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This paper aims to examine how the extant publication has related big data analytics (BDA) to supply chain planning (SCP). The paper presents a conceptual model based on the reviewed articles and the dominant research gaps and outlines the research directions for future advancement.

Based on a systematic literature review, this study analysed 72 journal articles and reported the descriptive and thematic analysis in assessing the established body of knowledge.

This study reveals the fact that literature on relating BDA to SCP has an ambiguous use of BDA-related terminologies and a siloed view on SCP processes that primarily focuses on the short-term. Looking at the big data sources, the objective of adopting BDA and changes to SCP, we identified three roles of big data and BDA for SCP: supportive facilitator, source of empowerment and game-changer. It bridges the conversation between BDA technology for SCP and its management issues in organisations and supply chains according to the technology-organisation-environmental framework.

This paper presents a comprehensive examination of existing literature on relating BDA to SCP. The resulted themes and research opportunities will help to advance the understanding of how BDA will reshape the future of SCP and how to manage BDA adoption towards a big data-driven SCP.

This study is unique in its discussion on how BDA will reshape SCP integrating the technical and managerial perspectives, which have not been discussed to date.

Researchers ascertain that the more the activities of new product development (NPD) process are outsourced to partners, the higher the need for integration. The purpose of this paper is to study: the extent to which the amount of information shared with the partners during NPD projects (DC visibility) depends on the degree of outsourcing (DC virtuality), and what are the context variables (product features and business relationship features) that influence this relationship.

This paper provides two sets of quantitative indexes to measure: the relevance of the activities outsourced during the NPD project (i.e. virtuality), in terms of the spread of the outsourced technological knowledge, and in terms of outsourced workload; and the amount of information that a focal company shares with product development partners (i.e. visibility). Seven NPD projects in different companies have been analyzed to investigate visibility, virtuality, and the implications of contingencies.

The cross-case analysis shows that the amount of information shared with the partners during the NPD project varies with the relevance of outsourced activities. In particular, the higher the relevance, the higher the amount of information shared with the partner. Partner location and integration, trust, and ICT support have a role in determining the amount of information shared with each single partner.

This study adopts an original network perspective in that the whole set of partners involved in the NPD process is analyzed. New quantitative indexes of visibility and virtuality of NPD projects are proposed, along with original insights about the impact of context variables. The quantitative indexes also provide a useful managerial tool to evaluate whether a focal company has the possibility to build competitive advantages that exploit unique resources beyond the boundaries of the company.

The purpose of this paper is to outline the role of organizational and cultural tools to increase supply chain security within the intermodal rail and road industry. Three main research questions are set, regarding: what organizational and cultural tools are used by companies within the intermodal rail and road industry; how these tools impact on security performance; and what environmental factors trigger the use of each tool.

In total, 13 companies within the intermodal rail and road industry have been studied in detail through in-depth case studies.

Results suggest that organizational and cultural tools impact positively on supply chain security, by reducing collusion and both operative and planning mistakes. In particular, such tools mitigate the effect of lack of cooperation and communication between partners and of inadequate partners.

Results point out that the ability of organizational and cultural tools to increase supply chain security has not been fully exploited yet. Tools to mitigate the negative effects on security of inadequacy of partners are not popular or they are not considered as powerful enough, despite it has been highlighted as the most relevant causal factor of lack of security.

This paper introduces a thorough overview of the effects of cultural and organizational tools on supply chain security and a detailed study of these tools in the area of intermodal rail-and-road transport.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework that explains how new product development and supply chain variables are related to one another and how they affect performance.

The insights from literature and an exploratory case study are combined to develop an alignment framework, which is then tested using a multiple case study design.

Variety, modularity, and innovativeness are the product features that are taken into account when studying alignment. From the supply chain viewpoint, configuration, collaboration, and coordination complexities are the variables that matter. Innovativeness is found to have a stronger effect than variety on supply chain complexity. In addition, there is evidence that matching product features with supply chains improves performance.

The paper provides empirical support to the relationships among the variables within the alignment framework. There is evidence that product innovativeness, a variable so far neglected in the alignment literature, can have a critical impact on the supply chain. Furthermore, supply chain complexity must be adequately adapted, depending on the product features.

The purpose of this paper is to describe a quantitative approach to assess the degree of visibility that a focal company has of its supply chain, addressing specifically complex networks and ecosystems.

The study is based on an in‐depth literature review concerning the measurement of supply chain visibility and the assessment of its value. An extensive, six‐month discussion and refinement process with the supply chain managers of nine leading companies was conducted to validate the proposed approach and to conduct real case studies.

The main outcome of this paper is a model to measure the visibility level in complex supply networks. Such a measure can be used for benchmarking and as a diagnostic tool for practitioners to find more easily the areas where a visibility improvement is more urgent.

The model provides a measure of the visibility across the inbound supply chain. Further research will extend the approach to the internal and outbound supply chains. Moreover, limited empirical evidence is presented in this paper, which mainly aims to validate the proposed approach. A wider application of the model could offer interesting opportunities in terms of managerial practice and provide a more extensive basis for benchmarking.

Various authors have attempted to quantify visibility across a supply chain, but they either calculate it only for simplistic, two‐tier or linear supply chains, or they fail to provide a comprehensive visibility metric.

The purpose of this paper is to show how it is possible to take into account the objectives that fashion-luxury companies pursue on the final market (i.e. critical success factors (CSF) – of luxury) and propagate them in the upstream steps of the supply chain (SC) in order to understand how the latter can be aligned to the market.

An extensive literature review allowed the identification of SC objectives. Case studies were used in order to asses choices and practices applied along the SC of luxury companies were assessed through in depth case studies; hence, the relationship between choices/practices, SC objectives and luxury CSF was explored.

The paper documents that success in the luxury market not only depends on branding and marketing but also on the choices made along the SC, to the point that it is possible to identify some SC choices and practices that support the achievement of luxury CSF.

The results presented represent a useful guideline and offer some methodological suggestions; however, the precise set of SC objectives have to be tailored on each specific brand, according to the uniqueness that characterizes luxury companies.

The paper suggests which areas of the SC should be mostly targeted in order to achieve success in the luxury market, also indicating some possible concrete choices.

The main value of this paper consists in shaping a first explicit connection among the world of luxury as it is perceived by the consumers and the world of the SC.

This study aims to identify the main elements that describe the luxury supply chain. It discusses the relationship between them in a framework that organises and summarises the literature.

A systematic literature review was conducted that returned 288 papers, which were selected based on specific quality and theme criteria. Content analysis was used to investigate the alignment of critical success factors with the performance goals and configuration elements of luxury supply chains in the final sample of 66 papers.

The results provide a framework that clarifies the relationship between the configuration elements and supply chain performance goals and the critical success factors for three different levels of the luxury market. Depending on the level of luxury, performance goals and configuration elements assume a different importance and different characteristics. An understanding of these differences is relevant for defining strategies and managing luxury supply chains properly. The three different configurations also reveal new research avenues to be further investigated.

The study is limited in terms of its data source as the papers reviewed were collected from only three academic databases.

The findings of this work help incorporate knowledge about luxury supply chain management into a framework that can be easily used for defining strategies and organising the supply chain according to the different levels of luxury.

This study represents an important evolution in organising the current literature on luxury supply chain management into a framework that covers critical success factors, supply chain performance goals and configuration elements for three different levels of luxury, which in turn creates promising opportunities for future enquiry.

The purpose of this article is to provide empirical evidence about the potential positive effects of switching from given non-reciprocal trade preferences granted under the Swiss Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) for developing countries (DCs) to negotiated reciprocal trade preferences under a Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

In a case study of Tunisia’s exports to Switzerland, the authors apply methods of matching econometrics, namely, Propensity-Score Matching and Nearest-Neighbor Matching. Hereby, they are able to identify the average treatment effect on the treated.

Overall preferential exports increased by 125 per cent after the entry into force of the FTA in 2005 until the end of the observation period in 2011. Additionally, an analysis of the agro-food and textile sectors likewise indicate boosting preferential exports in the amount of 100 per cent.

Case studies in this vein have their disadvantages. The greatest disadvantage is the lack of generalization. In contrast to studies estimating the potential effects of an FTA for several countries, the authors are not able to generalize their results based on a single case.

Because trade preferences under the Swiss GSP are offered to the country group of DCs as a whole, non-reciprocal trade preferences are not tailored to the export structure of a particular DC. By switching from non-reciprocal to negotiated reciprocal trade preferences, DCs such as Tunisia expect to negotiate terms which are tailored to their export structure as well as better conditions than competitors from countries which are still beneficiaries of the GSP.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to investigate explicitly the switch from non-reciprocal to reciprocal trade preferences using econometric matching techniques.