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This paper aims to present a grounded and strategic discussion regarding Supply Chain 4.0 as a management system orientation for the post-COVID-19 period as well as propose some research directions thereof.

For the development of this paper, some theoretical insights were provided based on the literature related to Supply Chain and Industry 4.0. A discussion regarding the constructs of Supply Chain 4.0 on the context of the post-COVID-19 outbreak is developed as well.

The discussion, herein, shows that the disruptive technologies might play a crucial role to become supply chains more responsive and resilient to sudden events such as COVID-19. Then a Supply Chain 4.0 is a transformational strategic orientation to be considered on the aspect of supply chain management for the post-pandemic period. Some research questions are proposed at the end of this paper with the aim to further address this subject.

This paper provides timely insights for researchers and practitioners which might imply on the further research deployments and practical applications although it demands future empirical studies to validate the propositions herein presented.

Practitioners can be benefited from this paper on having new insights and a strategic direction on regards supply chain management for the post-pandemic period with focus on a technology-driven strategy for supply chains.

This paper is unique because it brings an unexplored relationship between Supply Chain 4.0 and COVID-19 pandemic. It also significantly contributes to new directions and views for the supply chain management field from these challenging and difficult times of coronavirus global outbreak.

Industry 4.0 is one of the most emergent research topics attracting significant interest by researchers as well as practitioners. Many articles have been published with regards Industry 4.0; however, there is no research that clearly conceptualizes Industry 4.0 in the context of supply chain. This paper aims to propose the term “Supply Chain 4.0” together with a novel conceptual framework that captures the essence of Industry 4.0 within the supply chain context. As Industry 4.0 is inherently a revolution, and as revolutions are evolutionary, this research also aims to capture the evolution of Supply Chain 4.0 from maturity levels perspective to facilitate the formulation and development of Supply Chain 4.0 strategy.

Following a deductive research approach and a qualitative strategy, a systematic literature review (SLR) was adopted as the research method seeking to understand the relationships among supply chain, Industry 4.0 and maturity levels research. The three phases of the SLR process utilized are: planning, conducting and reporting. A concept-oriented technique was applied to the outputs of the SLR to obtain the key constructs that would facilitate the development of the conceptual Supply Chain 4.0 framework.

The SLR showed that there is limited research linking Industry 4.0 to supply chain. Nevertheless, it was possible to extract a set of thematic categories from the analysis of the articles which are referred to as constructs as they form the core of the conceptual Supply Chain 4.0 framework. These constructs are managerial and capability supporters, technology levers, processes performance requirements and strategic outcomes. Each of these constructs consists of a number of elements which are referred to as “dimensions” in this research and a total of 21 dimensions were identified during the SLR. The SLR also demonstrated that maturity propositions for Industry 4.0 are still embrionary and entirely missing in the context of supply chain. Hence, this research develops and proposes a maturity levels framework that is underpinned by the core constructs of Supply Chain 4.0 and the corresponding dimensions. As these proposed frameworks are conceptual, this research also identifies and proposes several research directions to help fortify the Supply Chain 4.0 concept.

This research argues that the frameworks are robust because the constructs and dimensions are grounded in the literature, thus demonstrating both theoretical and practical relevance and value. As Supply Chain 4.0 research is still in infancy, there is a range of open research questions suggested based on the frameworks that could serve as guides for researchers to further develop the Supply Chain 4.0 concept. Also, practitioners can use this framework to develop better understanding of Supply Chain 4.0 and be able to evaluate the maturity of their organizations. As the proposed frameworks are conceptual, they require further empirical research to validate them and obtain new insights.

The SLR demonstrated a clear gap in literature with regards to Industry 4.0 in the context of supply chain, and also in the context of Industry 4.0 maturity levels for supply chain. This research is unique as it formulates and introduces novel frameworks that close these gaps in literature. The value of this research lies in the fact that it makes significant contribution in terms of understanding of Supply Chain 4.0 with a clear set of constructs and dimensions that form Supply Chain 4.0, which provides the foundation for further work in this area.

The purpose of the article is to contribute to the body of research on digital transformation among members of the supply chain operating in an emerging economy. This paper researches the digital transformation trends happening across Vietnamese supply chains, by investigating the current adoption rates, predicted impact levels and financial investments being made in key Industry 4.0 technologies.

By using a semi-structured online survey, the experiences of 281 supply chain professionals in Vietnam were captured. Subsequently, statistical techniques examining variances in means, regression analysis and Monte Carlo simulation were applied.

The findings of this study offer a comprehensive understanding of Industry 4.0 technology in Vietnam, highlighting the prevalent technologies being prioritized. Big data analytics and the Internet of things are expected to have the most substantial impact on businesses over the next 5–10 years and have received the most financial investment. Conversely, Blockchain is perceived as having less potential for future investment. The study further identifies several technological synergies, such as combining advanced robotics, artificial intelligence and the Internet of things to build effective and flexible factories, that can lead to more comprehensive solutions. It also extends diffusion of innovation theory, encompassing investment and impact considerations.

This study offers valuable insights into the impact and financial investment in Industry 4.0 technologies by Vietnamese supply chain firms. It provides a theoretical contribution via an extension of the diffusion of innovation theory and contributes toward a better understanding of the current Industry 4.0 landscape in developing economies. The findings have significant implications for future managerial decision-making, on the impact, viability and resourcing needs when undertaking digital transformation.

This research aims to ascertain the various operational maturity challenges faced by the online food ordering and delivery enterprises (OFODE), their nature and their interactive relationships. In particular, this paper aims to (a) identify the most relevant operational maturity challenges faced by the OFODE during the COVID-19 lockdown in Oman, (b) explore and establish any likely structural relationship among these challenges and (c) put them into logical clusters.

Experts helped to reduce the 18 initially identified maturity challenges to 13 most pressing ones. Mutual relationships, dominance of interactions and their classifications were explored using fuzzy interpretive structural modeling (FISM) and fuzzy MICMAC analysis.

The study of situation-specific operational maturity challenges convinced the authors to propose a distinct FISM model that depicts the relationship among these challenges. Keeping commissions and fees reasonable emerges as the challenge which all other challenges seemingly culminate into. One of the most important situation-specific challenges (i.e. customer confidence about infection free delivery) emerges as a linkage challenge which aggravates as well as is aggravated by certain challenges.

Besides enriching literature, the proposed model has implications for practitioners particularly when the similar lethal waves are experienced anywhere. The number of respondents, subjective approach, specific context as well as the geographical area coverage are the key limitations.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first known scientific effort which attempts to model the operational maturity challenges faced by the OFODE during COVID-19 lockdown period. The authors used the FISM modeling approach to forge these interrelated challenges into a structural model.

This study aims to investigate the impact of I4.0 technologies and their interoperability on supply chains (SCs) performance and how the integration of such technologies and their interoperability can create pathways for SCs resilience post-COVID-19. This is of paramount importance in the context of COVID-19 as the investigation around I4.0 technologies may provide relevant insights on how SCs may better respond to unexpected situations like the current pandemic with the use of digital technologies.

A survey research method was designed based on some constructs extracted from the literature regarding the main disruptive technologies, interoperability, elements of supply chains processes (SCPs) performance such as integration, collaboration, transparency, efficiency, responsiveness and profitability. The data were collected from March to July 2020 from different regions of the world when the peak of the first wave of the pandemic had occurred. The survey resulted in 115 valid responses. The study used a combination of descriptive, correlation and multiple regression methods to analyse the data.

The study indicates that disruptive technologies significantly impact SCPs performance (integration, collaboration, responsiveness and transparency) and their resilience. The findings did not support the notion that these technologies improve the efficiency of SCs, a significant contrast to the existing literature. Our findings also refute the existing understanding that interoperability moderates the impact of disruptive technologies on SCPs performance and enhancing the resilience of SCs. However, the findings show that the integration of I4.0 technologies and their interoperability has a positive impact on SCPs profitability.

The findings strongly advocate that this integration plays an important role in improving SC performance, and a future pathway of SC resiliency post-COVID-19. Considering that the I4.0 trend will impact SCs in the coming years, this study brings a relevant contribution to researchers and practitioners.

This study makes a unique contribution by investigating a novel causal relationship between the main elements (I4.0 technologies, interoperability, processes performance and strategic outcomes) related to the SC in this new context.

This research investigates the impact of the strategic sourcing process on the supply chain response to COVID-19. The paper presents practitioners' perspectives (experts in supply chain management, especially involved in the procurement field) on the strategic sourcing process's impact on the supply chain response.

The study follows a survey-based approach for data collection. It uses a descriptive survey methodology where questions related to the impact of the strategic sourcing process on the supply chain response in the face of the coronavirus pandemic were explored by practitioners.

In total, 130 valid responses were obtained. The results showed that the majority of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that strategic sourcing positively impacts the supply chain response amid the COVID-19 effects. Also, for the five phases of the strategic sourcing process, the majority of respondents considered them as a high and very high impact on the supply chain response.

This paper provides timely insights for practitioners and academics, especially those involved in the supply chain management area, showing how the strategic sourcing process plays an important role in making supply chains more responsive amid disruption situations.

Findings of this paper clearly shows the impact of the phases of the strategic sourcing process on the responsiveness of the supply chains amid the COVID-19 pandemic. This can encourage supply chain leadership to devote more time to strategic sourcing initiatives to generate improvements on the supply chain performance.

This paper is unique since it brings an unexplored relation in respect to strategic sourcing amid disruption situations, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, from a practitioner's perspective. It also significantly contributes to developing new directions for the supply chain management domain to deal with large-scale disruptions, such as the coronavirus pandemic.

The authors analysed the operations of two synchronised channels by focusing on “buy online and return in store” (BORS) strategies in fast-fashion retail by investigating internal and external factors affecting this omnichannel strategy.

The authors apply a combination of techniques to identify the BORS factors. Firstly, a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis was used to define the operational factors of BORS adoption. The authors then apply analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to evaluate the factors under four SWOT categories for kids, male and female consumer groups. The factors of BORS were then ranked using the fuzzy VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (fuzzy VIKOR) approach.

Combining the SWOT, AHP and fuzzy VIKOR techniques, the authors identified 21 factors in this study. The opportunity that BORS provides for trying in the fitting room for a better convenient shopping experience was ranked as the most important factor, followed by the opportunity to create a loyal customer profile with an easy and well-organised return process. Furthermore, the results reveal that the child consumer group is the most critical of the stated operations factors, followed by male and female consumers.

The authors described the operational factors and supported the decision-making system of BORS for each consumer group with a priority ranking to realise effective managerial management for fast-fashion retailers and practitioners.

The study contributes to the growing literature on the BORS omnichannel strategy, specifically for fast-fashion retail based on consumer needs.

Industry 4.0 has been one of the most topics of interest by researches and practitioners in recent years. Then, researches which bring new insights related to the subjects linked to the Industry 4.0 become relevant to support Industry 4.0's initiatives as well as for the deployment of new research works. Considering “organizational learning” as one of the most crucial subjects in this new context, this article aims to identify dimensions present in the literature regarding the relation between organizational learning and Industry 4.0 seeking to clarify how learning can be understood into the context of the fourth industrial revolution. In addition, future research directions are presented as well.

This study is based on a systematic literature review that covers Industry 4.0 and organizational learning based on publications made from 2012, when the topic of Industry 4.0 was coined in Germany, using data basis Web of Science and Google Scholar. Also, NVivo software was used in order to identify keywords and the respective dimensions and constructs found out on this research.

Nine dimensions were identified between organizational learning and Industry 4.0. These include management, Industry 4.0, general industry, technology, sustainability, application, interaction between industry and the academia, education and training and competency and skills. These dimensions may be viewed in three main constructs which are essentially in order to understand and manage learning in Industry 4.0's programs. They are: learning development, Industry 4.0 structure and technology Adoption.

Even though there are relatively few publications that have studied the relationship between organizational learning and Industry 4.0, this article makes a material contribution to both the theory in relation to Industry 4.0 and the theory of learning - for its unprecedented nature, introducing the dimensions comprising this relation as well as possible future research directions encouraging empirical researches.

This article identifies the thematic dimensions relative to Industry 4.0 and organizational learning. The understanding of this relation has a relevant contribution to professionals acting in the field of organizational learning and Industry 4.0 in the sense of affording an adequate deployment of these elements by organizations.

This article is unique for filling a gap in the academic literature in terms of understanding the relation between organizational learning and Industry 4.0. The article also provides future research directions on learning within the context of Industry 4.0.

This study endeavours to (a) develop a comprehensive interpretive structural modelling (ISM) toolkit containing sufficient details about the suitability and procedural aspects of each ISM approach and offer points of reference for budding researchers, (b) highlight the compatibility of ISM approaches with other qualitative and quantitative approaches, and (c) chalk-out an agenda for future research.

This study is based on an extensive review of 74 studies where researchers have used one or more ISM approaches. These studies span across the different industry sectors.

There exists a huge void in terms of the methodological synthesis of ISM approaches. ISM approaches are frequently used in sync with other qualitative and quantitative approaches. Furthermore, it highlights the need of improving the robustness of the proposed ISM models by sharing the critical details of research process.

Being a review-based work, it could not illustrate the discussed ISM approaches with real data. However, it offers a research agenda for the prospective researchers.

The prerequisites, pitfalls, suitability and the procedural aspects of various ISM approaches contained in this toolkit are equally useful for the academicians as well as practitioners.

In the absence of a synthesized framework, this study contributes a comprehensive ISM toolkit which will help the researchers to choose a suitable ISM approach in a given case.

The readymade garments (RMG) industry acts as one of the foremost vital catalysts for financial as well as social advancement of Bangladesh. Due to the harsh impact of COVID-19, RMG sector has been confronting a never-seen-before phenomenon. Since the supply chain has seriously been influenced, concern raises among industry and policymakers on how to support against disturbances resulting from pandemics. Accordingly, this research aims to explore the vulnerability and capability factors of RMG sector in Bangladesh, their relationship and how these variables affect supply chain resilience.

A qualitative research design has been employed. In the first stage, content analysis has been performed. Since COVID-19 is a new experience, newspapers were the source to become acquainted with the vulnerability and capability factors following the guidelines provided by Pettit et al. (2010). In the second stage, in-depth interviews with key informants were conducted to investigate the relationship among the variables and how these factors may influence supply chain resilience.

This study identifies fourteen capability factors and their sub-factors of RMG industry in Bangladesh in order to improve the resilience capacity against the vulnerabilities in the context of COVID-19 pandemic.

This research is based on the setting of particular industry in Bangladesh, where respondents are immersed in a unique culture. Special care is required to generalize the results to other segments and phenomena.

The framework recognizes the balanced and unbalanced strength with the capability's components and find the relation between capabilities and vulnerabilities within the fashion industry. By creating the resilience network with the four conceivable positions, companies can find themselves with their capability's components and natural vulnerabilities.

This study investigates diverse components of capability figure against vulnerabilities to create the supply chain resilience. This paper, moreover, develops with four conceivable positions with their capabilities against existing vulnerabilities which brings timely contribution considering the context of COVID-19.