Adapting supply chain management strategies to security – an analysis of existing gaps and recommendations for improvement

The purpose of this paper is to determine the main security threats in supply chains, to understand gaps in today’s supply chain management strategies and to make recommendations to enhance security in the context of supply chain management. Previous research lacks comprehensive studies and recommendations about how supply chain managers deal with security issues in line with the business visions and strategies of their companies. The study methodology is based on an exploratory approach. Data were collected from 20 managers from international companies by means of self-administered surveys, one-to-one interviews and group interviews. Study findings point out risk management as an important tool at the disposal of managers for trading off performance and vulnerability. However, some important challenges also need to be considered, such as lack of data, insiders, IT vulnerabilities, regulatory frameworks, criminal behaviour, etc. Hence, recommendations are made for managers to improve their understanding of supply chain security.     

Supply chain risk identification with value-focused process engineering

Together with numerous benefits that were brought about by the transition from the silo enterprise perspective towards the process-based supply chain view of contemporary business, new sources of risk appeared due to the complex systemic nature of the supply chains. The need to reduce the increased level of supply chain vulnerability has been identified as a key research issue in the domain of supply chain management. In this paper, a novel value-focused process engineering methodology for process-based supply chain risk identification is proposed with the aim to increase value to supply chain members and supply chain as a whole. The proposed methodology is illustrated with a generic supply chain scenario example.     

供应链风险管理探讨

供应链的合作模式给企业带来规模经济效益,同时,也给企业带来了合作风险。笔者就供应链风险,以及供应链风险管理过程进行了分析论述。认为对供应链风险有效的管理,有利于提高企业在市场上的竞争能力,有利于提高供应链整体效益。     

The effects of technological turbulence and breadth on supply chain technology acceptance and adoption

The current empirical study examines the intention to use and subsequent implementation of a supply chain technology. Specifically, the authors extend the technology acceptance model (TAM) to incorporate the state of the technology environment (technological turbulence) and the extent to which other supply chain technologies have already been adopted by the firm (technological breadth). A series of seemingly unrelated regressions (SUR) were used to analyze survey data from 195 respondents. The results show that in technologically turbulent environments, the relationships between the firm's perceived usefulness and ease of use and the firm's intention to use a supply chain technology are stronger. The study also finds that the relationship between the firm's intention to use a supply chain technology and the implementation of the technology is weaker in firms with greater technological breadth.     

Firm's resilience to supply chain disruptions: Scale development and empirical examination

This paper expands our understanding of factors that contribute to development of firm resilience to supply chain disruptions. In doing so, we operationalize firm resilience to understand how supply chain disruption orientated firms can develop resilience to supply chain disruptions. We find that supply chain disruption orientation alone is not enough for a firm to develop resilience. Supply chain disruption oriented firms require the ability to reconfigure resources or have a risk management resource infrastructure to develop resilience. The way in which supply chain disruption oriented firms develop resilience through resource reconfiguration or risk management infrastructure depends on the context of the disruption as high impact or low impact. In a high impact disruption context, resource reconfiguration fully mediates the relationship between supply chain disruption orientation and firm resilience. In a low impact disruption context, supply chain disruption orientation and risk management infrastructure have a synergistic effect on developing firm resilience.     

Structural drivers of upstream supply chain complexity and the frequency of supply chain disruptions

A great deal of research has focused on supply chain risk management, but the question “Which supply chain characteristics increase the frequency of supply chain disruptions?” has not received much attention from empirical research. This is a relevant question, because firms seek stability in their operations, and therefore managers need to know how the structure of their supply chains affects the occurrence of disruptions. The present study addresses this issue with a specific focus on upstream supply chain (supply-side) disruptions. Drawing on the literature on supply chain complexity, we devise and test a model that predicts the frequency of supply chain disruptions based on a multi-dimensional conceptualization of upstream supply chain complexity. Not only do the empirical findings suggest that all of the three investigated complexity drivers – horizontal, vertical, and spatial complexity – increase the frequency of disruptions, but also that they interact and amplify each other's effects in a synergistic fashion.     

国外供应链风险管理研究进展与未来展望

全球化背景下供应链风险日益增加,使得供应链变得愈加脆弱。为了保证供应链正常运营和实现供应链管理目标,必须采取有效的策略来预防、规避、响应风险。因而吸引了众多研究人员和管理者分别从不同角度对它进行了大量研究。作者对近10年来的相关文献进行了梳理．并从研究方法、研究内容和研究对象的角度进行了分析。在此基础上,归纳总结了现有研究的不足．并以系统观和风险协同为切入点指出未来可能的研究方向。     

Supply chain practice and information sharing

Effective supply chain practice and information sharing enhances the current supply chain management environment. The purpose of this study is to investigate the integration of information sharing and supply chain practice in supply chain management. Data from 125 North American manufacturing firms were collected. The results show that (1) effective information sharing significantly enhances effective supply chain practice; (2) supply chain dynamism has significant positive influence on effective information sharing as well as effective supply chain practice. Supply chain dynamism has more influence on information sharing than supply chain practice; (3) and effective supply chain practice becomes more important when the level of information sharing increases. The findings show that both effective information sharing and effective supply chain practice are critical in achieving good supply chain performance.     

Customer-facing supply chain practices—The impact of demand and distribution management on supply chain success

Traditionally, distribution has been viewed as the key (physical) link between a company's internal supply chain activities and its customers. More recently, demand management has emerged as a new dimension at the customer interface. Although it has become increasing popular in industry, it has not yet been analyzed in depth with respect to its impact on supply chain performance. Both distribution management and demand management entail customer-facing processes and practices and that are interrelated and (may) jointly determine supply chain performance. In this paper we seek to extend the stream of research in supply chain management by systematically investigating the impact of customer-facing supply chain practices on supply chain performance. Specifically, the paper examines the relative impact of relevant practices associated with demand and distribution management. To this end, we collected data from 116 multi-national companies based in Europe and analyzed it using structural equation modeling techniques. Our results suggest that (i) high demand management performance has a substantial positive impact on the overall supply chain performance, (ii) this effect is stronger than that of distribution management performance, and (iii) there is no evidence that demand management might be an enabler for effective distribution management. Among the individual practices that constitute demand and distribution management, adherence to the demand and distribution management processes and demand segmentation emerged as the strongest performance levers. Based upon additional in-depth interviews conducted with selected companies from our sample, we shed light on some of the most important findings that emerged from our survey analysis.     

Supply chain immune system: concept,framework, and applications

Behind every product and service is a supply chain. These supply chains are extremely complex and vulnerable to multifarious risks that threaten their performance and stability, ranging from simple machine or truck breakdowns to catastrophic natural disasters. This paper presents a novel framework for supply chain risk management based on the analogy of the biological immune system, which has multiple layers of increasing sophistication to neutralise a variety of risks. The various layers include: physical barriers, innate response, and adaptive response. The working of the framework is explained with an illustrative semiconductor supply chain. Applications of this framework include short-term disruption response and long-term immunisation, providing planner and manager level insights respectively.     

Supply chain risk management in India – practical insights

This paper reviews the supply chain risk management (SCRM) literature to identify as well as to discuss and elaborate on the impact and origin of major supply chain risk factors in an Indian context. Through a combination of existing literature and a survey instrument, we identify major SCRM issues including underlying supply chain risks and thereafter identify gaps, issues and opportunities for further research. SCRM has become a popular research topic, in part owing to increased globalisation of business. Moreover competitive factors such as shorter product life cycles, technological innovations and changing government policies have brought this topic more sharply into focus. We carried out a survey among Indian supply chain professionals, based on supply chain risk constructs developed from a literature review. Statistical analysis utilised exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to determine the major risk factors in the Indian supply chain sector. We found a range of supply chain risks prevalent in Indian supply chains, classified here as cultural, operational, infrastructure, economic, forecasting and supplier-related risks. However, for a variety of reasons and as discussed in the paper, the implications can vary considerably. Based on the findings we provide a future SCRM research agenda from an Indian perspective. As international supply chains increasingly have Indian partners and domestic firms within India seek to be globally competitive, the risks need to be better understood. This is the first detailed study on SCRM practices in an Indian context.     

Supply chain vulnerability assessment: A network based visualization and clustering analysis approach

Supply chains are large, complex, and often unpredictable. Purchasing and supply managers and supply chain risk managers need methods and tools to enable them to quickly understand how unexpected disruptions in the supply chain start and grow and to what extent will they negatively impact the flow of goods and services. This paper introduces a methodological approach that can be used by both researchers and managers to quickly visualize a supply chain, map out the propagation path of disruptive events from the supply side to the end customer and understand potential weaknesses in the supply chain design; taking into account the structure, connectivity, and dependence within the supply chain. The approach incorporates a Petri net and Triangularization Clustering Algorithm to offer insights into a supply chain network's vulnerabilities and can be used to efficiently assess supply chain disruption mitigation strategies, especially in complex and difficulty to analyze supply chain systems.     

The impact of supply chain integration on performance: A contingency and configuration approach

This study extends the developing body of literature on supply chain integration (SCI), which is the degree to which a manufacturer strategically collaborates with its supply chain partners and collaboratively manages intra- and inter-organizational processes, in order to achieve effective and efficient flows of products and services, information, money and decisions, to provide maximum value to the customer. The previous research is inconsistent in its findings about the relationship between SCI and performance. We attribute this inconsistency to incomplete definitions of SCI, in particular, the tendency to focus on customer and supplier integration only, excluding the important central link of internal integration. We study the relationship between three dimensions of SCI, operational and business performance, from both a contingency and a configuration perspective. In applying the contingency approach, hierarchical regression was used to determine the impact of individual SCI dimensions (customer, supplier and internal integration) and their interactions on performance. In the configuration approach, cluster analysis was used to develop patterns of SCI, which were analyzed in terms of SCI strength and balance. Analysis of variance was used to examine the relationship between SCI pattern and performance. The findings of both the contingency and configuration approach indicated that SCI was related to both operational and business performance. Furthermore, the results indicated that internal and customer integration were more strongly related to improving performance than supplier integration.     

供应链风险识别与风险管理杠杆选择

识别企业供应链运作中潜在的风险因子及联动特征,并选择针对性的风险管理杠杆策略,是维持供应链运作的稳定与高效的重要议题。基于企业供应链管理中的风险特性,本文在剖析了关键事件法、历史数据分析法以及全景描述法的适用范围以及需要注意的问题后,结合供应链风险管理中面临的不同风险类型和事项,探讨了合理的供应链风险识别方法,深入分析了风险因子的形式以及运作特征。在此基础上,结合管理杠杆的风控特征,设计了风险管理杠杆的选择模式,以便有效地实现供应链风险管控。     

Towards an understanding of supply chain quality management

In this paper, we define supply chain quality management (SCQM) to operationalize and understand the effect of increased emphasis on supply chain management on the practice of quality management. We review current research in quality management and identify common themes found in the literature. Key quality management content variables identified are customer focus, quality practices, supplier relations, leadership, HR practices, business results, and safety. We use these variables to propose areas for future research in the field of supply chain quality management.     

The organizational antecedents of a firm’s supply chain agility for risk mitigation and response

Today’s marketplace is characterized by intense competitive pressures as well as high levels of turbulence and uncertainty. Organizations require agility in their supply chains to provide superior value as well as to manage disruption risks and ensure uninterrupted service to customers. Thus the cultivation of agility is approached as a risk management initiative that enables a firm to respond rapidly to marketplace changes, as well as anticipated and actual disruptions in the supply chain. Agility is of value for both risk mitigation and response.     

The effect of cross-organizational governance on supply chain resilience: A mediating and moderating model

This study examines the effect of a novel antecedent, namely cross-organizational governance (which can be further divided into contractual and relational governance), on supply chain resilience. Additionally, it explores the mediating and moderating effects of supply chain collaboration and institutional environment, respectively, on the relationship between cross-organizational governance and supply chain resilience. Accordingly, a research model, together with four hypotheses, is constructed based on institutional theory. These are further tested based on data collected from a single-respondent survey of 358 Chinese manufacturing companies. The results reveal that contractual and relational governance have significant positive effects on supply chain resilience; supply chain collaboration plays a partially mediating role and institutional environment plays a moderating role in the effects of contractual and relational governance on supply chain resilience. This study enriches the understanding of the relationships between cross-organizational governance, supply chain collaboration, supply chain resilience, and institutional environment. It also provides a reference for supply chain managers’ decision-making activities.     

Demand chain management in manufacturing and services: web-based integration, drivers and performance

This paper investigated the relationship between Internet-enabled supply chain integration strategies and performance in manufacturing and services. It summarizes the literature on demand and supply integration and describes four web-based strategies. A stratified random sample was collected from UK manufacturers and services, and there was strong evidence that demand chain management (DCM) led to the highest performance in manufacturing, but few signs of DCM in services. Manufacturers and services relying on only web-based demand or supply integration outperformed their low integration counterparts, but lagged DCM in manufacturing. The study also investigated DCM adoption drivers and found that rational efficiency and bandwagon effects drove change. The findings have some important implications for theory as well as for manufacturing and service companies interested in improving their performance.     

Cyber supply chain risk management: Revolutionizing the strategic control of critical IT systems

Cyber supply chain risk management (CSCRM) is a new discipline designed to help IT executives address the challenges of the rapid globalization and outsourced diffusion of hardware and software systems. CSCRM is an integrative discipline combining elements of cybersecurity, supply chain management, and enterprise risk management into a new and powerful concept to exert strategic control over the end-to-end processes of the focal organization and its extended enterprise partners. This article provides a survey of the field, as well as a detailed analysis of the results of a four-year research project on CSCRM, conducted by the Robert H. Smith School of Business Supply Chain Management Center for the National Institute of Standards and Technology, that focused on the development of organizational assessment tools and a capability/maturity model for this emerging discipline.