Search results

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a research for developing a standard to implement a process management system in a whole supply chain.

To gain this aim, the research has been developed in two parts. The quality management part has the objective to select the reference model to develop the standard. The supply chain management (SCM) part has, instead, the objective to select the drivers and the main processes that the standard have to manage. The evaluation of the results of these parts has permitted to define the proposed standard.

A modified interpretation of ISO 9001:2000 norm is proposed permitting: to improve the ISO 9001 standard to the general requirements for a whole process approach; to extend and to apply the ISO 9001 concepts, that address quality aspects within a single organization, to a whole supply chain; and to facilitate the introduction of the modern principles and techniques of SCM. Finally, the standard to implement a management system for a whole supply chain is introduced through the identification of the main supply chain processes and drivers.

The standard proposed is a specific for a generic supply chain. Further studies will be necessary to: customize the standard to appropriate productive sectors and validate the appropriate content through real applications.

The standard proposed is a guide line to implement a management system in a supply chain and, for this aim, it can be applied in a generic supply chain.

The standard proposed is an original tool to improve the collaboration and processes integration between the partners into a supply chain and this scope can be the actual value of the presented methodology.

Intersectionist, unionist and relabelling models have largely superseded the subsumption of supply chain management within logistics that formed the basis of the traditionalist model. As there is little congruence between logistics and supply chain management in the emergent intersectionist model, this is eliminated from consideration at the outset. However, an examination of the new unionist and relabelling models, offering differing permutations of the relationship between logistics and supply chain management, suggests that they offer a misleading foundation for examining the costs involved with the dispersal of supply chain activities across the world. The root problem is the failure to integrate the industrial goods transformation network operated by multinational corporations with the global transport and communications network. Reverting to privileging the global transportation and communications network over the industrial goods transformation network in a revamped traditionalist model can overcome this difficulty and open up new research vistas.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of V‐A‐T analysis in the management of supply chain networks.

The paper provides a conceptual overview of V‐A‐T analysis as a procedure for categorizing manufacturing facilities, and explores the use of V‐A‐T analysis as a technique for the management of supply chain networks.

There are several challenges to the effective management of supply chain networks. However, organizations can overcome these challenges by understanding the nature of network control points as revealed through the application of V‐A‐T analysis on their supply chains.

The paper is conceptual in nature and must be validated through empirical research studies.

The concepts presented can be used by supply chain professionals to increase the likelihood of effective supply chain management within their organizations, and by supply chain researchers to further explore the use of V‐A‐T analysis as a tool for examining supply chain networks.

The paper makes a start in filling a void in the literature concerning how V‐A‐T analysis can be used as a tool to facilitate improved supply chain management.

A two‐stage framework is developed on supply chain quality and technology management. This is based on a survey of the perceptions of practicing managers from Hong Kong’s business corporations. The two‐stage process involves empirical assessment of strategic supply chain quality and technology variables, and then using quality function deployment to deploy them to improve the competitiveness of the supply chain. This will help to achieve synergy among suppliers by focusing on the critical strategic variables to achieve sustainable competitiveness.

Just transition is a fundamental concept for supply chain management but neither discipline pays attention to the other and little is known about how supply chains can be orchestrated as socioecological systems to manage these transitions. Building from a wide range of just transition examples, this paper explores just transition to understand how to move beyond instrumental supply chain practices to supply chains functioning in harmony with the planet and its people.

Building from a systematic review of 72 papers, the paper identifies just transition examples while interpreting them through the theoretical lens of supply chain management, providing valuable insights to help research and practice understand how to achieve low-carbon economies through supply chain management in environmentally and socially just ways.

The paper defines, elaborates, and extends the just transition construct by developing a transition taxonomy with two key dimensions. The purpose dimension (profit or shared outcomes) and the governance dimension (government-/industry-led versus civil society-involved), generating four transition archetypes. Most transitions projects are framed around the Euro- and US-centric, capitalist standards of development, leading to coloniality as well as economic and cultural depletion of communities. Framing just transition in accordance with context-specific plural values, the paper provides an alternative perspective to the extractive transition concept. This can guide supply chain management to decarbonise economies and societies by considering the rights of nature, communities and individuals.

Introducing just transition into the supply chain management domain, this paper unifies the various conceptualisations of just transition into a holistic understanding, providing a new foundation for supply chain management research.

The new technology aspects of Industry 4.0 (I4.0), such as digital technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), block chain, big data analysis and the internet of things (IoT) as a digital cosmos, have the potential to fundamentally transform the future of business and supply chain management. By augmenting the functional components of the food supply chain (FSC), these technologies can transform it into an intelligent food supply chain (iFSC). The purpose of this study is to identify the I4.0 utilization for FSC to become an iFSC. Additionally, it suggests future research agendas to bridge the academic knowledge gaps.

This study utilizes the bibliometric analysis methodology to investigate the techno-functional components of iFSC in the context of I4.0. The study followed steps of bibliometric analysis to assess existing components’ knowledge in the area of intelligent food supply chain management. It further reviews the selected articles to explore the need for I4.0 technologies’ adoption as well as its barriers and challenges for iFSC.

This study examines the integration of emerging technologies in FSC and concludes that the main emphasis is on the adoption of blockchain and internet of things technology. To convert it into iFSC, it should be integrated with I4.0 and AI-driven FSC systems. In addition to traditional responsibilities, emerging technologies are acknowledged that are relatively uncommon but possess significant potential for implementation in FSC. This study further outlines the challenges and barriers to the adoption of new technologies and presents a comprehensive research plan or collection of topics for future investigations on the transition from FSC to iFSC. Utilizing artificial intelligence techniques to enhance performance, decision-making, risk evaluation, real-time safety, and quality analysis, and prioritizing the elimination of barriers for new technologies.

The uniqueness of this study lies in the provision of an up-to-date review of the food supply chain. In doing so, the authors have expanded the current knowledge base on the utilization of all I4.0 technologies in FSC. The review of designated publications yield a distinctive contribution by highlighting hurdles and challenges for iFSC. This information is valuable for operations managers and policymakers to consider.

Digital platforms transform supply chains. However, no unified theoretical understanding of digital platforms exists. Thus, the underlying research aims at investigating platform theories for supply chain management tasks.

The authors conduct a systematic literature review to identify relevant theories in the context of digital platforms and synthesize the respective findings for supply chain management tasks.

In total, 43 papers and 41 different relevant theories are identified. The most prominent theories are the resource-based view, transaction cost economics, internalization theory and the dynamic capabilities approach. Digital platforms alter and change the boundary decisions of firms. Therefore, they have various implications for supply chain management tasks such as make-or-buy decisions or the orchestration of resources to sustain a competitive advantage.

The identified supply chain theories as well as platform theories and their overlap provide a meaningful starting point for discussing and developing new and platform-based supply chain management approaches in the B2B domain.

The conducted systematic literature review provides a first starting point for building a holistic theoretical approach to digital platforms in supply chains. Thus, the paper contributes a missing link for discussing digital platforms and their theoretical foundations for supply chain management tasks.

Recent technological advancements, often linked to Industry 4.0, require organizations to be more agile and innovative. Blockchain technology (BT) holds immense potential in driving organizations to achieve efficiency and transparency in supply chains. However, there exist some insurmountable challenges associated with the adoption of BT in organizational supply chains (SC). This paper attempts to categorically identify and systematize the most influential challenges in the implementation of BT in SC.

This study resorts to an extensive literature review and consultations with experts in the field of supply chain management (SCM), information technology and academia to identify, categorize and prioritize the major challenges using VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) and Combined Compromise Solution method (CoCoSo).

The top three classes of challenges revealed in this study are privacy challenges (PC), infrastructure challenges (IC) and transparency challenges (TC). Maintaining a balance between data openness and secrecy and rectification of incorrect/erroneous input are the top two challenges in the PC category, integration of BT with sustainable practices and ensuring legitimacy are the top two challenges in the IC category, and proper and correct information sharing in organizations was the top most challenge in the TC category.

Future scholars and industry professionals will be guided by the importance of the challenges identified in this study to develop an economical and logical approach for integrating BT to increase the efficiency and outcome of supply chains across several industrial sectors.

This article aims to evaluate published food cold chain (FCC) literature against risk management and supply chain sustainability concepts.

The article uses the theory refinement logic proposed by Seuring et al. (2021) to analyze the contents of FCC management-related literature published over the past 20 years. A sample of 116 articles was gathered using Web of Science and subsequently analyzed. The respective articles were then systematically coded against the frameworks of Beske and Seuring (2014) and Vlajic et al. (2012), which focused on building sustainable and robust supply chains, respectively.

The literature review revealed that debates around managing contemporary sources of disruptions/vulnerability and making FCCs more sustainable and resilient are gradually developing. However, an overarching risk management perspective along with incorporating social and environmental dimensions in managing FCCs still needs the adequate attention of the respective research community.

The deductive internal logic of theory refinement approach used in this paper could have been further strengthened by using additional frameworks. This limitation, however, opens avenues for further research. The findings of the paper will stimulate the interest of future researchers to work on expanding our understanding related to sustainability and risk management in FCCs.

The paper is the first attempt to organize published FCC literature along dimensions of supply chain sustainability and risk management. The paper thus provides the respective researchers with a foundation that will help them adopt a focused approach to addressing the research gaps.

The paper aims to describe the basic requirements of Halal food supply chains in order to ensure the integrity of Halal food at the point of consumption, which is an obligation for Muslims.

This exploratory research paper is based on in‐depth interviews to better understand what is Halal, the Islamic sources that are essential for Halal supply chains, and identify the guidelines and principles which are essential for the integrity of Halal supply chains.

Halal supply chain management is based on avoiding direct contact with Haram, addressing the risk of contamination and ensuring that it is in line with the perception of the Muslim consumer. In particular, the product and market characteristics are important variables in the supply chain management of Halal supply chains. Further empirical research is needed to measure the perception of the Muslim consumer. A better understanding is also required into the principles in organising the Halal supply chain for different markets (Muslim and non‐Muslim countries). There is a need for a Halal supply chain model that is able to describe and optimise Halal supply chains.

Since this paper is an exploratory study, it provides some insights into the considerations in organising Halal supply chains. However, further qualitative and quantitative research is needed in order to provide the industry with concrete tools to design effective Halal supply chains.

In response to the logistics industry that started with Halal logistics solutions, the Halal certified food industries needs to know whether and how to start with a Halal supply chain approach. This paper presented key considerations to address in organising effective Halal supply chains.

Halal in non‐Muslim countries is not very well understood, where in logistics only the aspect of avoiding of contact with Haram is addressed mainly through packaging. This article presents a better understanding of Halal and the application of Halal in supply chain management.

There is a lack of academic research in Halal logistics and supply chain management. This exploratory research provides some basic fundamentals on the supply chain management of Halal products.