Customer Supplier Research Articles

Transformative Impact of AI and Cloud Technologies: A Comparative Analysis across Healthcare, Retail, and Mobile Financial Services

This article examines the transformative impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud technologies across healthcare, retail, and mobile financial services sectors. Through a comprehensive analysis of industry-specific applications, we explore how these technologies are revolutionizing operational efficiency, customer experiences, and innovation in each domain. In healthcare, we investigate the role of CI/CD automation and scalable cloud infrastructure in improving system reliability and patient care. The retail sector analysis focuses on AI-driven customer insights and supply chain optimization. For mobile financial services, we examine AI applications in fraud detection and real-time analytics. The findings reveal significant improvements in operational efficiency, decision-making processes, and customer satisfaction across all three industries. However, we also identify unique challenges and opportunities specific to each sector. This article contributes to the growing body of literature on digital transformation and provides valuable insights for industry professionals and policymakers navigating the integration of AI and cloud technologies in their respective fields.

How Does Supply Network Structure Influence Firms’ Financial Performance During Disruption?

In a post pandemic world, supply chain mapping has become a key concern for almost any supply chain operation. A single focal supply chain network might have hundreds of suppliers including those that supply both goods and services. These increase exponentially as one traces the network downstream. Using a pair of networks from the auto industry (Ford and General Motors) as a basis for the analysis, we apply a data mining technique to filter for significant supply chain relationships in each of these networks over the period spanning 2018–2022. We then examine the structural metrics for each of these networks and compare these measures with applicable financial measures to elucidate how supply chain network structure affects financial performance. Our regression analyses reveal that supplier network structures significantly affect customers’ market value. Specifically, Tobin’s Q is negatively related to the number of suppliers they source from and the importance of the customer (e.g., Ford) to its suppliers, but it is positively associated with the tightness of supplier customer connection and the density of the network.

An iterative price-based combinatorial double auction for additive manufacturing markets

The increasing adoption of additive manufacturing (AM) in the industrial sector is leading to an imbalance between supply and demand of additively manufactured subcomponents: companies demanding AM services require very specific products and AM suppliers differ widely in their capabilities. Some existing proposals aim to help match supply and demand by merely making customer–supplier allocations. Only a few recent works go beyond allocation issues and propose market mechanisms to also address pricing aspects. However, we observe that these mechanisms do not fully exploit the potential of additive manufacturing techniques. The aim of this paper is to design a market mechanism that considers the particularity of AM techniques, wherein suppliers can benefit from manufacturing multiple heterogeneous parts from multiple customers in the same build area to increase production throughput. This market mechanism has been implemented as an iterative combinatorial double auction that adapts to this feature of the AM market: customers will bid to get their orders produced and suppliers will submit asking quotes to win the production of combinations of those orders. The mechanism solves the allocation and pricing of AM orders while seeking the maximization of social welfare. The procedure is simulated in a theoretical environment to evaluate its performance and to identify the most appropriate conditions for its implementation in a real environment. Unlike other existing proposals for client-supplier allocation mechanisms in additive manufacturing, the proposed mechanism allows a single supplier to produce a combination of orders from different clients, leading to a pricing system that maximizes social welfare without participants disclosing sensitive information.

Does common institutional ownership mitigate hold‐up problems along the supply chain?

AbstractWe show that common institutional ownership (CIO) along the supply chain mitigates hold‐up problems faced by supplier–customer relationships resulting from incomplete contracts. Suppliers make more relationship‐specific investments (RSIs) measured by R&D and patent filings toward their customers that share common institutional investors. Such effect is stronger as the CIO network between a supplier and customer pair becomes wider and deeper. We establish causality by exploiting exogenous shocks to CIO using a broad sample of mergers between financial institutions and further find the CIO effects on suppliers’ innovation specificity are stronger for those who ex ante face severer hold‐up concerns. Lastly, we provide evidence that CIO involvement increases the combined valuations of supply chain pairs (mainly for customers). Our work sheds light on the hold‐up mitigation effect of CIO on firms’ decision to make RSIs along the supply chain.

Internalizing Peer Firm Product Market Concerns: Supply Chain Relations and M&A Activity

ABSTRACTWe explore whether firms internalize the product market concerns of their economically linked peers by examining merger and acquisition decisions in the context of customer–supplier relations. Given the extensive transfer of capital, knowledge, and information between merging parties, we hypothesize that customers’ competition concerns discourage their suppliers from engaging in vertically conflicted transactions (i.e., acquisitions of their customers’ rivals or suppliers to those rivals). Consistent with our hypothesis, we find that suppliers are less likely to engage in such transactions when their customers are subject to higher product market competition. Moreover, the effect is more pronounced when suppliers and customers have greater relationship‐specific investments and when customers face heightened proprietary information concerns. Using plausibly exogenous variation in common ownership between customers and their rivals as a shock to customers’ competition concerns, we conclude that the link between customers’ competition concerns and supplier acquisitions is likely causal. Our findings suggest that firms alter their investment and strategic decisions in response to the product market competition concerns of their economically related peers.

Implementasi Etika Bisnis Islam dalam Meningkatkan Loyalitas Pelanggan Pemasok pada Umkm Pengepul Cabe Jawa Barokah Desa Jambearum Kecamatan Puger Kabupaten Jember

This research aims to determine the Islamic business ethics implemented by MSMEs collecting Javanese Barokah chilies in Jambearum Village, Puger District, Jember Regency and the impact of implementing Islamic business ethics in increasing supplier customer loyalty to MSMEs collecting Javanese Barokah chilies, Jambearum Village, Puger District, Jember Regency. To identify problems and answer research problems, this research uses qualitative research with a case study approach and purposive subject determination techniques. The data collection techniques for this research use active participatory observation, semistructured interviews and documentation. The results of the research concluded that: (1) MSME actors collecting Barokah Javanese chilies in Jambearum Village, Puger District, Jember Regency have implemented the 5 principles of Islamic business ethics in running their business, including: Unity Principle, Equilibrium Principle, Free Will Principle ( Free Will), Principle of Responsibility (Responsibility), Principle of Truth: Virtue and Honesty. (2) The impact of implementing Islamic business ethics in increasing supplier customer loyalty in MSME Java Barokah Chili Collectors, Jambearum Village, Puger District, Jember Regency, has seen customer loyalty expressed by supplier customers with the realization of service quality, customer satisfaction and perceived customer value.

The Role of Artificial Intelligence Technology in Promoting Socio-Economic Development

This paper comprehensively examines the pivotal role of artificial intelligence (AI) technology in promoting socio-economic development. It commences by introducing the rapid advancements and current status of AI technology, which has permeated diverse industries through breakthroughs in big data, cloud computing, and deep learning. The paper highlights AI’s contributions to economic growth by enhancing production efficiency (e.g., 45% increase in efficiency through automation), optimizing resource allocation (25% raw material utilization improvement), and fostering innovative business models such as personalized customization and intelligent supply chain management. AI also fosters the emergence of new industries (intelligent medicine, education, finance) and creates substantial job opportunities directly for data scientists and algorithm engineers, and indirectly through driving related industries. Furthermore, AI facilitates industrial upgrading, transforming manufacturing into smart manufacturing, enhancing service quality in industries like retail, and modernizing agriculture with smart equipment. A case study on Chongqing Soft River Turing AI Technology Co., Ltd. showcases AI’s practical applications and corporate competitiveness enhancement. Overall, the paper underscores AI’s significance in economic growth, job creation, and industry transformation, while acknowledging challenges like data privacy and job displacement, emphasizing the need for strategic policy guidance and regulation.

The effect of supplier CSR on customer–supplier relationship

The paper studies how corporate social responsibility (CSR) helps suppliers mitigate customer concentration risk. Using a sample of customer–supplier pairs of U.S. public firms, we find that suppliers with greater CSR performance have a stronger relationship with their major customers, in terms of higher sales and lower termination likelihood. Moreover, following disruptive events at major customers, suppliers with weak CSR performance experience sales loss, termination likelihood increase, and negative market reaction, while suppliers with strong CSR performance are largely immune from these adverse shocks. Finally, we show that the positive impact of supplier CSR on customer relationship is more pronounced when the supplier has less bargaining power in the relationship. Overall, our findings suggest that CSR can be employed by suppliers as a precautionary way to reduce customer concentration risk.

Economic aspects of Industry 4.0 marketing technologies implementation in the agricultural sector of Ukraine

The study aimed to assess the impact of Industry 4.0 marketing technologies on the efficiency of business processes in the agro-industrial complex of Ukraine in the current market conditions. The study established that Industry 4.0, as a new stage of technological development, radically changes traditional methods of production, business and management by integrating digital technologies with physical processes. With the use of big data, artificial intelligence, and machine learning, agricultural businesses can create accurate customer profiles, develop personalised marketing campaigns, and automate routine tasks such as audience segmentation and forecasting market changes. The study also addressed the impact of the Internet of Things, social media and digital platforms on customer engagement and supply chain management. Innovations in e-commerce and the use of augmented and virtual reality also substantially improve the marketing efficiency of agricultural enterprises. The impact of the war in Ukraine on the introduction of digital technologies in the farming sector was emphasised. While investment in digitalisation declined during the conflict, the war also stimulated the search for innovative solutions, such as the use of drones to monitor fields and technology to improve cybersecurity. The impact of the war on consumer habits and priorities has also necessitated rapid adaptation of marketing strategies. Based on the study, which included a survey of 727 enterprises, the level of adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies among large, medium and small enterprises, as well as their plans for further implementation, was determined. The results showed that large enterprises are leading the way in adopting new technologies such as data analytics and artificial intelligence, while small and medium enterprises are just beginning to implement these solutions

Strategic alignment between supply chain partners and cost stickiness of suppliers

AbstractWe investigate the relationship between strategic alignment between suppliers and their major customers and the asymmetric behavior of costs, specifically cost of goods sold (COGS) and selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) costs. Utilizing mandated disclosures regarding major customers from 1978 to 2018, we construct supplier–customer dyads to examine this connection. Our results indicate a positive association between strategic alignment in supply chain partnerships and the stickiness of COGS and SG&A costs for suppliers. This positive association is more pronounced for suppliers in the early stages of their relationships than those with long-term partnerships. Additionally, strategic alignment increases the stickiness of suppliers’ research and development (R&D) costs. Furthermore, we observe that strategic alignment correlates with an extended duration of supplier–customer relationships and improved supplier performance. Our findings hold across alternative constructs of strategic alignment, various supplier strategy types, and when accounting for characteristics of the supply-chain relationship.

Firm Networks and Asset Returns

Abstract Changes in the propagation of shocks along firm networks are important to understanding aggregate and cross-sectional features of stock returns. When calibrated to match key characteristics of supplier–customer networks in the United States, a model in which firms are interlinked via enduring relationships generates long-run consumption risks, high and volatile risk premiums, and a small and stable risk-free rate. The model also matches cross-sectional patterns of portfolio returns sorted by firm centrality, a feature unaccounted for by standard asset pricing models. (JEL C67, E30, G12, L14)

A systematic analysis of digital supply chain, big data and manufacturing lean time in industrial companies

PurposeThis paper aims to systematically review the literature on digital supply chain (DSC), big data (BD) and manufacturing lead time (MLT) in industrial companies.Design/methodology/approachThis study provides a systematic review of the 99 research on this subject that was published between 2015 and 2022. Studies were found in the Scopus database. This review also identifies gaps in the literature, highlights conflicting results, examines prospective data sources for empirical researchers and offers suggestions for choosing promising research subjects in the future.FindingsThis study performed a thorough literature review to a developing field of inquiry in order to identify the impact of the digital supply chain, BD and manufacturing lean time, an area that has received little attention in the literature. Future pathways and ramifications are also offered based on the literature content search. The results showed that BD improves DSC performance through resilience and innovation of the DSC. MLT and DSC integration were found to be positively correlated, according to the results.Originality/valueAlthough the production lead time is preferable to boost customer value and supply reliability, the long lead time hurts the DSC’s ability to compete. DSC integration also improves coordination and streamlines processes. The researchers suggest fostering organizational flexibility, information exchange to accomplish DSC integration and adaptable behaviors including responsiveness and alertness.

The impact of social capital on major customer supply chain power

We investigate the impact of regional social capital on firms' ability to attain bargaining power over their supply chain partners. Using ordinary least squares and instrumental variables estimations, we find a positive relationship between firm-level supply chain power and US county-level social capital. Additionally, we observe this positive effect to be stronger for firms in durable goods manufacturing and the services industry, but not for nondurable goods manufacturers. We conclude that firms headquartered in US counties with high social capital are preferred by suppliers, resulting in greater supply chain power.

B2B social media use as a double-edged sword on trust: a social presence theory perspective

PurposeDrawing on the social presence theory, this study aims to explore how supplier–customer social media interactions influence supplier observers’ trust in the customers and what mechanisms contribute to variation in trust experience.Design/methodology/approachA total of 36 semi-structured interviews were conducted with Chinese suppliers using WeChat for business-to-business interactions. Data were analyzed in three steps: open coding, axial coding and selective coding.FindingsFindings reveal that varied trust is based not only on the categories of social presence of interaction – whether social presence is embedded in informative interactions – but also on the perceived selectivity in social presence. Observer suppliers who experience selectivity during social and affective interactions create a perception of hidden information and an unhealthy relationship atmosphere, and report a sense of emotional vulnerability, thus eroding cognitive and affective trust.Originality/valueThe findings contribute new understandings to social presence theory by exploring the social presence of interactions in a supplier–supplier–customer triad and offer valuable insights into business-to-business social media literature by adopting a suppliers’ viewpoint to unpack the mechanisms of how social presence of interaction positively and negatively influences suppliers’ trust and behavioral responses.

Supplier–customer cultural similarity and supplier performance

Using a corporate culture measure based on the textual analysis of the Q&A section of earnings conference calls, we document robust evidence that similar corporate cultural values between supply chain partners improve the financial performance of suppliers. Consistent with the view that supplier–customer cultural similarity facilitates communication, promotes altruistic attitudes, and builds trust between trading partners, we find that culturally similar suppliers experience higher cost efficiency, fewer problems with underinvestment, and better innovation performance. Our results also indicate that cultural similarity benefits customers, although to a lesser extent. Overall, our study sheds new light on how inter-firm cultural similarity influences firm performance along the supply chain.

The Impact of Business Continuity on Supply Chain Practices and Resilience Due to COVID-19

Background: Business continuity entails the potential negative consequences of uncertainty on a firm’s ability to achieve strategic objectives. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted business continuity due to lockdowns, travel restrictions, and social distancing measures. Consequently, firms adopted specific supply chain (SC) practices to effectively navigate this global crisis. Methods: This research adopted a stochastic approach based on Bayesian Networks to evaluate the implications of business continuity on firms’ decisions to embrace SC practices, focusing on omnichannel strategies, SC coordination, and technologies such as artificial intelligence systems, big data and machine learning, and mobile applications. Results: Our findings revealed that firms facing disruption in a single performance area can apply specific strategies to maintain resilience. However, multiple areas of underperformance necessitate a varied approach. Conclusions: According to our empirical analysis, omnichannel strategies are critical when disruptions simultaneously impact quality, inventory, sales, and ROI, particularly during major disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic. AI and big data become vital when multiple risks coalesce, enhancing areas such as customer service and supply chain visibility. Moreover, supply chain coordination and mobile app adoption are effective against individual performance risks, proving crucial in mitigating disruption impacts across various business aspects. These findings help policy-makers and business owners to have a better understanding of how business continuity based on performance resistance to disruptions pushes companies to adopt different practices including new technologies and supply chain coordination. Accordingly, they can use the outputs of this study to devise strategies for improving resilience considering their supply chain vulnerabilities.

Customer bargaining power and supplier profitability: the moderating role of product market overlap

PurposeResearch on the relationship between customer bargaining power and supplier performance in supplier–customer relationships has flourished in recent decades. This study aims to empirically investigate whether product market overlap (PMO) in a supply chain moderates the effect of customer bargaining power on supplier profitability.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses large-scale secondary data from multiple databases. Econometric panel data techniques are used to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe results show that PMO in a supplier–customer relationship and PMO in supplier–supplier relationships both exacerbate the negative effect of the bargaining power of customers on supplier profitability.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the field of supply chain management. This study brings new insights into the ongoing debate surrounding the relationship between customer bargaining power and supplier profitability. The study also contributes to the literature on supply chain networks by showing the impact of indirect supply chain relationships.

Enhancing Customer–Supplier Coordination Through Customer-Managed Inventory

In recent years, there has been an increasing trend in supply chains to employ a “control tower” approach to improve supply chain performance. One such strategy is customer-managed inventory (CMI) in which the customer (the downstream party) controls the inventory of the supplier (the upstream party). However, the optimal design of the inventory control policy and the required incentive structure for CMI has not been fully explored in the related literature. In this paper, we develop a two-echelon model consisting of a supplier and a customer that captures the interaction between both decision makers. Analysis of this model indicates that achieving the potential benefits of CMI requires suitable incentive mechanisms to be put in place. The two-echelon inventory system model, however, does not give closed-form solutions, which are required to generate an optimal solution to the inventory control and incentive problem. To address this challenge, we propose an approximate model, which decouples the two-echelon model into two newsvendor-type models with each party operating a single-echelon system. This approximate model requires the introduction of additional cost parameters so that the decoupled model captures the cost implications of supplier shortages in the original two-echelon model. By developing appropriate values for these cost parameters, the approximate model yields near optimal results. Analysis of the solution reveals important operational factors that determine which environments are conducive for CMI and conditions for Pareto improvement of all stakeholders. This paper was accepted by Jayashankar Swaminathan, operations management. Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.03658 .

Supplier concentration and the speed of capital structure adjustment

Using a large sample of A-share Chinese firms from 2012 to 2019, we show a positive relationship between supplier concentration and leverage adjustment speed. This positive relationship is unidirectional and primarily concentrated among over-leveraged firms rather than among under-leveraged ones. Moreover, the effect of supplier concentration is more pronounced in firms with greater bargaining power over suppliers. A plausible channel is the monitoring role imposed by suppliers, which mitigates the firm’s agency conflicts by reducing (1) information asymmetry between informed managers and uninformed market participants and (2) management opportunism and slacking. Further, we show that firms with higher supplier concentrations are more active in the security market due to having lower agency costs. Our findings demonstrate the crucial role of customer–supplier relationships in a firm’s capital structure dynamics.

The ambiguous impact of supplier involvement in product development on supplier relationship resilience and company performance

PurposeI aimed to obtain a deeper insight into the link between supplier involvement in product development (SIPD), supplier relationship resilience and company performance.Design/methodology/approachTo collect data, a survey among 500 Polish manufacturing companies was conducted. I used quantitative methods (structural equation modeling) to test several research hypotheses referring to a single supplier–customer relationship. Thanks to the use of multi-construct measurement of SIPD and supplier relationship resilience, the study provides detailed research results on the topic.FindingsCollaborative practices implemented during SIPD increase procurement flexibility and decrease redundancy in the relationship with the involved supplier. Communication during SIPD increases supplier flexibility and procurement flexibility. Increased supplier flexibility and increased procurement flexibility in the relationship with the involved supplier as well as collaborative practices during SIPD positively impact company performance. I confirmed the indirect effect between communication during SIPD and company performance when the mediators are supplier flexibility and procurement flexibility. Decreased redundancy in relationship with involved supplier does not impact company performance.Practical implicationsSupply chain managers need to rethink SIPD practice to effectively ensure supply chain resilience (SCRES), especially in the face of the contemporary global crisis and black swans affecting the supplier base. My article provides important managerial insights into drivers of SCRES and company performance.Originality/valueTo the best of my knowledge, this research is among the first to conclude that SIPD does not have an unequivocally positive or direct impact on supplier relationship resilience. The research fills the gap by analyzing the impact of SIPD on two main SCRES elements. The study examines supplier relationship resilience, understood as flexibility and redundancy elements, in a single supplier–buyer relationship perspective. Thus, the presented considerations go beyond the traditional understanding of flexibility and redundancy in supplier relationship management, that is through the prism of double or multi sourcing and having back up-suppliers.