Modeling big data enablers for operations and supply chain management

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyse the interactions among various enablers which are critical to the success of big data initiatives in operations and supply chain management (OSCM).

Design/methodology/approach

Fourteen enablers of big data in OSCM have been selected from literature and consequent deliberations with experts from industry. Three different multi criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques, namely, interpretive structural modeling (ISM), fuzzy total interpretive structural modeling (fuzzy-TISM) and decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) have been used to identify driving enablers. Further, common enablers from each technique, their hierarchies and inter-relationships have been established.

Findings

The enabler modelings using ISM, Fuzzy-TISM and DEMATEL shows that the top management commitment, financial support for big data initiatives, big data/data science skills, organizational structure and change management program are the most influential/driving enablers. Across all three different techniques, these five different enablers has been identified as the most promising ones to implement big data in OSCM. On the other hand, interpretability of analysis, big data quality management, data capture and storage and data security and privacy have been commonly identified across all three different modeling techniques as the most dependent big data enablers for OSCM.

Research limitations/implications

The MCDM models of big data enablers have been formulated based on the inputs from few domain experts and may not reflect the opinion of whole practitioners community.

Practical implications

The findings enable the decision makers to appropriately choose the desired and drop undesired enablers in implementing the big data initiatives to improve the performance of OSCM. The most common driving big data enablers can be given high priority over others and can significantly enhance the performance of OSCM.

Originality/value

MCDM-based hierarchical models and causal diagram for big data enablers depicting contextual inter-relationships has been proposed which is a new effort for implementation of big data in OSCM.

Citation

Lamba, K. and Singh, S.P. (2018), "Modeling big data enablers for operations and supply chain management", The International Journal of Logistics Management, Vol. 29 No. 2, pp. 629-658. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLM-07-2017-0183