this large-scale disruption. What were the key lessons learned in terms of selecting suppliers and managing supplier/customer relationships, designing global supply networks, and adopting new digital technologies and big data analytics? What were the long-term impacts of COVID-19 on the structures of global supply chains and the strategic positioning of major supply chain players? This special issue focuses on uncovering the key success factors and lessons from these innovative practices. We aimed to gain deeper understanding of how the adoption of technological innovations, business model innovations, and innovations in collaboration mechanisms and methods of operations improvement/optimization have helped companies enhance 2Rs in supply chains. To frame this special issue, we define some key concepts and briefly review some literature published in leading operations management journals focusing on supply chain responsiveness, supply chain resilience, supply chain integration, and big data analytics. To address disruptions and demand shocks, a great deal of emphasis has been placed in research on strategies to enhance the 2Rs in supply chains (Hendricks et al., 2009). Responsiveness is defined as the ability of a supply chain to respond purposefully within an appropriate timeframe to customer requests or supply changes in the marketplace (Shekarian et al., 2020). Generally speaking, responsiveness to changes in demand and supply is reflected in multiple aspects (Williams et al., 2013), including volume flexibility, variety flexibility, product/service modification flexibility, new product flexibility, and so on. According to Singh and Sharma (2014), a responsive supply chain could ensure a reduction in lead time, the right service quality, the right service quantity, and the on-time response to requirements of customers. Roh et al. (2014) asserted that the goal of a responsive supply chain design is to provide customers with the right product at the right place in the right length of time. The recent literature and practice show that effective measures to improve the responsiveness of supply chains include signing flexible contracts with suppliers, forecasting the trend of future demand and supply, conducting multi-source procurement, making centralized decision-making, and investing in digital technologies. Resilience is defined as the ability to mitigate the negative effects, rapidly accommodate, and react to a supply chain disruption (Kim et al., 2015). Wieland and Durach (2021) stated that resilience does not just relate to the ability of a system to bounce back after a disruptive event but also to the capacity to adapt and transform. Combining these perspectives, resilience generally refers to the ability to absorb or cushion against damage or loss, as well as the ability to rapidly recover from a disruption (Hora & Klassen, 2013). Thus, resilience is dynamic instead of static, which is considered as a fundamental attribute that supply chains need to adopt for maintaining stable growth in the face of external disruptions (Essuman et al., 2020) such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Supply chain resilience consists of multiple constituent elements, including stability, agility, robustness, collaboration, redundancy, centralization, visibility, and information sharing (Hosseini et al., 2019). Tukamuhabwa et al. (2015) emphasized the importance of building collaborative relationships in improving supply chain resilience. Other measures include maintaining slack resources, adopting a flexible production strategy, and building a risk-management infrastructure (Ambulkar et al., 2015; Modi & Mishra, 2011). Although 2Rs are the key attributes for enterprises to improve supply chain performance, there is limited research on how to develop responsive and resilient strategies to deal with long-lasting, structural, and global impacts. Previous studies mainly focused on normal situations, in which supply chain integration and big data analytics are the bases of building 2Rs supply chains. Supply chain integration is the ability to integrate all activities among a company's internal functions and external partners (supplier, distributor, retailer, etc.), until the finished product arrives at the end customer (Zhao et al., 2013). From the perspective of collaborative partners, supply chain integration could be divided by horizontal strategies and vertical strategies (Mesquita & Lazzarini, 2008), while the vertical integration is further divided by integration with suppliers (also known as upstream integration) and integration with customers (also known as downstream integration). In the era of Industry 4.0, supply chain integration consists of three dimensions: process and activity integration, technology and system integration, and organizational relationship linkages (Tiwari, 2020). A recent editorial in JOM (Browning, 2020) discussed related aspects of organizational and process integration. In recent years, under the influence of economic globalization, supply chains have been transformed. Since globalization has become pervasive, suppliers have pursued global markets, and most companies source extensively from global suppliers (Cohen & Lee, 2020). This has led to an increase in outsourcing activities and a corresponding decline in vertical integration of supply chains. As a result, supply chain networks have become flatter and more complex, composed of different organizations dispersed across multiple tiers and different geographies, and extended beyond a single country's boundaries (Choi & Hong, 2002). Global supply chains are characterized by focal firms that distribute across multiple countries, locate production facilities abroad, or source from offshore suppliers. Munir et al. (2020) showed that integration in the global supply chain could increase companies' resilience in making flexible deliveries and the number of products. Big data refers to data that arrive at a high volume and velocity with considerable variation, while analytics refers to the ability to gain insights from data via statistics, learning, optimization, or other techniques. The applications of big data and analytics are closely interlinked to enable firms to make better decisions. Hence, prior literature has typically discussed them together as big data analytics, which allows the use of advanced computing techniques, strategies and architectures to store, extract, and analyze multi-source, heterogeneous data to support decisions, and has been commonly used in operations management (Wamba et al., 2015). In the era of economic globalization, supply chain management has become extremely complex, with large-scale and online decision-making challenges emerging (Yang et al., 2021), for example, the joint decision-making between proactive planning and reactive operations in the forms of demand forecasting, production planning, inventory management, supply allocation, transportation, and distribution. It is no longer efficient to rely on traditional analytics methods. Many firms have been exploring how to take big data analytics to promote lean and agile activities in supply chain management (Baruffaldi et al., 2019). Existing studies have shown that applications of digital technologies can help improve supply chain performance by enhancing visibility and reducing supply chain risks (Govindan et al., 2018). The digitalization of supply chains produces large volumes of data, which is regarded as a new kind of resource and has the potential to create value and enhance competitiveness. Singh and El-Kassar (2019) proposed that digital technologies have transformed traditional supply chain management into a more data-driven approach, which requires a much higher level of big data analytics capabilities compared to traditional supply chain management. Following the call for papers, the submission of 114 manuscripts, and the review and revision process, seven articles were selected for this special issue that contribute to our understanding of the impact of COVID-19 on supply chains and its effect on addressing the 2Rs. In “Strengthening supply chain resilience during COVID-19: A case study of JD.com” (Shen & Sun, 2023), the authors used quantitative operational data obtained from JD.com4 to analyze the impact of the pandemic on supply chain resilience. They described the challenging scenarios that retailing supply chains experienced in China and the practical response of JD.com over the course of the pandemic the pandemic. JD.com was observed to respond well to the exceptional demand and severe logistical disruptions caused by COVID-19 in China based on its highly integrated supply chain structure (including both process and activity integration and technology and system integration) and comprehensive digital technologies. In particular, the existing, intelligent platforms and delivery procedures were modified slightly but promptly to deal with specific disruptions. The joint efforts of multiple firms, the government, and the entire Chinese society contributed to surmounting the challenges. The experience of JD.com contributes to understanding of the value of investing in operational flexibility and beyond-supply-chain collaboration given the possibility of large-scale supply chain disruptions such as the COVID-19 outbreak. In “Breaking out of the pandemic: How can firms match internal competence with external resources to shape operational resilience?” (Li et al., 2023), the authors explored how firms sought to effectively combine internal competence with external resources from the supply chain network to improve operational flexibility and stability during the COVID-19 pandemic. The internal flexibility refers to product diversity, the internal stability refers to operational efficiency, the external flexibility refers to structural holes, and the external stability refers to network centrality. Drawing upon matching theory, the authors provided an internal-external combinative perspective to explain operational mechanisms underlying different matchings. Based on the empirical results of 2994 unique firms and 5293 observations, they found that more heterogeneous combinations between internal (external) flexibility and external (internal) stability may result in a complementary effect that enhances operational resilience, whereas more homogeneous combinations between internal flexibility (or stability) and external flexibility (or stability) may have a substitutive effect that reduces operational resilience. With the COVID-19 pandemic having had a significant impact on supply chains, government initiatives have played a central role in managing the crisis. In “The impact of governmental COVID-19 measures on manufacturers' stock market valuations: The role of labor intensity and operational slack” (Chen et al., 2023), the authors investigated the impact of the Chinese government's Level I emergency-response policy (Ge et al., 2020) on manufacturers' stock-market values, and the role of manufacturers' operational slack on adding resilience. Specifically, through an event study of 1357 Chinese manufacturing companies listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the authors found that the government's emergency-response policy triggered a statistically significant positive reaction from the stock market for manufacturers. However, the authors also found negative impacts on stock market values for manufacturers in labor-intensive industries because of the labor immobility triggered by the Level I measures. In addition, this article identified the positive role of operational slack in the form of financial slack and excess inventory in helping to maintain operations and business continuity, mitigate risks caused by the labor mobility restrictions, and improve supply chain resilience, which identifies operational slack as a supply chain resilience strategy to mitigate pandemic-related risks. When the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, the medical-product industry faced unprecedented demand shocks for personal protective equipment, including face masks, face shields, disinfectants, and gowns. Companies from various industries responded to the urgent need for these potentially life-saving products by adopting ad hoc supply chains in an exceptionally short time. In “Realizing supply chain agility under time pressure: Ad hoc supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic” (Müller et al., 2023), the authors explored the use by 34 German companies of ad hoc supply chains to produce personal protective equipment. From these cases, the authors developed an emergent theoretical model of ad hoc supply chains around enablers of supply chain agility such as dynamic capabilities (the ability to integrate, build, and reconfigure internal and external competences to address rapidly scenario changes), entrepreneurial orientation (proactiveness, risk-taking, innovativeness, autonomy, and competitive aggressiveness), and temporary orientation (speedy action in a limited time). To cope with the COVID-19 crisis, many firms allowed their employees to work from home (WFH). In “Working from home and firm resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic” (Ge et al., 2023), the authors examined whether a firm's WFH capacity increased its resilience. The authors put forward and tested a unique data set that combines listed firms' financial data, epidemiological data, and online job postings data from China. They found that imposing COVID-19 anti-contagion policies on firms and their suppliers or customers significantly increased their operating revenue volatility, slowed their recovery, and had repercussions on their supply chains. WFH enhanced firms' resistance capacity by reducing the effect of COVID-19 on their operating revenue volatility and disruptions to their supply chain partners; however, it also decreased their recovery capacity by extending the time taken to return to normal. Firm attributes, along with workers' occupations, education, and experience, impacted the effect of WFH on firm resilience. This article enhances our understanding of shock transmission across supply chains and identifies WFH as a source of firm resilience. In “Developing supply chain resilience through integration: An empirical study on an e-commerce platform” (Qi et al., 2023), the authors developed a framework that described the impact on supply chain resilience of process and activity integration between an e-commerce platform and suppliers. An analysis of data from a Chinese e-commerce platform found that integration between the e-commerce platform and suppliers in terms of information sharing, joint planning, and logistics cooperation had positive impact on supply chain resilience, while procurement automation had the opposite effect. Manufacturing flexibility positively moderated the impact of information sharing, joint planning, and logistics cooperation. The results contribute to understanding of the factors that encourage the development of supply chain resilience, suggesting that the relationship between integration and resilience is best examined within a contingency framework. There is ongoing debate about whether a firm should develop a concentrated supply chain, with the literature reporting both benefits and drawbacks. In “Opportunities or constraints? A network embeddedness perspective on the role of supply chain concentration during the pandemic” (Jiang et al., 2023), the authors examined this puzzle. Drawing on the interdependence perspective, the authors investigated how customer and supplier concentration affected supply chain resilience during the disruption and recovery stages of the pandemic, where customer concentration refers to the extent to which a firm's sales are dependent on a few major customers, and supplier concentration refers to the extent to which a firm's purchases are from a few major suppliers. The analysis of 26,488 firm-quarter observations from 2366 Chinese-listed manufacturing firms revealed that concentration can be both detrimental and beneficial, contingent on the exchange role and the crisis stage. To be specific, customer concentration accentuated the downside of firm productivity in the disruption stage but facilitated productivity restoration in the recovery stage, while supplier concentration had no significant impact on productivity in the disruption stage but hindered firm productivity from bouncing back in the recovery stage. The guest editorial team (Xiang Li, Xiande Zhao, Hau L. Lee, and Chris Voss) would like to thank the co-editors-in-chief of the Journal of Operations Management, Suzanne de Treville and Tyson Browning, for their support. The authors would also like to acknowledge all of the many reviewers and associate editors for their extensive reviews and expert advice on the large number of articles submitted to this special issue. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 71931001, 71722007). The research of Prof. Zhao was partially suported by the Major Program of National Social Science Foundation of China (22&ZD082).

Financing and Supply Chain Operations Resilience and Juxtaposing: The Role of Finance in Improving the Supply Chain in the COVID-19 Pandemic Environment

Amidst the renewed quest for supply chain resiliency, finance outgrows its traditional role in B2B; instead, finance position itself to become a more integrated partner in supply chain management activities. Areas such as global trade management and supply chain risk management are fluid areas for finance to flourish, coupled with increasing demands for finance to take a more active role in supply chain management. The global supply chain has experienced several disruptions, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, extreme climate change-induced events, natural disasters, conflict, financial crises, recessions, shortages of raw materials for manufacturing, and macroeconomic imbalances; however, futuristic disruptions are already projected by several stakeholders in the logistics and transport sector. Hence, companies must concentrate on building their resilience to all manner of supply chain disruptions. The initial motive of firm management to increase leverage and engage in financial goods is diminished when the economic dilemma of supply chain value is resolved; by so doing, the internal financial situations could facilitate the advancement of enterprise value. Keywords: supply chain, financial service innovations, distribution dimension, COVID-19 DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/15-7-01 Publication date: April 30 th 2023

The Role of Information and Communication Technology in Managing Supply Chains in Base-of-the-Pyramid Markets

The rapid development of information and communication technology (ICT) has created opportunities for supply chain performance improvements to address challenges in base-of-the-pyramid (BoP) contexts. The article aims to analyze how ICTs that provide information, financial access, and transaction applications serve as enablers for transaction cost (TC) reductions and supply chain management (SCM) improvements in the agricultural sector. The objectives of the article are reached by deducting explanations from a framework of existing TC and SCM theories while analyzing six exemplary case studies in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. ICT enables the BoP market to improve its SCM activities. Three different ICT models can be identified: Some ICTs impact 1) information flows only, while others influence 2) financial flows or 3) material flows. TC reductions in the form of screening and selection, measurement, communication, negotiation, and coordination costs serve as explanations and theoretical foundations for these models. Future empirical research should evaluate the application of ICTs in more detail and validate the proposed framework with the help of other methods. The current study will help BoP actors, such as farmers or agricultural dealers, capture more value and reduce poverty through TC reductions and improved SCM. The findings are also applicable to other small businesses considering their industrial contexts. The main contribution of the article is that it brings together theoretical arguments from TC theory, SCM, and practical ICT developments in BoP markets. The framework provides a foundation for developing more in-depth empirical research.

Cloud Computing for Supply Chain Management and Warehouse Automation: A Case Study of Azure Cloud

In recent times, organizations are examining the art training situation to improve the operation efficiency and the cost of warehouse retail distribution and supply chain management. Microsoft Azure emerges as an expressive technology that leads optimization by giving infrastructure, software, and platform resolutions for the whole warehouse retail distribution and supply chain management. Using Microsoft Azure as a cloud computing tool in retail warehouse distribution and supply manacle management contributes to active and monetary benefits. At the same time, potential limitations and risks should be considered by the retail warehouse distribution and the supply chain administration investors. In this research summary of the cloud figuring tool, both public and hybrid in supply chain administration and retail, warehouse distribution is addressed. A brief introduction to the use of Microsoft Azure technology is provided. This is followed by the application of cloud computing to warehouse retail distribution and supply chain management activities. At the same time, the negative and positive aspects of familiarizing this Microsoft Azure technology in the modern supply chain and retail distribution are debated. Also, the circumstance for the third-party logistics services suppliers has indicated respect for automation and cybersecurity solutions in a cloud environment. Lastly, the upcoming research practices and following technological trends are offered as the conclusion.

The relationship between supply chain management activities and firm performance with the mediating and moderating effect

The performance plays a key role in the long-term survival of the organizations. If the performance of the organization increases, then the organization may lead in the global perspective. There are various factors that could lead to the performance. Among those, the supply chain management practices (SCMP) play an important role to increase the performance. The SCMP factors may also enhance the competitive advantage of the organizations. Furthermore, the manager support may provide insight to manage the SCM activities which could aid enhance firm performance (FP). Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between the SCMP and FP with the moderating and mediating effect in the chemical industry of Thailand. The data was collected from the supply chain managers by using a simple random technique. The SEM direct effect shows that SCMA had a significant and positive connection with firm performance FP. In addition, SCMP does not seem to have any significant relationship with the competitive advantage. While competitive advantage has a positive and significant effect on FP. On the other hand, the indirect effect shows that SCMP and FP relationship were partially mediated from the competitive advantage. Moreover, the manager's support did not significantly moderate the SCMP and FP relationship. The current study added literature in the extant literature in the form of empirical findings which could help the researchers explore their studies in future. The study may also provide help to owners as well as to shareholders to know about the importance of the SCMP, competitive advantage and managers' support to increase their FP.

The impact of internal and external green supply chain management activities on performance improvement: evidence from the automobile industry

Although the significance of green supply chain management activities on corporation sustainable development has been highlighted in the literature, the potential inter-dependencies between these activities and corporation performance have not been investigated by considering cooperation moderation. The purpose of this research is to examine internal and external Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) activity on automobile performance: Environmental performance, operational performance, positive economic performance, and negative economic performance. Using survey data from foreign-owned company A with 117 manufacturing firms and domestic company B with 94 manufacturing firms, a significant relationship between GSCM and corporation performance has been found. For foreign-owned automobile companies, internal organizational activity has the greatest influence on operational performance, and promotes corporate value and corporation with outside. However, for domestic automobile companies with the advanced green concept, Eco-design exerts the biggest effect on environmental performance, and also brought a negative economic impact on corporate performance. Moreover, although both corporate social responsibility (CSR) and creating shared value (CSV) promotion could influence the corporation with consumers and suppliers, CSV promotion has a more positive influence on cooperation with consumers than that CSR. These findings have important implications for designing GSCM strategic plans for the automotive industry in developing countries.

The role of supply chain resilience and absorptive capacity in the relationship between marketing–supply chain management alignment and firm performance: a moderated-mediation analysis

PurposeThis paper aims to adopt a resource-based view (RBV) to investigate the link between marketing (MRKT)–supply chain management (SCM) alignment, supply chain resilience (SCR) and firm performance. It aims to cover two gaps in the SCM literature: the missing links between MRKT–SCM alignment and the performance of a firm, mediated by the SCR, and the role of absorptive capacity (AC) in shaping such links.Design/methodology/approachAfter the identification of a key capability in SCM, i.e. firms’ ability to align their’ MRKT–SCM processes and the role of AC, the relationships with performance are empirically tested in a sample of 133 firms in the fast-moving consumer goods industry in Saudi Arabia. The data was analyzed using SPSS 27 through hierarchal multiple regression and the PROCESS macro.FindingsFirst, MRKT–SCM alignment capabilities provide a significant direct effect on SCR, and in turn, SCR also had a significant indirect effect on firm performance. Second, there is a significant mediating effect of SCR on the MRKT –SCM alignment and firm performance relationship. Third, a novel finding shows a statistically significant interaction effect and the interaction pattern supported that absorptive capacity would substitute the positive effect of SCR on firm performance, which implies that in the absence of SCR, AC can substitute the role of SCR. Finally, the results suggest a significant moderation and mediation effect for the overall model.Research limitations/implicationsThe investigation is based on a self-reported cross-sectional analysis, and it is specific to a single economy. Nonetheless, it suggests a number of interesting implications. Achieving excellence in SCR requires the development of a distinct set of capabilities because the management of core supply chain activities and the alignment of MRKT with the supply chain are not mutually exclusive, rather they are complementary. Contrary to common expectations, an alignment of MRKT–SCM processes leads to improved interfunctional coordination.Practical implicationsIn the postCOVID-19 world firms should develop and integrate their AC to capitalize on their MRKT–SCM alignment to pursue better performance. Investment in AC is required to develop, maintain and use it. It can play an important role against uncertainties in the long run.Originality/valueThis paper is unique in that it employs the RBV – to unpack the mechanisms through which MRKT–SCM activities contribute to SCR, and firm performance. It represents a first response to the call for research into the use of such theoretical frameworks which has recently been made in the SCM literature because of the COVID-19 pandemic. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper also offers the first empirical test of how the MRKT–SCM interacts with existing capabilities to create SCR, providing clear guidance on how to exploit its often undervalued potential.

Employees’ aptitudes and trepidations for the adoption of enterprise application architecture for supply chain management in small and medium enterprises: A case of Capricorn District Municipality

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.

Minimizing OHS Risks with Spherical Fuzzy Sets as a Verdict to Inventory Management: A Case Regarding Energy Companies

As one of the vital ergonomics operations, occupational health and safety (OHS) measures are important for each and every production environment. Furthermore, the severity of adverse impacts or occurrence probability of OHS risks can be much higher, especially for particular companies dealing with hazardous or dangerous materials or products. Although eminent instances exist in the OHS literature, studies linking OHS to operational supply chain management (SCM) activities and aim to embed ergonomics sentiment into decision procedures in a way that reduces OHS risks are unfortunately lacking in the literature. In this point of view, a novel approach grounding on inventory control aiming OHS risk minimization was developed, and a case study regarding a gas distribution energy company was performed as demonstration. Integrated ABC-VED matrix was developed and employed to handle the inventory management problem by emphasizing OHS risks’ influence as well as proposing cost-effective solutions, while spherical fuzzy sets (SFS) and simple additive weighting (SAW) method were used to enlighten the best SCM-related decisions in terms of ABC-VED results, to minimize the OHS risks of maintenance employees and possible adverse impacts on human health. Three different actors participated as decision makers (DMs) by the employment of SFS-SAW group decision making approach, where computed categories and delineated research outcomes were scrutinized in details by benchmarking of the results in terms of varying DM assessments and supplier company driven inventoried item groups, where sensitivity analysis on overall results were also performed. 103 out of 270 items of a protoset were analyzed, a subset of 51 items listed in Category I was determined to be used in further analysis. Illustrative explanations of diversification of criteria weighting scores regarding different parties in the decision making process were also presented with several schematic representations of research outcomes in the light of multidimensional benchmarking debates.

동적역량과 양면성역량이 지속가능 공급망활동의 성과창출과정에 미치는 영향

This study focuses on the role of dynamic and ambivalent competence among factors affecting sustainable supply chain activity and its performance creation process. Sustainable supply chain management should pursue economic, environmental, and social activities simultaneously, and decision making such as coordination and resource allocation among these activities is inevitably important. Therefore, this study examines the role of dynamic and ambivalence capacities of adjustment and resource allocation among various factors affecting sustainable supply chain management, and conducts an empirical analysis focusing on the process of performance creation between purchasers and customers. Accordingly, a survey was conducted on those in charge of managing supply chain management in a company, and 296 valid questionnaires were analyzed to verify the research hypothesis. The analysis revealed that both dynamic and ambivalent competences have a positive effect on the economic, environmental, and social activities of sustainable supply chain management. Conversely, economic and social activities have a positive effect on both supplier and purchasing company performance, whereas environmental activities do not have any effect. Furthermore, the result of suppliers through sustainable supply chain activity was confirmed to have a positive effect on the performance of the purchaser. The findings are meaningful in that they present theoretical grounds for the importance of coordination and resource allocation among the three main aspects that constitute sustainable supply chain activities and empirically suggest that dynamic and ambivalent capabilities can serve as a significant preceding factor in creating results.

ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECT OF PRACTICE AND SUPPLY CHAIN INTEGRATION ON OPERATIONAL PERFORMANCE OF SMEs IN MALANG CITY

<p>This study was conducted to evaluate the practice of implementing Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Supply chain Integration (SCI) on operational performance in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Malang City. This study aims to determine the effect of SCM practices on supply chain integration, the effect of SCM on operational performance, and the effect of supply chain integration on operational performance. Data collection in this study was carried out by distributing 100 questionnaires to owners or managers of SMEs in Malang City which the criteria are food and beverage agro-industry SMEs located in Malang City and have carried out supply chain management (SCM) activities for at least 1 year. The analytical method used in testing the research hypothesis is using multiple regression. The results of the study found that 1) there is a positive influence of supply chain management practices on operational performance, 2) there is a negative influence of supply chain integration on operational performance, 3) supply chain management practices and supply chain integration simultaneously have a positive effect on operational performance in SMEs in the Malang City.</p>

COVID-19 impact in supply chain performance: a study on the construction industry

PurposeThe strict lockdown during COVID-19 has suspended construction, procurement and logistics in construction industry and affected the entire Supply Chain Management (SCM). The COVID-19 has been universally observed in all sectors, but a limited study has been done in construction industry and also the ways to mitigate it. Hence, the current study aims to identify the impact of COVID-19 in Construction Supply Chain (CSC) and to analyse the influence of factors on Supply Chain (SC) performance during uncertainty in the construction industry.Design/methodology/approachFrom previous studies, the factors enhancing the SCM performance are taken. The research follows a qualitative in-depth interview to identify the factors and quantitative study to collect data using a questionnaire. Samples for the study were chosen using purposing sampling techniques. The collected data were analysed using “Statistical Package for Social Science” (SPSS V 20).FindingsEffect of COVID-19 is more on medium sized builders and developers. A positive impact is found between SC agility, SC resilience and information technology (IT) capabilities on SC performance.Research limitations/implicationsFirstly, the study adopted cross-sectional data to test the hypothesis. The study results on the combined effect of the factors SC agility, SC resilience and IT capability during uncertainty were found to have a positive influence. The longitudinal study would enrich the understanding of the research. Secondly, the study was focussed on the perspective of the dynamic capability view. Further studies can adopt a multi-method approach to develop a theoretical framework using in-depth study and empirical validation. It will help in a better understanding of the current situation and young discipline in SC. Thirdly, the study has considered only Kerala construction companies; hence, the data were less. More data with better results will be obtained if the study has included construction companies from other states. Fourthly, the study can be extended to understand the interdependent effects of SC agility, SC resilience and information technology capability on performance. Presently, the interdependent effect in the study is limited.Practical implicationsThe study helps the construction professionals to understand the preventive measures needed for the industry during any uncertainty. Also, the study is expected to help the construction managers and leaders with better performance in SCM and other business activities by adopting IT connectivity and being agile in all situations. Moreover, the study also helps policymakers take active solutions by providing awareness and incentives to the construction industry professionals. The literature and the factors will also help the academicians in further research progress.Originality/valueThe research is important for construction professionals to comprehend the impact of COVID-19 and to analyse the influence of factors such as SC agility, SC resilience and IT capabilities on improving the SC performance. This research can assist private and public construction firms to enhance SC performance during times of uncertainty. The result is likely to help construction companies with better SC performance and helps academicians' further progress in research.

The Role of Halal Supply Chain Management for Slaughter Chicken Business Actors (Case Study of Slaughter Chicken Business in Gunung Manaon Village 1)

Chicken meat is one of the products that are in great demand and consumed by the people of Indonesia. Indonesian people generally consume more chicken meat with an average of 7 kg of meat per year compared to consuming beef. North Sumatra is no exception, especially in the village of Gunung Manaon 1. So the purpose of this study is to find out whether the beef chicken business in the village of Gunung Manaon 1 is in accordance with Islamic law, both in the production process, distribution and when it arrives at hand. consumers and what is the role of halal supply chain management in this beef chicken business. The research method used is a qualitative method using descriptive by conducting field observations and direct interviews with business owners, employees and consumers. And from the results of this study, we found that the Chicken Slaughter Business in Gunung Manaon 1 Village was in accordance with existing halal laws. In addition, supply chain management activities in the Chicken Slaughterhouse have also met halal standards according to interview and observation data. Then for the provision of animal feed and the like, it is also necessary to ensure the validity of feed and beverage ingredients, vaccines and vitamins that do not directly affect chicken meat, but this is done to avoid suspicious things....