Business Commons^™

Unleashing The Power Of Internet Of Things And Blockchain: A Comprehensive Analysis And Future Directions, Abderahman Rejeb, Karim Rejeb, Andrea Appolloni, Sandeep Jagtap, Mohammad Iranmanesh, Salem Alghamdi, Yaser Alhasawi, Yasanur Kayikci

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

As the fusion of the Internet of Things (IoT) and blockchain technology advances, it is increasingly shaping diverse fields. The potential of this convergence to fortify security, enhance privacy, and streamline operations has ignited considerable academic interest, resulting in an impressive body of literature. However, there is a noticeable scarcity of studies employing Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) to dissect and categorize this field. This review paper endeavours to bridge this gap by meticulously analysing a dataset of 4455 journal articles drawn solely from the Scopus database, cantered around IoT and blockchain applications. Utilizing LDA, we have extracted 14 distinct topics …

Interaction Between Manufacturer's Wholesale Pricing And Retailers’ Price-Matching Guarantees, Arcan Nalca, Gangshu (George) Cai

Information Systems and Analytics

In practice, many retailers employ price-matching guarantees (PMGs), committing to meet the price of an identical product at a competitor's outlet. Despite the profound linkage between retailers and manufacturers, existing literature has predominantly explored retailers' PMGs without contemplating the influence of manufacturers' wholesale pricing strategies. Employing a supply chain model comprising one manufacturer and two retailers, we scrutinize the implications of wholesale pricing—uniform or discriminatory—on supply chain members and consumers when retailers have the option to extend PMGs. Our analysis uncovers that retailers refrain from offering PMGs when the manufacturer is granted the discretion to set discriminatory wholesale prices—even if …

Supply Chain Success Depends On Workers, Sarah Schiffling, Nikolaos Valantasis Kanellos

Articles

2022 proved to be a difficult year for the people side of supply chains and the global transport networks that support them. Labour shortages and labour disputes put further pressure on systems that were already struggling with the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the impact of climate change. Amid high levels of inflation, workers around the world have been striking for better pay and conditions, in areas as different as healthcare, waste management, and teaching. For example, 2022 saw port related strikes quadrupling in comparison to the previous year.

Effects Of Supply Chain Transparency, Alignment, Adaptability, And Agility On Blockchain Adoption In Supply Chain Among Smes, Mohammad Iranmanesh, Parisa Maroufkhani, Shahla Asadi, Morteza Ghobakhloo, Yogesh K. Dwivedi, Ming-Lang Tseng

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This study aims to investigate the extent to which the contributions of blockchain technology to supply chain parameters influence blockchain adoption among SMEs. Drawing on contingency theory, the study investigates the moderating effect of market turbulence. The data were collected from 204 SMEs in Malaysia's manufacturing sector and analysed using the partial least squares technique. The results showed that the intention of SMEs’ managers to adopt blockchain is influenced by the contributions of blockchain to supply chain transparency and agility. Supply chain transparency, alignment, adaptability, and agility are interrelated. Market turbulence moderates positively the association between agility and intention to …

Sustainability In Supply Chain Management: Using Drawings To Understand Undergraduates’ Perceptions Of Sustainability, Sharon Feeney, John William Hogan

Articles

Purpose – This paper presents an interpretation of freehand drawings produced by supply chain management undergraduates in response to the question: “What is sustainability?” Having to explain sustainability pictorially forced students to distill what the essence of sustainability meant to them and provided insights into how they perceived sustainability and their roles in achieving sustainability in the context of supply chain management. Design/methodology/approach – Students were asked to draw and answer the question “What is sustainability?” These drawings were discussed/interpreted in class. All drawings were initially examined quantitatively, before a sample of four were selected for presentation here. Findings – …

R&D Consortia In Competitive Supply Chains, Pascale Crama, Gaoyan Lu, Yi Xu

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

R&D consortia, which coordinate R&D activities of their member firms, have been successful in many industries. We study a model with two competing supply chains each consisting of a manufacturer and a supplier. The manufacturers compete in the final product market, and can conduct R&D to reduce unit product costs of their final products. The R&D can be done in three different ways: by the two manufacturers independently, by them jointly in a horizontal R&D consortium, or by the supplier and the manufacturer jointly in each supply chain in two vertical R&D consortia. We find that as compared to independent …

Optimal Channel Strategy Of Luxury Brands In The Presence Of Online Marketplace And Copycats, Sarah Yini Gao, Wei Shi Lim, Ziqiu Ye

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The strategic interaction between authentic luxury brands and their copycats has evolved since the proliferation of online marketplaces. Using a game-theoretic framework, we examine how an authentic luxury brand, observing the strategic behavior of its competing copycats, should make its optimal entry decision to a third-party online marketplace. Our findings reveal that the authentic luxury brand does not sell on the online marketplace when either the quality or the physical resemblance of the copycat to the authentic luxury brand is high. This contributes to the related literature by offering an explanation for the increasing quality of copycats amid the e-commerce …

Mitigating Supply Chain Disruptions, Risks, And Vulnerabilities, John Jeong Kim

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The global supply chain has made numerous incredible strides in improving processes to keep the supply chain functional. However, supply chain businesses suffer disruptions from many different factors, which impact the supply chain businesses and customers. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to understand the various ways the supply chain industry incurs disruption from the lack of enhanced security and the development of potential ideas on how disruptions receive mitigation. The background of the issue was researched, followed by the interview of eleven high-level supply chain managers and employees to obtain data for understanding the factors that contribute …

Smart Supply Chain Management In Industry 4.0, Guoqing Zhang, Yiqin Yang, Guoqing Yang

Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering Publications

The emerging information and communication technologies (ICT) related to Industry 4.0 play a critical role to enhance supply chain performance. Employing the smart technologies has led to so-called smart supply chains. Understanding how Industry 4.0 and related ICT affect smart supply chains and how smart supply chains evolve with the support of the advanced technologies are vital to practical and academic communities. Existing review works on smart supply chains with ICT mainly rely on the academic literature alone. This paper presents an integrated approach to explore the effects of Industry 4.0 and related ICT on smart supply chains, by combining …

Understanding Transparency In Supply Chains, Lucy N. Buck

Haslam Scholars Projects

The purpose of this thesis paper is to examine what standards should be used for supply chain product transparency across industries to satisfy the needs of external stakeholders, specifically Gen Z consumers. Sustainability is becoming increasingly important in supply chain management with growing stakeholder pressure, strict government regulations, and scarcity of resources. A scenario-based role-playing experiment is conducted using descriptive vignettes to measure Gen Z consumer reactions to the following factors: timing of transparency, type of product, and type of sustainability.

Online survey methods are used involving 33 students in one of the Honors and Scholars Programs at the University …

Just-In-Time/Just-In-Case Inventory Management As An Influence On Supply Chain Disruption In Medical Systems Based In The Southeastern United States During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Brooke Gibson Coslett

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative study was to gain a deeper understanding on the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on the global supply chain, particularly in the southeastern region of the United States. The study involved a population comprised of professionals employed in medical systems who possessed a working knowledge of supply chain management. The researcher distributed online surveys via an online survey platform to a list of medical systems professionals in both the public and private sectors. The sample size was 396 professionals, and the number of respondents was 201, once the prospective research participants were properly vetted. …

To Buy Green Or Not To Buy Green: Do Structural Dependencies Block Ecological Responsiveness?, Simon J.D. Schillebeeckx, Teemu Kautonen, Henri Hakata

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Despite the significant increase in interest in sustainable business practices, decisions on switching to more environmentally friendly input materials are understudied. In a conjoint experiment, we presented 267 Finnish manufacturing firms with an opportunity to acquire an alternative, more ecological input material and investigated their willingness to switch to that material. We find that in general, firms are willing to substitute their current principal input with a more ecological alternative under conditions of functional parity. However, such willingness is contingent on the firm’s value creation structures. Specifically, if the products and processes driving the firm’s value creation rely more on …

Comparing Regions Globally: Impacts Of Covid-19 On Supply Chains – A Delphi Study, Anna Land

IT and Supply Chain Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Purpose – The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged supply chains (SCs) around the globe unprecedentedly. This study aims to gain insights on the impacts of the pandemic on SCs and their management under consideration of different regional contexts on a global scale.

Design/methodology/approach – A Delphi study collects the expertise of global SC academics on the SC vulnerabilities and the measures for responding to disruptions, improving resilience, and restoring operations. Data from three polls are systematically analyzed by content, frequency, and cluster analysis.

Findings – The study identifies and ranks ten major issues related to SC vulnerabilities and management strategies for …

The Operational Impacts Of Chief Supply Chain Officers In Manufacturing Firms, James R. Kroes, Andrew S. Manikas, Thomas F. Gattiker, Matthew J. Castel

IT and Supply Chain Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Many firms have elevated their supply chain management decision-making responsibilities through the creation of ‘Chief Supply Chain Officer’ (CSCO) positions. This is widely attributed to the recognition that superior supply chain operations can generate a competitive advantage. Prior studies have found that firms with CSCOs outperform firms without CSCOs along many financial dimensions. However, these prior efforts did not examine the pathways by which these improvements occur. This study addresses this gap in the literature by investigating whether supply chain characteristics of manufacturing firms differ within firms with CSCOs. To explore this, we investigate the relationship between CSCOs and operational …

Exploring Blockchain Adoption Supply Chains: Opportunities And Challenges, Adrian V. Gheorghe, Omer F. Keskin, Farinaz Sabz Ali Pour

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

In modern supply chains, acquisition often occurs with the involvement of a network of organizations. The resilience, efficiency, and effectiveness of supply networks are crucial for the viability of acquisition. Disruptions in the supply chain require adequate communication infrastructure to ensure resilience. However, supply networks do not have a shared information technology infrastructure that ensures effective communication. Therefore decision-makers seek new methodologies for supply chain management resilience. Blockchain technology offers new decentralization and service delegation methods that can transform supply chains and result in a more flexible, efficient, and effective supply chain. This report presents a framework for the application …

Dark Side Of Black Friday: The Major Drawbacks With This Shopping Bonanza, Sarah Schiffling, Nikolaos Valantasis Kanellos

Articles

Black Friday is upon us again. It’s one of the biggest shopping events of the year, although there are mixed signals about how successful it is likely to be in 2021. One recent study found that only a third of consumers plan to take part. The financial strain of COVID-19 is still evident, and inflation running at its highest level in a decade.

All the same, consumer confidence has been rising. According to GlobalData, shoppers are set to spend nearly £9.2 billion in the four days from Black Friday to Cyber Monday. This would still be a big increase …

Entrepreneurial Orientation In Supply Chain Management: A Systematic Review, Andrés Felipe Cortés, Younggeun Lee, Juan David Cortes, Isidro Liñan

WCBT Faculty Publications

Companies around the world need to reconcile the need to differentiate their offerings and remain entrepreneurial in a competitive environment while also running extremely efficient and effective operations. Surprisingly, however, limited studies have provided a synthesis and overview of existing research exploring important links between the entrepreneurship and supply chain management (SCM) fields. In this paper, we aim to address this issue by developing a systematic review of research exploring the link between entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and SCM, while synthesizing the most relevant findings in this intersection. We also aim to promote the development of this topic by providing relevant …

Tax Efficient Supply Chains: Analysis Of Multinational Corporations With Swiss Subsidiaries, David Liu

Honors Scholar Theses

I examine whether U.S. corporations can strategically organize global supply chains to achieve tax efficiency by creating or acquiring subsidiaries in Switzerland. In particular, I study if there is an association between a firm’s use of Swiss subsidiaries and the firm’s effective tax rate using a sample of firm years from 1998 to 2013. Under U.S. rules prior to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA), firms with subsidiaries in low-tax-rate foreign countries (e.g., Switzerland) could generally avoid U.S. tax on foreign income by not repatriating income. The 2014 Caterpillar Inc. case study offers an example of how …

Surface Transportation Supply Chain Security: Creating A Blueprint For Future Research, Frances Edwards, Joseph Szyliowicz, Dan Goodrich, William Medigovich, Liz Lange, Autumn Anderton

Mineta Transportation Institute

Ninety percent of the world’s trade goods travel by surface transportation, using maritime, road and rail assets. The security of the goods in transit, the infrastructure supporting the movement, and the vehicles, are required to ensure that international commerce proceeds successfully. Much has been written about the surface supply chain itself, but little has focused on the security of these components. This report provides a guide for those wanting an increased understanding of the security issues that supply chain surface transportation systems confront and a blueprint to guide their future research.

Identifying Sources Of Covid19 Pandemic Supply Chain Fragility, Clovia Hamilton

Technology & Society Faculty Publications

Supply chain management is in the industrial engineering management and operations management disciplines. It involves product procurement of raw materials, production, storage, distribution, wholesales, and retail sales. The COVID19 pandemic has the added challenge of healthcare service operations management. This paper is a bibliometric study of the COVID19 supply chain fragility problem. In February 2021, the United States’ President called for a review of the pandemic related supply chain for vaccines, personal protective equipment (PPE), medical equipment such as ventilators, and food. This study involves a search for references published between January 1, 2020 and April 30, 2021. It reveals …

Applications Of Blockchain Technology In Sustainable Manufacturing And Supply Chain Management: A Systematic Review, Ahmad A. A. Khanfar, Mohammad Iranmanesh, Morteza Ghobakhloo, Madugoda Gunaratnege Senali, Masood Fathi

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Developing sustainable products and processes is essential for the survival of manufacturers in the current competitive market and the industry 4.0 era. The activities of manufacturers and their supply chain partners should be aligned with sustainable development goals. Manufacturers have faced many barriers and challenges in implementing sustainable practices along the entire supply chain due to globalisation, outsourcing, and offshoring. Blockchain technology has the potential to address the challenges of sustainability. This study aims to explain the applications of blockchain technology to sustainable manufacturing. We conducted a systematic literature review and explained the potential contributions of blockchain technology to the …

Contracting Mechanisms For Stable Sourcing Networks, Jennifer K. Ryan, Lusheng Shao, Daewon Sun

Department of Supply Chain Management and Analytics: Faculty and Staff Publications

Problem definition: We study profit allocation for a sourcing network, in which a buyer sources froma set of differentiated suppliers with limited capacity under uncertain demand for the final product. Whereas the buyer takes the lead in forming the sourcing network and designing the contract mechanism, due to their substantial bargaining power, the suppliers take the lead in determining the terms of the contract. Academic/practical relevance: We identify contracting mechanisms that will ensure the stability of the sourcing network in the long term, where a stable sourcing network requires an effective profitallocation scheme that motivates all members to …

Research In Defense Logistics: Where Are We And Where Are We Going?, George Zsidisin, Amanda Bresler, Ben Hazen, Keith Snider, Taylor Wilkerson

College of Business Administration Faculty Works

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide insight on high-interest areas of research in defense-related logistics and supply chain management and opportunities for advancing theory and practice in this domain. Design/methodology/approach A panel of experts provided their insight to several questions oriented toward examining research opportunities and gaps in defense logistics research at the 2018 Academic Research Symposium of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals annual conference on September 30, 2018. Findings Three overarching themes emerged from the panel discussion for advancing theory and practice in defense logistics and supply chain management, which are developing a central …

Rethinking Research Methods In Operations And Supply Chain Management, Roberto Sarmiento, Garvan Whelan, Jan Sprenger

Practitioner Journals

A few years ago, a group of Operations Management scholars (MacCarthy et al. 2013) authored a thought-provoking paper entitled ‘The same old methodologies? Perspectives on OM research in the post-lean age’. Noting that the OM field is, by its very nature, close to practice and that the world is changing economically, technologically, politically and socially, they follow up with a pointed question (934): ‘Are our OM research methods fit for purpose for the new age?’ Amongst their many interesting views and opinions, they conclude that the OM profession must not make assertions regarding the supremacy of qualitative empirical studies over …

Research In Defense Logistics: Where Are We And Where Are We Going?, George A. Zsidisin, Amanda Bresler, Benjamin T. Hazen, Keith F. Schneider, Taylor H. Wilkerson

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this paper is to provide insight on high-interest areas of research in defense-related logistics and supply chain management and opportunities for advancing theory and practice in this domain.

The Impact Of Interwoven Integration Practices On Supply Chain Value Addition And Firm Performance, Shashi -, Madjid Tavana, Amir Shabani, Rajwinder Singh

Business Systems and Analytics Faculty Work

Drawing on the supply chain (SC) management literature, this article conceptualizes and empirically tests a framework that shows how both external and internal integration practices are significant and positively associated with SC value addition and firm performance. The framework also tests the impact of value addition as a reinforcing factor on firm performance. The outcome of this investigation is interesting for both SC researchers and practitioners because the current SC integration literature is conflicting. A structural equation modeling technique, using a sample of 366 large-scale manufacturing companies based in India, is considered in this paper to test the framework. The …

Performance Effects Of Supply Chain Integration: The Relative Impacts Of Two Competing National Culture Frameworks, Torsten Doering, Jurriaan De Jong, Nallan Suresh

Articles & Book Chapters

The effects of supply chain integration on operational performance have been investigated in past research. However, this relationship has not been tested in the context of national culture, which forms the major objective of this study. Furthermore, a second objective is to identify the elements of national culture that have a significant moderating effect on this relationship. Following this line of inquiry, a third objective is to uniquely investigate the relative efficacy of the Hofstede and GLOBE national culture frameworks. Data from the fifth survey round of the Global Manufacturing Research Group (GMRG) from 1,017 manufacturing plants in 14 countries …

Installed Base Management Versus Selling In Monopolistic And Competitive Environments, Shantanu Bhattacharya, Andreas Robotis, Wassenhove Luk N. V. Van

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper compares the policy of selling a product to that of installed base management, in which the manufacturer leases the product to consumers, and bundles repair and maintenance services along with the product. We compare the two policies in a monopolistic setting when a firm uses either one of the policies, and when both policies are used by a single firm. We then compare the policies under competition first when two firms use identical products, and when two firms use vertically differentiated products. Our findings indicate that the selling option dominates the installed base option in a monopolistic environment, …

Supply Chain Integration, Learning, And Agility: Effects On Performance, Habibullah Khan, Joel D. Wisner

Marketing and International Business Faculty Publications

This study examines the interrelationships among supply chain integration, learning, agility and organizational performance. Survey data were collected from 257 publicly-owned companies in Pakistan, and the hypothesized framework was tested using a structural equation model. It was found that supply chain integration had a significant impact on external and internal learning. Additionally, supply chain integration was found to have an insignificant impact on firm performance and supply chain agility. Finally, internal learning was found to have an insignificant impact on supply chain agility, but a significant direct impact on firm performance, while external learning had an insignificant impact on firm …

Effect Of Key User Empowerment, Purchasing Strategy, Process Integration,Production System To Operational Performance, Zeplin Jiwa Husada Tarigan, Hotlan Siagian, Sautma Ronni Basana, Ferry Jie

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

This study examines the influence of key user empowerment on the operational performance through the mediating role of process integration, purchasing strategy and production system. The questionnaires were distributed to 120 manufacturing companies domiciled in East Java Region. Of the 120, 70 questionnaires are valid for further analysis. Data analysis used Partial Least Square (PLS) version 3.0. The finding are as follows: Key user empowerment affects the process integration. Key user empowerment influence the purchasing strategy. Process integration affects the purchasing. Process integration also influence the production system. Purchasing strategy provide support in the company's production system. Process Integration affects …