Supply Chain Networks With Multiple Retailers: A Test of the Emerging Theory on Inventories,Stockouts, and Bullwhips

While various approaches to mitigating the bullwhip effect have been proposed, the composition of the underlying supply chain is often taken for granted. This article develops a set of simulation models to investigate changes to the supply chain itself and their impact on the bullwhip effect, on‐hand inventory, and stockouts. It is shown that particular supply chain networks have an impact on the bullwhip effect. Furthermore, the impact of supply chain networks on the bullwhip effect is moderated by the demand forecasting technique used. Finally, supply chain networks, forecasting techniques, and their interactions are found to influence on‐hand inventory levels and stockout rates for firms within the supply chain. Results also suggest that no one particular type of supply chain network dominates in terms of dampening the bullwhip effect, lowering on‐hand inventory levels, or reducing stockout rates. The optimal network depends on the forecasting technique used and other supply chain factors.     

An Analysis of the Effects of Intra‐ and Interorganizational Arrangements on Hospital Supply Chain Efficiency

Efficiency in supply chain operations is increasingly a key strategic goal as organizations focus on containing cost. This is especially the case for hospitals where supply chain costs account for a substantial portion of operating budgets. In this study, we examine the impact of incentive mechanisms for internal stakeholders and negotiating leverage with external partners on supply chain efficiency in the hospital industry. We premise the study on agency, stewardship, and power theories. We use data from over 200 California hospitals in a five‐year period (pooled data) to estimate regression models using generalized estimating equation. We find that physician employment and contract management enhance supply chain efficiency. Surprisingly, we did not find that better supply chain efficiency was associated with either hospital affiliation with systems or high‐volume purchases through large national group purchasing organizations. The results have important theoretical and managerial implications for supply chain management.     

An Empirically Derived Framework of Global Supply Resiliency

In today’s global business environment, supply chains have increased in both length and complexity. This increase in length and complexity coupled with a focus on improving efficiency, such as lean manufacturing practices, may lead to higher levels of supply chain risk where the likelihood of a disruption severely impacting supply chain performance increases. Resilient supply chains have been touted as a means to reduce the likelihood and severity of supply chain disruptions. However, there is little empirical evidence relative to the factors that contribute to or detract from supply resiliency. Using systems theory and the resource‐based view of the firm as the theoretical underpinnings, this study provides an in‐depth systematic investigation of supply resiliency. Adopting a theory‐building approach based on a multi‐industry empirical investigation, this study derives empirical generalizations linking 19 supply chain characteristics to supply resiliency. The study culminates in a framework that could be used to assess the level of resiliency in a supply base. Building on this framework, the study also provides a supply resiliency matrix that can be utilized to classify supply chains, or supply chains segments according to the level of resiliency realized. This article concludes by proposing several future research directions and issues that may be investigated in more detail.     

从牛鞭效应谈供应商管理库存

供应商管理库存(Vendor Managed Inventory,VMI),是一种战略贸易伙伴之间的合作性策略,它以系统的、集成的管理思想进行库存管理,使供应链系统能够同步优化运行。这种库存控制策略,允许上游组织对下游组织的库存策略、订货策略进行计划和管理。供应商与客户之间实现信息交换、信息共享后,信息便代替了库存,拥有最佳的信息就可以达到最小的库存,降低缺货的概率,从而更好地改善客户的满意度和销售状况。     

THE INTELLECTUAL FOUNDATION OF THE JOURNAL OF BUSINESS LOGISTICS AND ITS EVOLUTION BETWEEN 1978 AND 2007

Many logistics and supply chain management researchers have so far studied the nature of logistics and supply chain management research in terms of its domain and scope, its epistemological assumptions, and its evolution. However, the knowledge repository on which the scientific research community draws, that is, its intellectual foundation, has not yet been studied. Studying the intellectual foundation of research provides an unbiased and comprehensive picture of the development, dissemination, and utilization of its knowledge. In this article, we identify the most contributive works—in terms of citations received—that have been used in 497 articles published in the Journal of Business Logistics (JBL) between 1978 and 2007. By means of citation and co‐citation analysis, the intellectual structure of research in JBL is revealed and transformations therein are explored. Overall, the most frequently‐cited literature can be classified into six themes: physical distribution; inventory models; customer service; interorganizational relationships; competitive strategy; and empirical methodologies for socio‐scientific research. Furthermore, we determined a development in citation frequencies to these themes: literature related to physical distribution and inventory management declined over the three decades under study, whereas literature related to competitive strategy and empirical methods gained in importance. This development indicates a shift from an operational focus to a prioritization of managerial issues. Moreover, our results demonstrate a shift towards more relational and institutional research in logistics (management), which has been typically linked with the notion of supply chain management since the 1990's.     

Using Country Sustainability Risk to Inform Sustainable Supply Chain Management: A Design Science Study

The sustainability of our global supply chains is an essential concern in strategic supply chain management research. Modern information and communication technologies enable stakeholders to punish buying firms for any sustainability‐related grievances at their suppliers, even in remote locations. This study investigates how the notion of country sustainability risk can inform sustainable supply chain management, in particular with respect to sustainability risk assessment at the individual supplier level. Drawing on institutional theory, we provide insights surrounding the emergence of environmental, social, and governance‐related country‐level sustainability risks and show their implications for and application in sustainable supply chain management. The study employs a design science methodology, based on cooperation with a multidivisional German technology firm, to develop a supply chain sustainability risk (SCSR) map as technological solution design. This article contributes to the study of SCSR by reconciling the scholarly SCSR discourse with the buying firms’ pursuit of efficiency. Moreover, it elucidates the augmentation of a research agenda through a design science approach. In practical terms, the technological solution design can directly inform managers about SCSR at the country level and serves as a decision basis for the management of individual suppliers.     

Improving Order Fulfillment Performance through Integrated Inventory Management in a Multi-Item Finished Goods System

Effective inventory management is fundamental to order fulfillment excellence and supply chain success. In this paper, we develop a strategic inventory management decision tool that integrates inventory classification and inventory control policy decisions for maximizing order fulfillment performance, while accounting for a constraint on inventory budget and the profit expectation of a firm. This inventory solution tool provides critical enhancements to current inventory planning software, which is developed upon the traditional inventory classification scheme and where practitioners have to balance service levels and safety stock decisions through trial-and-error. The model allows firms to assess whether the current inventory performance is Pareto optimal, quantify the trade-offs between various performance measures, and identify the right inventory level according to the firms' strategic goals. In computational results, we demonstrate the trade-off and positive relationships between key item- and order-based inventory performance measures and short-term profitability under different levels of inventory budget in a multi-item finished goods inventory system.     

Consistency and Recovery in Retail Supply Chains

Practitioners and researchers describe inventory service level with metrics that communicate the likelihood of demand fulfillment without considering the ongoing capabilities of the supplier, for example, in‐stock and fill rate. We develop a method for measuring inventory service level that incorporates such supplier capabilities, namely consistency (the ability of a supplier to fulfill orders repeatedly) and recovery (the ability of a supplier to fulfill orders after a lapse in service). Using data from two retail supply chains, we illustrate our approach. To demonstrate the impact of consistency and recovery on supply chain performance, we model a retailer purchasing from competing suppliers with different levels of consistency and recovery. The model incorporates the retailer's uncertainty about demand and the retailer's uncertainty about its suppliers' service levels. We characterize how the retailer's orders and profitability change with a supplier's delivery performance through numerical experiments calibrated with field data. We find notable differences in market share across suppliers with similar traditional inventory service level metrics but differences in consistency and recovery. Further, we observe that a retailer can increase its profitability by determining orders via consistency and recovery in lieu of common metrics like in‐stock. Given the influence of consistency and recovery on supply chain outcomes, we discuss implications for practice and future research.     

Strategic and Operational Determinants of Relationship Outcomes With New Venture Suppliers

While the vast majority of the supplier selection and development literature has focused on relationships between mature, established firms, significantly less attention has been paid to relationships between established firms and new, entrepreneurial ventures. This study addresses this important topic and, using an interdisciplinary lens, investigates the question of how established buying firms can work with new ventures to achieve desired relationship outcomes. Drawing on the literature from the disciplines of entrepreneurship and supply chain management, we propose a theoretical model that links buying firms' strategic orientation in supplier selection (innovation and cost in strategic supplier selection) and operational approach in supplier development (direct and indirect development of new venture suppliers) with new venture‐specific relationship outcomes (purchasing volume and realized innovations). The model's predictions are tested on cross‐sectional survey data from 136 buying firms. Our results contribute to the emerging research stream at the supply chain management–entrepreneurship interface and enhance the understanding of relationships between established firms and new ventures.     

供应链管理研究的若干问题

通过对供应链管理研究成果的回顾,揭示出供应链管理研究中的若干问题,在此基础上提出自己的认识。就现在所处的国际环境,对目前供应链管理的一些热点问题,如库存管理、物流系统规划、战略伙伴关系管理、绿色供应链、基于电子商务的供应链、供应链建模方法、信息支持技术及供应链绩效评估等,把它们分成三类来对其发展现状进行探讨。     

THE EFFECTS OF CULTURE AND HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT POLICIES ON SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT STRATEGY

Afirm's corporate culture and human resource management (HRM) policies have an important impact upon the success of that organization's supply chain management strategy. A model that examines the relationship between organizational culture, HRM policies, and the firm's transaction/relationship orientation toward its employees and the impact of these factors on its choice of supply chain partners is presented. The paper then discusses four different HRM/logistics strategies a firm can implement and examines the degree of cultural fit that is likely to develop in each of these four strategies. Finally, managers are provided with a list of questions that allow an assessment of the fit between the firm's human resource and logistics management strategies.     

PRODUCT FULFILLMENT IN SUPPLY CHAINS SUPPORTING INTERNET‐RETAILING OPERATIONS

Customer service, based on economical logistics operations across the supply chain, is key to the realization of sustainable levels of profitability in Internet retailing. Concentrating on inventory and product‐release operations, an empirical simulation model suggests that inventory centralization and market demand growth positively affect the level of cost‐effective service received by online shoppers. The results also show that under increasing demand levels, Internet retailers can provide optimal service to consumers by fulfilling orders through inventories located at their own facilities and avoid relying on inventories held elsewhere in the supply chain.     

MODELING LEAN,AGILE, AND LEAGILE SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGIES

The merits of lean and agile supply chain strategies have been much debated among practitioners and academics. While these strategies are often viewed as opposites, this research supports the view that they must not necessarily compete and can, in fact, be employed simultaneously through a so‐called “leagile” approach. Lean, agile, and leagile strategies are illustrated by modeling their respective applications at a tier‐1 supplier to the Heating, Ventilating, and Air‐Conditioning (HVAC) industry. Simulation analyses indicate that the lean system excels in customer service performance while the leagile system results in lower enterprise‐wide inventory levels under modeled circumstances. Subsequent analysis suggests that trade‐offs exist among the systems in the base case and under varying cost conditions.     

Assessing the Efficiency of Risk Mitigation Strategies in Supply Chains

Mitigating supply chain risk is a critical component of a company's overall risk management strategy. Drawing upon Contingency Theory, we posit that the appropriateness and effectiveness of risk mitigation strategies are contingent on the internal and external environments and that there is no one‐size‐fits‐all strategy. While literature on risk management has proposed a variety of tools and techniques for effectively evaluating and managing supply chain risks, comprehensive assessment of the efficiencies of alternative risk mitigation strategies has not been addressed in the literature. Such an assessment will help managers select the appropriate mitigation strategy for a given decision‐making environment. To this end, this study is first of its kind in evaluating and proposing efficient supply chain risk mitigation strategies in the presence of a variety of risk categories, risk sources, and supply chain configurations. We combine an empirically grounded simulation methodology with data envelopment analysis and nonparametric statistical methods to analyze and rank alternative mitigation strategies. We find that the more efficient strategies focus on flexibility rather than on redundancy for supply chain failures. Our research presents several interesting and useful managerial insights for deciding what strategies are most capable of mitigating risks in a variety of contexts.     

A supply chain management framework for services

While services represent the largest sector of the global economy, 86.8% in the United States, most supply chain management (SCM) research is focused on product flows. Executives in manufacturing firms have benefited from frameworks created to implement SCM processes, but this is not the case for their counterparts in service companies. The two most cited SCM frameworks for services have methodological and conceptual deficiencies. Drawing upon the service-dominant logic of marketing and using an empirical research approach, we developed supply chain structure maps for nine service firms. Our findings indicate that the supply chain structure maps of service companies are comparable to those in the product-based literature, which supports the service-dominant logic. Then, we identified the six key processes that constitute a framework to manage service supply chains. The customer relationship management and the supplier relationship management processes form the critical links in the supply chain, and the other four processes are coordinated through this linkage. The SCM framework for services provides direction for executives in service firms who need to increase cross-functional integration within their firms and with other members of the supply chain. For academics, 12 avenues for future research are identified.     

基于系统动力学的供应链库存管理研究

供应链库存管理是供应链管理研究中的热点问题,在系统动力学与供应链库存管理特点的基础上,应用系统动力学来研究供应链库存管理。对供应链中的供应商、制造商、分销商分别建立了库存管理系统动力学模型,进行仿真,得出结论,为供应链库存管理提供一种定量与定性相结合的管理决策方法。     

A framework of supply chain management literature

Over the past decade, the traditional purchasing and logistics functions have evolved into a broader strategic approach to materials and distribution management known as supply chain management. This research reviews the literature base and development of supply chain management from two separate paths that eventually merged into the modern era of a holistic and strategic approach to operations, materials and logistics management. In addition, this article attempts to clearly describe supply chain management since the literature is replete with buzzwords that address elements or stages of this new management philosophy. This article also discusses various supply chain management strategies and the conditions conducive to supply chain management.     

A framework for strategy formulation in sustainable supply chains: a case study in the electric industry

The aim of a sustainable supply chain is the strategic integration of all social, environmental and economic goals within an organization, through a systematic coordination of key business processes in order to improve the long-term economic performance of a company and its value chain. This paper describes a new methodological approach to support the strategy formulation process in sustainable supply chains. The proposed methodology combines three analytical tools (analytic hierarchical process, fuzzy multi-objective optimization, and clustering methods) within a strategy formulation process, integrating the competitive and corporative strategies with the supply chain strategy on the basis of sustainability. A case study in the Mexican Federal Commission of Electricity Gulf-Center Distribution Division shows the capability of our proposed framework. This company is large and complex enough to encompass the whole issue of the supply chain. Results indicate that our methodology is a valid decision support tool to formulate a set of sustainable supply chain strategies, and it is able to generate a coordinated strategy for the management of a sustainable supply chain.     

EXPLORING A GOVERNANCE THEORY OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT: BARRIERS AND FACILITATORS TO INTEGRATION

Supply chain management is rapidly growing as both a strategic initiative and an academic discipline. As firms increasingly include their supply chain partners in the development of business strategy, researchers will have to constantly reevaluate the underlying themes and emergent theories of strategic logistics, management, and marketing by introducing new topics and revisiting seminal extant results. As such, this research was developed to explore the important concept of supply chain integration through strategic governance theory development. Since supply chain governance is a relatively new topic, a grounded study of both new and existing integration facilitators and barriers is presented. The study was initiated with a qualitative “managerial” development of scale items followed by a full empirical analysis. The result is an industry based returning to the source methodology for testing current governance related issues in industry. Contributions include the development of multiple dimensions of supply chain governance across facilitators and barriers, an explanation of the interplay between governance facilitators of, and barriers to, integration, a discussion of strategic level managerial implications, and a call for the future extension of governance research into the theory wanting domain of logistics and supply chain management.     

基于供应链环境的采购管理策略研究

在供应链环境下,采购商与供应商之间的关系已经发生了深刻变化,双方之间开始形成合作共赢的关系。在供应链环境下,采购活动已转为以订单驱动方式进行,采购管理的重点转向了外部资源管理,并且促进了采购流程增值,库存管理方式也发生了重大改变。在供应链环境下,采购管理策略的制定应考虑价格等关键因素;要深刻认识采购方与供应商间的建立战略合作关系;库存管理应趋向精细化发展。从而更好地提高企业竞争力、降低总成本,实现采购方和供应商的双赢。