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In the context of a retailer with an international supply network, this paper develops theories of (a) how both stability and strong ties in an international supply network combine to yield a resource base that enables the development of flexible relationships with suppliers, (b) how stability and relationship flexibility in the international supply network of a retail reseller may in turn be driven both by the international diversity and by the density of the retailer’s supply network in a product category, and (c) how both the international diversity and the density of a retailer’s supply network may directly affect the likelihood of a retailer developing flexible relationships with its supplier. In doing so, this paper develops and presents six hypotheses and discusses some approaches to measurement of the underlying constructs and testing the hypothesized effects.

“Mirror Worlds” were suggested by David Gelernter based on a bold assertion: “You will look into a computer screen and see reality.” With mirror worlds, managers could be proactive, anticipating what might happen and acting accordingly, instead of waiting till events happen and then reacting. This paper extends the notion of mirrors worlds to supply chain management. In the case of supply chain management, managers could test the impact of making changes in their supply chains to study the impact.

However, mirror worlds could be extended to help actually monitor and manage supply chains to respond and adapt to changes in the world that affected the supply chain. In particular, mirror worlds could be “real” worlds if control for some of the activities between supply chain participants is in effect “turned over” to the mirror world. In that case, the mirror world would show the actual world, with the system making many of the decisions.

This chapter shows how the forecasting and the planning functions in a supply chain can be organized so they will yield optimal forecasts for an entire supply chain. We achieve this result by replacing the process of generating forecasts with that of making optimal coordinated supply chain decisions. The ideal performance for a supply chain is to have the flows of materials perfectly synchronized with the demand rate for the finished product that the chain produces. When the equality is achieved, we have a pure “demand pull” supply chain. This ideal is difficult to achieve because forecasting and decision making in supply chains are typically decentralized and forecasting and planning uncoordinated. Creating a competitive advantage for the finished product requires achieving the ideal. The opposite, not achieving the ideal, leads to uncoordinated forecasts and decisions that trigger unintended buildup of inventories, lost sales and the bullwhip effects, slowness and high costs.

This chapter shows how (1) we can achieve the ideal synchronous supply chain flows by using temporal linear programs; (2) then, we guide each individual supply chain member company in developing his optimal operations plan to guide him in executing his part in the supply chain plan. The result from the two factors: the entire supply chain will achieve the ideal flow rates.

The world is experiencing technological disruptions due to the dynamic business environment, technological advancements, customer preferences, increasing competitive pressure, globalization of supply chains, and environmental disruptions. Industry 4.0 technologies are paving the way for increased production efficiency and worker safety while optimizing resource utilization and improving sustainability. Industry 4.0 technologies find their applications in almost all sectors, but few studies explore industry 4.0 technologies in agriculture. The agri-food sector has experienced an upward trend in digitalization projects. The digital agri-food supply chains will help in the autonomous decision-making process, leading to enhanced visibility in the agri-food supply chains through real-time traceability solutions, thereby leading to improved food quality. It is anticipated that industry 4.0 technologies in the agri-food supply chains will impact climate change disruptions and improve the unequal distribution of resources in the agricultural sector. The present study highlights various industry 4.0 technologies and their applications in the agri-food supply chains. Based on the findings from a literature review, the study establishes 10 key performance indicators that will benefit decision-making in a digital, data-centered environment.

Supply chain vulnerability (SCV) analysis is vital for manufacturers globally because it creates a pathway for building resilient supply chains in uncertain environments. This study aims to identify drivers of SCV in the Indian manufacturing sector.

Sixteen drivers were identified from the literature review and followed by expert interviews. Interpretive structural modeling was used to determine the hierarchical structural relationship among identified SCV factors.

It was found that risk is not a board room agenda. Misaligned performance measures with incentives and lack of risk dashboard are the causal factors of SCV. Supply chain security, centralized production and distribution and lack of trust in the supply chain were driven factors.

This provides new insights to assess and prioritize initiatives for supply chain sustainability in terms of continuing business operations. The structural model provides a systemic view of SCV and helps reduce vulnerability.

Digital transformation misalignment refers to disparities in digital transformation levels between suppliers and buyers across the production and operation process. It has negatively affected supply chain stability. However, the existing research concerning the economic consequences has not been adequately addressed. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate whether such digital transformation misalignment increases supplier financial risk and to identify the factors influencing this relationship.

This paper examines binary combinations of suppliers and buyers listed on China’s A-share market between 2011 and 2021. This group constitutes a sample to empirically test the influence of digital transformation misalignment on the supplier’s financial risk, as well as the moderating effect of the geographical and organizational distances.

The paper’s findings demonstrate that digital transformation misalignment has indeed a significant increase in the supplier’s financial risk. Moreover, the impact is more intense when the geographical or organizational distance between the supplier and the buyer is relatively large.

The existing literature rarely explores the potential risks arising from digital transformation misalignment between supply chain partners. Therefore, this paper fills a notable gap as it is the first to study the impact of digital transformation misalignment on the supplier’s financial risk and the specific applied mechanisms. The contribution significantly improves the field of corporate digital transformation, particularly, within the context of supply chain management.

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between information technology (IT) capabilities, information integration and supply chain resilience within the context of a developing country.

Employing a structured questionnaire survey, the study collected cross-sectional data from 205 agro-food processing firms in Uganda, drawn from a sample of 248. The data were subsequently analyzed using SPSS version 27 to validate the hypothesized relationships.

The study findings revealed that IT capabilities and information integration are positively and significantly associated with supply chain resilience. Moreover, it established a positive and significant link between IT capabilities and information integration. The results further revealed both IT capabilities and information integration account for 62.2% of the variance in supply chain resilience (SCRES) in agro-food processing firms in Uganda. Notably, the findings revealed the partial mediating role of information integration, addressing the need to understanding the mechanisms through which IT capabilities influence SCRES.

First, the study used a cross-sectional design which makes it difficult to test causality. Some of the study variables need to be studied over time due to their inherent behavioral elements such as collaboration and information sharing. Hence, future research that could, where possible, collect longitudinal data on the study variables would add value to the findings. Second, the study was limited to agro-food processing firms in Uganda in selected districts of Kampala, Wakiso, Mukono and Jinja. Further research needs to be done in other sectors such as service industry and other geographical locations in Uganda and other developing economies to provide more generality of the findings. Third, the study was based on IT capabilities, information integration and supply chain resilience. There are other variables that affect supply chain resilience such as business continuity planning strategy, interactions between teams within an organization in building resilience, supply chain velocity, system orientation and flexibility among others which can be interesting for further research.

Managers are advised to motivate their IT-related personnel. Efficient use of IT systems by staff, especially who are skillful at self-study, enhances their ability to respond to disruptions accordingly. This enhances SCRES. Additionally, to get feedback from supply chain stakeholders, agro-food processing firms should assess the quality of their supply chain services through using IT capabilities as well as integrating their information.

This study contributes to existing literature by adopting information processing perspective to provide an empirical understanding of IT capabilities and information integration as key resources and capabilities essential for information processing in building SCRES. Furthermore, the study introduces the novel insight of the mediating role of information integration as a pathway in which IT capabilities enhance SCRES in agro-food processing firms in Uganda.

This paper aims to explore the significance of resource sharing in business to capture new market opportunities and securing competitive advantages. Firms enter strategic alliances (SAs), especially for designing new products and to overcome challenges in today’s fast changing environment. Research projects have dealt with the creation of SAs, however without concrete referencing the impact on selected supply chain resources. Furthermore, academia rather focused on elaborating the advantages and disadvantages of SAs and how this affects structural changes in the organization than examining the effects on supply chain complexity and performance.

The authors collected and triangulated a multi-industry data set containing primary data coming from more than 200 experts in the field of supply chain management along and secondary data coming from Refinitiv’s joint ventures (JVs) and SA database and IR solutions’ database for annual reports. The data is evaluated in three empirical settings using binomial testing and structural equation modeling.

The results show that nonequity SAs and JVs have varying degrees of impact on supply chain resources due to differences in the scope of the partnership. This has a negative impact on the complexity of the supply chain, with the creation of a JV leading to greater complexity than the creation of a nonequity SA. Furthermore, the findings prove that complexity negatively impacts overall supply chain performance. In addition, this study elaborates that increased management capabilities are needed to exploit the potentials of SAs and sheds light on hurdles that must be overcome within the supply network when forming a partnership. Finally, the authors give practical implications on how organizations can cope with increasing complexity to lower the risk of poor supply chain performance.

This study investigates occurring challenges when establishing nonequity SAs or JVs and how this affects their supply chain by examining supply networks in terms of complexity and performance.

In recent years, technological advancement has played a crucial role in the growth of emerging economies. However, as with any novel technological development, there are often concerns and hesitations surrounding its implementation. This study aims to investigate the factors influencing blockchain adoption and usage. Thereby evaluating its impact on supply chain performance.

This is a deductive research based on the modified form unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, which is a persuasive model that has been used in numerous studies on the acceptance and usage of information technology systems. For this study, valid data was collected from 129 management-level supply chain professionals and policymakers working in diverse manufacturing industries. The collected data was used for testing hypotheses by deploying the structural equation modeling technique.

The findings of this study reveal that facilitating conditions and technology readiness highly are key influencers for organizations to implement this disruptive technology. Moreover, blockchain adoption and usage can significantly enhance supply chain performance.

Blockchain technology is a novel and promising disruptive technology that industries are looking forward to adopting and using. For the policymakers and supply chain strategists working in a developing country, this study offers a comprehensive viewpoint on the swift acceptance and usage of blockchain technology to facilitate supply chain operations.

This study aims to develop the alleviating bullwhip effects framework (ABEF) replenishment rules, and bullwhip, inventory fluctuations and customer service fulfilment rates were examined. In addition, automated smoothing and replenishment rules can alleviate supply chain bullwhip effects. This study aims to understand the current artificial intelligence (AI) implementation practice in alleviating bullwhip effects in supply chain management. This study aimed to develop a system for writing reviews using a systematic approach.

The methodology for the present study consists of three parts: Part 1 deals with the systematic review process. In Part 2, the study applies social network analysis (SNA) to the fourth phase of the systematic review process. In Part 3, the author discusses developing research clusters to analyse the research state more granularly. Systematic literature reviews synthesize scientific evidence through repeatable, transparent and rigorous procedures. By using this approach, you can better interpret and understand the data. The author used two databases (EBSCO and World of Science) for unbiased analysis. In addition, systematic reviews follow preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses.

The study uses UCINET6 software to analyse the data. The study found that specific topics received high centrality (more attention) from scholars when it came to the study topic. Contrary to this, others experienced low centrality scores when using NETDRAW visualization graphs and dynamic capability clusters. Comprehensive analyses are used for the study’s comparison of clusters.

This study used a journal publication as the only source of information. Peer-reviewed journal papers were eliminated for their lack of rigorousness in evaluating the state of practice. This paper discusses the bullwhip effect of digital technology on supply chain management. Considering the increasing use of “AI” in their publications, other publications dealing with sensor integration could also have been excluded. To discuss the top five and bottom five topics, the author used magazines and tables.

The study explores the practical implications of smoothing the bullwhip effect through AI systems, collaboration, leadership and digital skills. Artificial intelligence is rapidly becoming a preferred tool in the supply chain, so management must understand the opportunities and challenges associated with its implementation. Furthermore, managers should consider how AI can influence supply chain collaboration concerning trust and forecasting to smooth the bullwhip effect.

Digital leadership and addressing the digital skills gap are also essential for the success of AI systems. According to the framework, it is necessary to balance AI performance and accountability. As a result of the framework and structured management approach, the author can examine the implications of AI along the supply chain.

The study uses a systematic literature review based on SNA to analyse how AI can alleviate the bullwhip effects of supply chain disruption and identify the focused and the most important AI topics related to the bullwhip phenomena. SNA uses qualitative and quantitative methodologies to identify research trends, strengths, gaps and future directions for research. Salient topics for reviewing papers were identified. Centrality metrics were used to analyse the contemporary topic’s importance, including degree, betweenness and eigenvector centrality. ABEF is presented in the study.