Risks and uncertainties are ever more noted and factored into decision making today, and those stemming from supply chains are prominent in the competitiveness and viability of companies and organizations. The idea that every supply chain is made up of five internal chain/network constructs is presented, and these are physical, financial, informational, relational, and innovational. Further, fo…
The purpose of this paper is to study whether a fast supply network structure interacts with customer integration (CI) by positively moderating the relationship between CI and efficiency performance.
This paper aims to provide an answer to the important question of how can accurate assessment of supply chain practice and performance be conducted? By conducting audits across a sample of value streams it is thereby possible to identify the components of “good practice” via evidencebased procedures.
There are gaps in the countries of Africa between basic universal health care and what is provided. Educating those who are trying to help is important to bring about change. Recently, there are many organizations and individuals responding to those needs, including governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGO). These entities strive to improve the conditions of the African people by pr…
The purpose of this study is to examine how four large organisations have approached the implementation of new eBusiness mechanisms: namely online order processing, eProcurement, reverse auctions, and a private exchange. The objectives are to establish whether supply chain integration is an identified goal for the firms involved and to evaluate the extent of integration achieved through these p…
The purpose of this paper is threefold. First, it classifies research on distribution network design (DND) according to the methodologies adopted and themes tackled. Second, it discusses the main implications for practitioners. Finally, it proposes a few promising directions for future research.
For the food industry, the depletion of arable land and a growing world population demand controlling the sustainability of agricultural inputs to the industry. Controlling the sustainability of these supplies means controlling the economic, social, and environmental performance of the supply chain. In practice, little is known about how companies can efficiently extend their existing supply ch…
This paper aims to report on an exploratory study investigating supply chain security orientation (SCSO), a firm-level construct addressing companies’ multiple approaches toward mitigation of supply chain security breaches and supply chain risk management.
Supply chain security (SCS), as a component of an organization’s overall supply chain risk management strategy, has become a critical factor for businesses and government agencies since September 11, 2001, yet little empirical research supports policy or practice for the field. Therefore, this paper develops and presents a categorization of SCS based on existing research. This categorization …
The purpose of this paper is to compare the supply chain strategy, flexibility, and performance relationships in the context of SMEs in Canada and Pakistan.
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the relationship between corporate and supply chain strategy, as well as its implementation in a multinational paper producing company. Traditionally paper producing companies have had a strong interest in developing a physical infrastructure for their customer deliveries. However, supply chain thinking is still an unstructured issue in the case company.
This paper aims to apply service-dominant logic thinking to the field of supply chain management (SCM) in order to classify, structure, and analyze different types of supply chain services (SCS) collected from interdisciplinary literature. The authors investigate how value is co-created between supply chain actors and develop research propositions regarding the influence of service type on valu…
Supply chain risk management (SCRM) has recently gained increasing attention in the supply chain context, both from the practitioners’ perspective and as a research area. Given the relevance of the topic, the aim of the present paper is to present a focused literature review, investigating the process of knowledge creation, transfer and development from a dynamic perspective within the contex…
The service-dominant (S-D) logic views supply chains as value co-creation networks. These networks promote knowledge growth amongst network members via resource deployment and coordination. The exchange of knowledge and utilization of operant resources among the network members leads to co-created service offerings and value proposals for the end-users, with the ultimate goal of transforming en…
The author, Peter Levesque, has over 20 years of international transportation and logistics experience and has been working in Hong Kong since 1996. Prior to joining Modern Terminals, he served at several management positions including American President Lines, DHL’s Supply Chain in Asia Pacific, CEVA Logistics, and co-founded a 3PL company, V-Logic Limited, in 2001. He also served as an Adju…
The purpose of this paper is to develop a better understanding of how the supply chain structure (i.e. degree of vertical integration) of a focal organization shapes the breadth of its portfolio of technologies.
The purpose of this paper is to propose a typology of radio frequency identification (RFID)-based tracking solution designs to fit differing fashion supply chains. The typology is presented as principles of form and function contributing toward a design theory of configurable RFID tracking for fashion logistics.
The purpose of this paper is to describe miscommunication about the ubiquitous term “supply chain visibility” (SCV), to propose a precise definition for it and identify its salient characteristics.
The purpose of this research is to describe how total cost concept with logistical based costing (LBC) is developed in detail and then used to build logistical models on the Microsoft Excele platform that are integrated from the customer’s factory to the supplier’s door.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the changes in governance structures that evolved as reverse logistics systems were developed. The UK car crash repair sector was used as a case study.
This reflective paper aims to identify and discuss key areas for the development of, and research into, supply network performance measurement systems.
This study aims to examine logistics infrastructure, trade differences, and environmental and social equity factors, for a set of 89 countries.
With supply chains distributed across global markets, ocean container transport now is a critical element of any such supply chain. We identify key characteristics of ocean container transport from a supply chain perspective. We find that unlike continental (road) transport, service offerings tend to be consolidated in few service providers, and a strong focus exists on maximization of capital …
In green logistics operation, all logistics processes form a bidirectional closed-loop topology. In order to model and optimize such a kind of structure, a standardized closed-loop logistics operation reference model is built which aims to provide supply chain managers with general analysis. Based on the reference model, potential risks of closed-loop logistics chain can be analyzed including n…
Singapore’s electronics manufacturers are facing many questions. In the computer hard-drive industry, where the problem of obsolescence is common and where a product’s lifecycle may be only six months, manufacturers are anxious to know what the next order-winning criteria will be. Since low labour costs are no longer a key factor, many organisations are developing their competencies in rese…
Whilst implementation of a broad range of reverse logistics (RL) practices is increasingly the norm within commercial supply chain management, they have had limited impact in the humanitarian logistics (HL) sector. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the challenges and opportunities for the application of RL in a HL context.
In an Internet direct sales supply chain, the customers buy direct from the manufacturer sacrificing the benefit of physical inspection of the product. This increases the likelihood that customers will have some dissatisfaction with the product and would like to return it. A clearly explained and generous return policy, then, will be welcome by the customers and therefore will enhance demand. F…
The aim of this paper is to analyze the pharmaceutical supply chain using the DMAIC process for improvement of the reverse logistics in a recall to avert the possibility of harm to a consumer.
On one side, the purpose of this paper is to numerically analyze the emergency order allocation mechanism and help managers to understand the relationship between the emergency coefficient, uncertainty and emergency cost in two-echelon logistics service supply chain. On the other side, the purpose of this paper is to help managers understand how to deal with the problem of order allocation in t…
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the alignment between product design and the supply chain and to identify how this alignment impacts on a firm’s supply chain responsiveness and resilience.
The research on supply chains concerning disaster and crisis situations is in its infancy, but rapidly expanding on the backs of top researchers in the field. As with most young research streams there is very little theoretical grounding in extant studies. The purpose of this research is to integrate four prominent existing theoretical perspectives to provide a concise yet holistic framework fo…
To critically review business trends and drivers affecting the performance of supply chains and build-to-order initiatives.
The purpose of this paper is to propose a tool, the Agile Supply Chain Transformation Matrix (ASCTM), and the implementation methodology for a systematic approach to achieve agility in the supplier-buyer supply chain.
Much of the research conducted in logistics/SCM has focused on satisfaction/retention of customers. This has left a critical gap for managers: before customers can be satisfied and ultimately retained, a purchase choice of logistics services has to occur. To date, very little research has addressed how logistics customers make purchase choice decisions about logistics services. The purpose of …
To examine supply chain competences necessary to efficiently and/or effectively succeed in aftermarket support.
The purpose of this paper is to highlight the advantages that an intermodal logistics platform may provide to companies integrating a supply chain, both to manufacturers/distributors and to logistics providers.
Describes the use of a decision support system (DSS) in part of a strategic supply chain initiative of an international automotive aftermarket organisation undertaken in 1996-97. The strategic initiative consisted of four distinct stages; a review of the current state, definition of the future vision, development of the operational blueprint and its implementation. A simulation based decision s…
To propose and test an augmented collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment (A-CPFR) model in a retailer-supplier context with a view to improving forecasting accuracy and then reducing the “bullwhip effect” in the supply chain.
The purpose of this paper is to examine how the type of logistics services required by firms is related to the freight characteristics, and to the cost and other dimensions of the services in Mexico.
The purpose of this paper is to examine how the type of logistics services required by firms is related to the freight characteristics, and to the cost and other dimensions of the services in Mexico
The impact of transportation on the supplier selection has received very scant attention in the literature. This is a great limitation because splitting orders across multiple suppliers will lead to smaller transportation quantities which will likely imply larger transportation cost. Moreover, transportation and inventory elements are highly interrelated and contribute most to the total logisti…
Global manufacturers have faced unprecedented cost pressures in China because of Chinese currency appreciation, rising labour costs, higher oil prices and reduced value-added tax rebates. This paper aims to reassess the decision of operating global manufacturing facilities in China.
By constantly working in environments with high degree of uncertainty, humanitarian organizations end up becoming specialists in the implementation of agile systems. Their counterparts in profit-making organizations have a lot to learn from them in this domain. Volatility of demand, imbalance between supply and demand and disruptions are all factors that affect commercial supply chains and call…
The objective of this paper is to develop a comprehensive model of supply chain and supply chain decision-making complexity that provides an understanding of the drivers of supply chain complexity and strategies to manage supply chain and supply chain decision-making complexity and outcomes.
The issue affecting US textile/apparel companies in global business competition is to find suitable suppliers for their operations. The selection and evaluation of their global suppliers to meet the goal of having effective and efficient supply chain operations and strengthening their position in the market become critical for US textile/apparel manufacturers to maintain their competitiveness i…