Supply Chain Members Research Articles

A system dynamics model in the humanitarian supply chain based on blockchain technology

One of the most important issues in the Humanitarian Supply Chain (HSC) is the delivery of goods at the right time and at the right cost, the ability to track goods, and increase trust among supply chain members to increase synergy. This study explored the impact of Blockchain Technology (BT) in the HSC and the extent to which these goals are covered using a system dynamics model. To do this, first, the previous studies in the literature were reviewed. Then, the effective variables were determined by surveying the subject-matter experts. Furthermore, the relationships between the identified variables were evaluated by developing a cause-effect model. Then, by designing the stock-flow models and related tests, the relevant model was validated, and finally, two scenarios of the mild and server economic crisis were evaluated. For each scenario, three policies of using BT, increasing the workforce, and increasing the suppliers' transport capacity were reviewed. The results of simulating the model and the policies showed that using BT is the best policy to achieve the goals during a severe economic crisis. Furthermore, when the economic crisis is mild, if the demand for goods is very high, this policy is also effective. However, increasing the workforce is a more effective policy when the demand for goods is low.

Data-driven supply chain orientation and innovation: the role of capabilities and information complexity

PurposeData transformation has prompted enterprises to rethink their strategic development. Scholars have frequently acknowledged the vast potential value of supply chain data and realised that simply owning data resources cannot guarantee excellent innovation performance (IP). Therefore, this study focussed on the mediating and moderating issues between data-driven supply chain orientation (DDSCO) and IP. More specifically, the purpose was to explore (1) whether DDSCO promotes enterprise innovation through dynamic and improvisational capabilities and (2) how information complexity (INC) plays a moderating role between capabilities and performance.Design/methodology/approachAn empirical study was performed using the results of a questionnaire survey, and a literature review was used to build the premises of this study. A sample was conducted on 296 Chinese enterprises, and the data collected were used to test the hypothesis by successive regression.FindingsThis research has implications for the theoretical development of DDSCO, as well as the dynamic capabilities (DC) and improvisation capabilities (IC) in innovation strategic literature. The empirical results show that DDSCO has a direct, positive impact on both DC and IC, which thus positively impact IP. Meanwhile, IC has a negative moderating effect on the path joining DC and IP. Conversely, IC has a positive moderating effect on the path joining IC and IP.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough this study has limitations, it also creates opportunities for future research. The survey comes from different industries, so the possibility of unique influences within industries cannot be ruled out. Second, the authors' survey is based on cross-sectional data, which allow for more comprehensive data verification in the future. Third, this study also provides opportunities for future research, because it proves that DC and IC, as partial mediators of DDSCO and IP, can mine other paths of the data-driven supply chain in IP. For example, the perspective of the relationship between supply chain members, knowledge perspective, etc.Practical implicationsThe research findings offer a novel perspective for enterprise managers. First, enterprises can leverage supply chain data to gain competitive advantages in innovation. Second, it is imperative for enterprises to acknowledge the significance of developing dynamic and IC. This also requires enterprises to acknowledge innovations in DDSCO necessitate a focus on dynamic and IC. Third, it is recommended that managers take into account both sides of IC and encourage enterprises to prioritise the utilisation of IC.Originality/valueEmpirical research results revealed how DDSCO improves IP and is an extension of digital transformation in the supply chain field, providing new opportunities and challenges for enterprise innovation. It can also expand the enterprise's understanding of DDSCO. Second, based on resource-based theory, it is possible to develop and test theoretical arguments regarding the importance of dynamic and IC as intermediaries in the DDSCO-IP. Third, the authors conducted simulations of highly dynamic data environments to develop and test theoretical arguments about the importance of IC as a moderator of capabilities-performance relationships.

Industry 4.0 digital transformation and opportunities for supply chain resilience: a comprehensive review and a strategic roadmap

Despite interest in opportunities that Industry 4.0 offers for Supply Chain Resilience (SCR), little is known about the underlying mechanisms for such contributions. The study develops a roadmap that explains how supply chains can capitalize on Industry 4.0 SCR functions. The study conducted a content-centric literature review and identified 16 functions through which Industry 4.0 enhances SCR. Results reveal that the Industry 4.0 SCR functions identified are highly interrelated, and supply chain members should align their digitalization strategies with the sequence in which Industry 4.0 delivers these functions. Industry 4.0 contribution to SCR first involves delivering data-centric functions such as supply chain automation, information and communication quality, process monitoring, and visibility. Industry 4.0 further allows supply chain partners to collaborate better on improving supply chain mapping, complexity management, and innovation capabilities. Through these functions and by increasing transparency, flexibility, and agility of supply chain operations, Industry 4.0 delivers more dependent but consequential resilience functions such as supply chain responsiveness, adaptive capability, and continuity management. The roadmap further explains how each pair of Industry 4.0 SCR functions mutually interact while contributing to the overall resilience of the supply chain. The study discusses possible implications and outlines important avenues for future research.

Enhancing Supply Chain Performance by Exploring the Role of Technological Aspects in Supply Chain Management in the Local Automotive Industry in Malaysia

Technology have shed some lights on supply chain management issues. Issues regarding irrational behaviour among supply chain member is one of the topics discussed that can be improved by enhancing technology to the chain. This study looked at the role of technological aspect in supply chain management in mediating the relationship between supply chain orientation and supply chain performance. Questionnaires were used to collect data from manufacturers and suppliers in Malaysia's automotive sector. The Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) method was used. The findings reveal a concrete prediction model that explains the supply chain management's mediation influence on supply chain performance. As a result, the study goals that focus on the technological aspect in supply chain performance are met. Future study should investigate more on what technology can offer to enhance supply chain performance.

A unified model for the fairness mechanism‐based coordinated vehicle route guidance

AbstractCoordinated vehicle route guidance is recognized as an effective way to alleviate the Braess' paradox that new congestion is generated since numerous vehicles obey the same guidance from Google Maps. In conventional route games, decision‐makers are assumed to be completely rational (maximized utility is taken as an optimization objective). However, behavioral research finds that not only the expected profit is pursued, but also the fairness psychology is concerned by decision‐makers in game theory. In existing studies, the fairness concern of players is widely accepted in supply chains. Inspired by the fairness psychology of supply chain members, the vehicle fairness coefficient is originally proposed in this paper. Moreover, a unified fairness mechanism of the routing game is built to perfect the existing theoretical framework of route games. Specifically, the formulated vehicle fairness coefficient is incorporated into the payoff functions of a perfectly rational‐based routing game, which makes the single‐objective problem to be multiple. Compared with the current completely rational‐based route games, this improvement allows vehicles to focus not only on travel time but also on route schemes' fairness. The consideration of vehicle fairness concern leads the original symmetric payoff matrix of the route game to be asymmetric. Since the existing solving theorems are not necessarily valid for the asymmetrical multi‐player game, a matched reinforcement learning algorithm is adopted to solve this new game. An experimental study shows that the averaged fairness coefficient is increased from 0.798 to 1.00 on the basis of the equal travel time due to the working of the designed fairness mechanism.

The Impact of R&D Subsidy and IPP on Global Supply Chain Networks System—A Technology Spillover Perspective

In the current globalized business environment, multinational competition has become the norm for companies. This paper considers technology spillovers among manufacturers and develops a global supply chain network equilibrium model. Firstly, the optimal decision-making behaviors of manufacturers, retailers, and demand markets are characterized separately. Secondly, based on the variational inequality theory, the optimal decision-making behaviors of global supply chain members are transformed. Finally, the model is solved and analyzed using the Euler algorithm. The primary objective is to explore the impact of research and development (R&D) subsidies and intellectual property protection (IPP) strategies on manufacturers’ research and development technological levels. Furthermore, the study delves into their effects on the production and transactions of the global supply chain network and social welfare. The following conclusions are drawn: (1) Technology spillovers have a positive effect on the technological level achieved by manufacturers through research and development investment and social welfare. However, intense technological competition may harm manufacturers’ profits. (2) Under the symmetric subsidy policy, higher subsidies may lead to a decrease in social welfare. (3) Under symmetric intellectual property protection policies, increasing the intensity of intellectual property protection benefits manufacturers but is detrimental to retailers and social welfare. However, under an asymmetric intellectual property protection strategy, implementing high-intensity intellectual property protection by high-technology countries is advantageous for retailers and social welfare. This conclusion has contributed to the technical research and development and production operation decision making of global supply chain members, as well as government policy formulation, and has also provided a new perspective for theoretical research in the field of global supply networks.

Collaboration and coordination strategies for a multi-level AI-enabled healthcare supply chain under disaster

ABSTRACT Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based applications have been rising across the healthcare supply chain. Successful AI implementation requires proper collaboration among healthcare supply chain members. However, high investment associated with AI innovation often impedes collaboration. In this context, disruption caused by the disasters like pandemics and epidemics can add more complexity. This issue has not received substantial scholarly attention. Here, we design a multi-level AI-enabled healthcare supply chain by incorporating a three-level supply chain structure with a healthcare product manufacturer, a distributor, and a procurement agency, where the manufacturer and distributor invest in AI innovation. Here, we adopt wholesale price (W) and cost-sharing (C) contracts-based mechanisms considering four scenarios WW, WC, CW, and CC, to devise the three-level AI-enabled healthcare supply chain members’ collaboration and coordination strategies with and without disruption. Adopting a Stackelberg game-theoretic approach, we determine the supply chain members’ optimal AI innovation efforts, prices, and profits for all scenarios. We demonstrate the dominance of one scenario over other for the supply chain members’ decisions and profits and propose a scenario ranking framework. We also investigate the impact of the disruption cost-sharing between the manufacturer and retailer, the disruption probabilities, and AI innovation success on the supply chain decisions

Optimal decisions and coordination mechanism in a green supply chain with loss‐averse consumers in environmental quality

AbstractWe consider consumers' loss aversion in environmental quality and develop a two‐period game theoretical model to investigate the optimal pricing and environmental quality decisions for a green supply chain where a manufacturer sells products to consumers through a retailer. We then introduce a two‐part tariff contract to coordinate the supply chain for both periods. We suggest that optimal decisions in the second period depend on the reference point of the first period in the decentralized supply chain. A higher reference point leads to the increased environmental quality of products, prices, and profits of supply chain members in the second period. However, when the reference point is sufficiently high, the environmental quality will be lower to avoid excessive environmental investment costs. Furthermore, consumers' loss aversion reduces the environmental quality of products when the reference point is low. As consumers' loss aversion increases, the manufacturer's profit rises, while the wholesale and retail prices and the retailer's profit show a decreasing and then increasing trend. Finally, we find that a two‐part tariff contract enables the two‐period supply chain to be coordinated and achieve Pareto improvements in profit and environmental quality. This study sheds valuable light on understanding consumer environmental preferences and irrational behavior for supply chain decision‐making and green product design.

Coordinated Supply Contracts for a Two-Echelon Supply Chain under Given Bargaining Powers

This paper addresses the supply contracts within a decentralized supply chain comprising an upstream component supplier and a downstream manufacturer. With the need to invest in production capacity before the sales season, suppliers often make conservative capacity decisions due to uncertain demand, which gives rise to the double marginalization problem. The distribution of supply chain profits is typically determined based on each member’s relative bargaining power, often exogenously provided in the market. While numerous studies have been conducted to design supply contracts for coordination in decentralized supply chains, most of them overlook the supplier’s capacity constraints and the existing bargaining power structure. To bridge this gap, this study proposes a supply contract scheme that achieves coordination under any given bargaining power structure. The key finding of this paper is that two contract types, namely capacity cost-sharing (CCS) and surplus capacity compensation (SCC), can address the entire spectrum of bargaining powers. This study demonstrates how to identify a specific threshold for a given bargaining power structure, from which the appropriate contract type is selected. Through numerical illustrations, we present how to select coordinated contracts for different bargaining power structures and examine the influence of contract parameters on the profit of each supply chain member. The primary contribution is that this study provides actionable insights for practitioners to effectively implement coordinated contracts by presenting a straightforward and practical methodology.

Implications of information sharing on blockchain adoption in reducing carbon emissions: A mean–variance analysis

Considering market uncertainties and risks, this study examines the implications of demand information sharing (DIS) on blockchain adoption (BA) in reducing carbon emissions, and further analyzes the impacts of DIS and BA on the welfare of consumers and the whole society. In this paper, we first develop analytical models based on the mean–variance theory to investigate a two-level supply chain’s optimal decisions in four scenarios (i.e., without and with DIS and BA). Furthermore, we examine the impacts of supply chain members’ DIS and BA decisions and risk attitude on consumer surplus and social welfare. Lastly, we extend our models to explore a general scenario, i.e., we consider the presence of imperfect information sharing, privacy-conscious consumers, consumer carbon sensitivity differences, carbon cap-and-trade regulations, and inflexible blockchain deployments. We find that retailers should consider more crucial factors (e.g., demand uncertainties and the risk sensitivity of supply chain members) rather than simply focus on the type (i.e., high- or low-type) of demand before sharing demand information. Moreover, DIS and BA practices can not only improve the business performance of supply chain members but also contribute to the circular economy and sustainability. Then, DIS practices can minimize the manufacturers’ misjudgments about the timing of BA. Finally, the welfare of consumers and the whole society can be improved by sharing demand information and using blockchain technology.

Analysis of a dual-channel green supply chain game-theoretical model under carbon policy

In today's worldwide markets, supply chain members have to control carbon emissions for a clean environment. This study addresses a dual-channel green supply chain model by contemplating dual selling channels, carbon diminution rate and online delivery lead-time as marketing efforts to fascinate customers to buy more products. Moreover, the carbon tax protocol, green technology, carbon cap-and-trade protocol are applied to the supply chain to save the environment by reducing carbon emissions. The customers' demands for both the direct and traditional retail channels are dependent on direct selling price, retail price, carbon reduction rate, and delivery lead-time of online products. The objective of this work is to maximise the supply chain profit by minimising the amount of carbon emissions. To determine optimal outcomes, a centralised system, manufacturer-leadership Stackelberg game and retailer-leadership Stackelberg game are employed. A comparison among the centralised system and the two Stackelberg games is also carried out. The results presented that to enhance the profits of the manufacturer as well as retailer and to decline carbon emissions, manufacturer-leadership Stackelberg game is the adequate game policy. Some managerial inspirations of this proposed work are listed. The paper ends with conclusions and possible future research directions.

Operational decisions of live-streaming platform supply chain based on control power: considering the dual preferences of consumers

As the problem of live streaming with goods ‘overturned’ has also emerged, it is crucial for supply chain members to make optimal decisions to maintain long-term cooperation relationship. Based on this background, we construct a new supply chain structure composed of a fresh food supplier, an online celebrity live-streaming base (OCLB) and a platform channel, and establish three game-theoretic models: the centralised decision model (CDM), two decentralised decision models (DDMs) led by fresh food supplier (P-S-L model) and OCLB (P-L-S model) to further explore the optimal decisions. The results show that, when consumers have higher dual preferences of freshness and live-streaming recommendation level, in the P-S-L model, it is in the best interest of the supply chain as a whole to pursue ‘neutral’ control power and choose a ‘moderate pricing and decent quality’ strategy, but in the P-L-S model, the OCLB as the dominant party can pursue higher control power, increase the selling price, or relax its preservation technology upgrading program, which may compensate for the loss of high preservation costs. This study follows the popular topic of live-streaming with goods, opens up new ideas to improve the high profitability of supply chain enterprises.

Blockchain Technology Applied to Supply Chain Management: A Systems’ Analysis

Blockchain technology can be used to record real data at various nodes in the entire supply chain and can achieve timely data sharing and full traceability of the whole lifecycle of products in the supply chain. This study conducts a systematic literature review based on the WOS database, focusing on the research topic of the application of blockchain technology in supply chain management. We propose clear search and screening criteria based on 4 research questions and finally obtain 591 target studies. We conduct a detailed study on the distribution of the target literature in this research area, country/region, institution, and journal. Different countries/regions cooperate with each other and, thus, are clustered into five significant countries regions’ cooperation networks. There is a strong coupling relationship between research institutions, forming four major institutional cooperation networks. According to the analysis of those papers with a high number of citations, most of such papers were published in 2019, while the cross-citation phenomenon between papers occurred more frequently in 2021 and 2022. We use VOSviewer for visual coupling analysis of all keywords, which are automatically clustered into three research hotspots. Using CiteSpace to perform timeline-based keyword cooccurrence analysis, we find that scholars have gone through a “discovery-acceptance-question-improvement” process for the application of blockchain technology in supply chain management. According to the intensity and duration of burst detection words in different years, we draw three key points for future research. (i) Blockchain technology should be used to restructure and optimize the high-end food and medical cold chain supply chains. (ii) Blockchain technology should be used to enhance the cooperative relationship between supply chain members and the overall competitiveness of the supply chain. (iii) Innovate blockchain encryption technology that should be used to reduce the risk of information and privacy leakage in the supply chain.

Low-Carbon Transformation Strategy for Blockchain-Based Power Supply Chain

Carbon abatement in the power sector is essential to achieving the “double carbon” goal, and blockchain technology, one of the most promising emerging technologies, will assist the power sector in efficiently achieving this goal. In terms of the effectiveness of carbon abatement, comparative studies on coordination mechanisms are absent in the existing literature. On this basis, aiming at the cooperative abatement strategy between power generation generators and sellers under the carbon tax policy, this paper has developed four decision models: the Stackelberg game led by power generation enterprises, the simultaneous Nash bargaining decision by both parties, the vertical integration decision by supply chain enterprises, and the cooperative carbon emission reduction game by supply chain enterprises, to analyze the changes in electricity price, sustainability level, power sales, and profits of supply chain members. The results of the numerical analysis show that user preference for blockchain technology and an increase in the proportion of low-carbon electricity information uploaded to the blockchain can significantly improve the sustainability level of the electricity supply chain. The level of investment in green technologies by electricity producers under cooperative abatement decision-making increases compared to the electricity producer-dominated Stackelberg game model. The sustainability level of the electricity supply chain is higher under the Nash simultaneous decision than under the abatement cost-sharing decision, but the decision-maker’s profit is lower. The values of overall profit and sustainability level of the electricity supply chain are both highest under the vertically integrated decision.

Pricing and Coordination of the Extended Warranty Service Supply Chain that Considers Fairness Concerns

For the product dual-channel supply chain composed of one manufacturer and one retailer with fairness concerns, considering that the decision of products and extended warranty services in the supply chain is affected by the fairness concern behavior of retailers, the Stackelberg game method was used to establish the profit decision model of manufacturers and retailers, solved the product price, extended warranty service price and profit of each member of the supply chain during centralized and decentralized decision-making, and discussed the impact of retailer fairness concern on the optimal decision and profit of supply chain members. The results showed that with the increase of retailers' fairness concern coefficient, the wholesale price of products and the price of extended warranty service decrease, and the price of direct sales channel and retail channel price of products increase. Retailers' profits increase, manufacturers' profits, and the total profits of supply chain systems decrease.

Revenue and Risk Sharing Mechanism Design in Agriculture Supply Chains Considering the Participation of Agricultural Cooperatives

Uncertain yield and demand often result in unbalanced revenue and risk sharing among agriculture supply chain (ASC) members. Agricultural cooperatives help smallholder farmers enhance their bargaining power via revenue and risk sharing and are a significant bridge between farmers and retailers. Therefore, this study aimed to design a contractual mechanism considering a cooperative’s participation in the coordination of ASCs that face random yield and demand in pursuit of risk and benefit equivalence. We first compared two- and three-echelon decentralized ASCs with a centralized system, and the results indicate that the cooperative’s participation is conducive to redistributing profit between the retailer and farmer. As a verified revenue-sharing (RS) contract cannot coordinate a two-echelon ASC under uncertain yield and demand, we developed a double revenue-sharing (DRS) contract, which has been demonstrated to coordinate an ASC system with the cooperative’s participation. A numerical analysis was conducted to show that the cooperative can influence profit distribution among the upstream and downstream members via wholesale prices. Therefore, equivalence of risk and benefit is realized and fairly allocated among the members under the DRS contract, which is of great significance to the ASC system’s stable and sustainable development.

Optimal strategies for a multi-channel recycling supply chain in the clothing industry: considering consumer types

PurposeThis study aims to focus on the clothing recycling supply chain and aims to provide optimal decisions and managerial insights into supply chain strategies, thereby facilitating the sustainable development of the clothing industry.Design/methodology/approachBased on previous single- and dual-channel studies, game theory was employed to analyze multiple recycling channels. Concurrently, clothing consumer types were integrated into the analytical models to observe their impact on supply chain strategies. Three market scenarios were modeled for comparative analysis, and numerical experiments were conducted.FindingsThe intervention of fashion retailers in the clothing recycling market has intensified competition across the entire market. The proportions of various consumer types, their preferences for online platforms and their preference for the retailer’s channel influence the optimal decisions and profits of supply chain members. The diversity of recycling channels may enhance the recycling volume of clothes; however, it should meet certain conditions.Originality/valueThis study extends the existing theory from a channel dimension by exploring multiple channels. Furthermore, by investigating the classifications of clothing consumers and their influence on supply chain strategies, the theory is enhanced from the consumer perspective.

Selection of pricing tactics in a dual‐channel supply chain under demand information asymmetry

AbstractThis paper explores the differences of three pricing tactics in the dual‐channel supply chain (SC) under demand information asymmetry. The manufacturer holds confidential demand information. According to the decision sequences, three pricing tactics are considered. Specifically, the corresponding signaling games based on the three pricing tactics are analyzed under no information sharing. The results show when the confidential information is shared, the first move of retail pricing brings the positive impact on the SC members. However, under demand information asymmetry, the first move of retail pricing may not always benefit the member based on the signaling games.

Financing strategy of the capital-constrained supply chain under uncertainty: the impact of blockchain technology on the credit period

PurposeThis paper explores the effectiveness of using blockchain technology to solve financial constraints faced by small- and medium-sized suppliers in a capital-constrained supply chain.Design/methodology/approachTo characterize the impact of blockchain on credit period and enterprise credit level, the study formulates a newsvendor model to analyze a supply chain in which a financially constrained supplier sells products to a financially sound manufacturer, subject to uncertain demand. The study investigates three repayment methods: the benchmark case without blockchain and two blockchain-enabled cases with the hybrid repayment mode and single repayment mode (SRM), respectively. The study derives and compares the equilibria under each repayment method to characterize their impact.FindingsWhen the bank interest rate is low and the carbon cap is also low, choosing to implement blockchain technology leads to higher profitability for the manufacturer than not utilizing it. Within the framework of blockchain technology, when comparing the two repayment models, the manufacturer exhibits a preference for SRM. Furthermore, under specific conditions of the bank interest rate, blockchain technology can effectively facilitate consensus among supply chain members in terms of channel selection.Practical implicationsThe results derived in this paper provide novel managerial implications to the capital-constrained members in terms of pricing decisions and order quantity under demand uncertainty considering blockchain technology, which transfers the creditor's rights to the bank and shortens the collection time. In addition, blockchain technology enables efficient and intelligent collaborative development of supply chains, which can reduce carbon emissions during the transportation of goods.Originality/valueFew studies incorporate blockchain technology into supply chain finance, and this paper considers the credit period and capital's time value for a capital-constrained supplier facing the adoption of blockchain technology within a stochastic demand environment.

Strategic analysis of supplier integration and encroachment in an outsourcing supply chain

To prevent suppliers from gaining full knowledge of production technology, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) typically adopt a multisourcing strategy, wherein each supplier handles only a portion of the production tasks. However, a recent trend has emerged where suppliers are increasingly inclined to integrate and negotiate for control over the entire end market. The implications and impact of such integration strategies, particularly in the context of supplier encroachment, remain uncertain. In this study, we examine an OEM that outsources production tasks to two competing suppliers with varying production capabilities. The supplier with higher capacity has the potential to produce their own branded products and encroach upon the end market. To strengthen their bargaining power during the outsourcing process, the two suppliers may choose to integrate with each other. Our findings indicate that without integration, OEMs can adjust the outsourcing allocation ratio to prevent encroachment by capable suppliers. In cases of integration, although the OEM must outsource all production tasks to the integrated supplier, the likelihood of market encroachment may be reduced. Furthermore, we observe that in situations involving supplier integration and encroachment, both competitive suppliers, the OEM, and the entire supply chain can achieve a win–win–win outcome. This occurs because the supplier, acting as a market competitor, provides positive incentives for the OEM to enhance product quality, thereby maintaining market share and competitiveness. The strategic recommendations derived from our results can be valuable for supply chain members engaged in outsourcing decisions.