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While digitisation is a key driver of the fourth industrial revolution (Industry 4.0); organisations have different approaches to deal with this topic to get a clearer picture of the opportunities and challenges concerning the digital transformation. The purpose of this paper is to identify the impact of digitisation on procurement and its role within the area of supply chain management. The research will also explore potential barriers to digitising procurement and supply chains and ways to overcome them. Finally, the significance of potential enabling technologies to the digitisation will also be examined.

A quantitative approached utilising an online survey was used to collect the primary data for this study. Data were collected from 414 participants directly involved with procurement or related business functions and work for different organisations in different industries. The survey included eight items about the impact of digitisation on organisational performance in the area of procurement and supply chains; ten items related to key barriers to digitisation of organisations and ways to overcome them; and seven items about enabling technologies to leverage procurement procedures and processes digitisation. All of these items utilised the Likert five-point level of agreement scale.

The findings indicate that digitisation of procurement process can yield several benefits including: supporting daily business and administrative tasks, supporting complex decision-making processes, procurement will become more focussed on strategic decisions and activities, procurement will become a strategic interface to support organisational efficiency, effectiveness, and profitability, and supporting the creation of new business models, products, and services. The authors were also able to confirm that there are barriers to digitising procurement process and supply chains and such barriers found in existing procedures, processes, capacities, and capabilities. Finally, the significance of a number of enabling technologies to the digitisation process was revealed.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study of its kind with participants located world-wide. Industry 4.0 as a topic had been explored within different business areas and functions but very limited research specifically explored potential impact, barriers, and enabling technologies of procurement 4.0. The results can be beneficial for organisations already implemented Industry 4.0 or planning to do so. The study can also benefit academic scholars interested in the researched topic, business professionals, organisations within different sectors, and any other party interested in understanding more the concept of procurement 4.0.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a validated measurement model and typology for chain digitisation maturity, defined as the degree of interorganisational collaboration through ICT.

Through a literature (meta) study, 22 existing maturity models are found and analysed, on the basis of which an integrated framework is developed. This framework is subsequently applied to interorganisational collaboration within the Dutch retail sector (i.e. retailers and their wholesalers, manufacturers, customers, and trade organisations). The measurement model is tested by determining the chain digitisation level of 24 different retail sub‐sectors (branches) through desk research, interviews, and surveys. Data are collected at the level of the branch, mainly through representatives of trade organisations.

The framework (i.e. measurement model) appears to be applicable to describing the Dutch retail sector and comparing its branches, providing both expected and new insights. The typology supports the vision of the combination of two dimensions: the level of technology and the level of organisation.

The framework has been applied to the (Dutch) retail sector only. It seems suitable for application to other sectors as well.

The empirical application provides an extended view of the current situation of the (Dutch) retail sector with regard to chain digitisation. On this basis, a roadmap can be derived to support the adoption and deployment of chain digitisation among retail organisations.

The framework for chain digitisation and the derived typology are of value to the SCM research community, as they are specifically developed and tested at the level of interorganisational chains.

A growing need for financing in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has become a significant obstacle to the development of firms. To remove this barrier, the purpose of this paper is to examine how supply chain finance (SCF) assists the firms to improve their performance by utilizing the resource-based view (RBV). Furthermore, the present study also pursues to test the effect of trade digitization as a moderating variable in the relationship between SC finance and the firm performance.

Using data from the textile sector, the authors run confirmatory factor analysis in AMOS 24 and hierarchical linear regression model in SPSS 23 to measure the proposed model and hypotheses, respectively.

The study suggests that SCF significantly improves the SMEs performance. Moreover, trade digitization strengthens the relationship between SCF and SMEs performance. Thus, the current study significantly describes the firm RBV through SCF and trade digitization to predict the SMEs performance.

SMEs entrepreneurs or executives can optimize the working capital through SCF and enhance the visibility of transactions through digitization for improving SMEs performance. Moreover, SCF protects the SMEs due to its nature of risk mitigation strategy.

This study covered the unexplored gap in the previous literature of supply chain management by establishing the relationship between SCF and the firm performance empirically while identifying the role of trade digitization as moderating variable in the context of textile SMEs by employing RBV theory.

Several manufacturing firms are facing various internal concerns such as financial and operational issues, which strongly pushed the firms to search for solutions (e.g. supply chain finance; SCF) to sustain their supply chain operations and supply chain effectiveness (SCE). In this view, this study attempts to explore four key factors influencing the adoption of SCF, which, in turn, impacts SCE in Chinese manufacturing firms. Therefore, this study aims to propose that how information sharing, external collaboration, digitization and financial institutions enable manufacturing firms’ to adopt SCF that subsequently enhances SCE. Moreover, how supply chain risk (SCR) mediates the association between SCF adoption and SCE.

The current research recruited 177 Chinese manufacturing firms administrating a questionnaire to supply chain managers and tested the proposed conceptual model and associations using structural equation modeling.

The results reveal that all four factors are positively related to the adoption of SCF, which consequently improves the SCE of manufacturing firms. Moreover, the findings show that the effect of SCF significantly and positively impact SCE. Further, the result also confirmed that SCF significantly mitigates SCR, thereby leads to improves SCE.

The current study mainly focuses on Chinese manufacturing firms, which may generate low generalizability. In addition, this study was based on a cross-sectional research design which may generate common method bias. Therefore, more comparative studies are needed between developed and developing countries to enhance the generalizability of the study findings.

This study provides significant new insights about how marketing managers and practitioners can adopt SCF in manufacturing firms via information sharing, external collaboration, digitization and financial institutions to mitigate firm risk and enhance SCE.

The approach used in this research differs from many of the previous studies and investigates the factors of adoption of SCF and their impact on SCE in the manufacturing firm sector within the context of the Chinese economy. Therefore, this research is an important guide for scholars, managers and executives of marketing, while providing them with a new model, significant insights which are significant in their organizations.

The aim of this study is to identify and prioritize a list of key digitization enablers that can improve supply chain management (SCM). SCM is an important driver for organization's competitive advantage. The fierce competition in the market has forced companies to look the past conventional decision-making process, which is based on intuition and previous experience. The swift evolution of information technologies (ITs) and digitization tools has changed the scenario for many industries, including those involved in SCM.

The Best Worst Method (BWM) has been applied to evaluate, rank and prioritize the key digitization and IT enablers beneficial for the improvement of SC performance. The study also used additive value function to rank the organizations on their SC performance with respect to digitization enablers.

The total of 25 key enablers have been identified and ranked. The results revealed that “big data/data science skills”, “tracking and localization of products” and “appropriate and feasibility study for aiding the selection and adoption of big data technologies and techniques ” are the top three digitization and IT enablers that organizations need to focus much in order to improve their SC performance. The study also ranked the SC performance of the organizations based on digitization enablers.

The findings of this study will help the organizations to focus on certain digitization technologies in order to improve their SC performance. This study also provides an original framework for organizations to rank the key digitization enablers according to enablers relevant in their context and also to compare their performance with their counterparts.

This study seems to be the first of its kind in which 25 digitization enablers categorized in four main categories are ranked using a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) tool. This study is also first of its kind in ranking the organizations in their SC performance based on weights/ranks of digitization enablers.

Using the resource-based and the resource dependence theoretical approaches of the firm, the paper explores firm responses to supply chain disruptions during COVID-19. The paper explores how firms develop localization, agility and digitization (L-A-D) capabilities by applying (or not applying) their critical circular economy (CE) and blockchain technology (BCT)-related resources and capabilities that they either already possess or acquire from external agents.

An abductive approach, applying exploratory qualitative research was conducted over a sample of 24 firms. The sample represented different industries to study their critical BCT and CE resources and capabilities and the L-A-D capabilities. Firm resources and capabilities were classified using the technology, organization and environment (TOE) framework.

Findings show significant patterns on adoption levels of the blockchain-enabled circular economy system (BCES) and L-A-D capability development. The greater the BCES adoption capabilities, the greater the L-A-D capabilities. Organizational size and industry both influence the relationship between BCES and L-A-D. Accordingly, research propositions and a research framework are proposed.

Given the limited sample size, the generalizability of the findings is limited. Our findings extend supply chain resiliency research. A series of propositions provide opportunities for future research. The resource-based view and resource-dependency theories are useful frameworks to better understanding the relationship between firm resources and supply chain resilience.

The results and discussion of this study serve as useful guidance for practitioners to create CE and BCT resources and capabilities for improving supply chain resiliency.

The study shows the socio-economic and socio-environmental importance of BCES in the COVID-19 or similar crises.

The study is one of the initial attempts that highlights the possibilities of BCES across multiple industries and their value during pandemics and disruptions.

The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptual model that defines the essential components shaping the new Digital Supply Chains (DSCs) through the implementation and acceleration of Industry 4.0.

The scope of the present work exposes a conceptual approach and review of the key literature from 1989 to 2019, concerning the evolution and transformation of the actors and constructs in logistics and Supply Chain Management (SCM) by means of examining different conceptual models and a state-of-the-art review of Industry 4.0’s concepts and elements, with a focus on digitization in supply chain (SC) processes. A detailed study of the constructs and components of SCM, as defined by their authors, resulted in the development of a referential and systematic model that fuses the inherent concepts and roles of SCM, with the new technological trends directed toward digitization, automation, and the increasing use of information and communication technologies across logistics global value chains.

Having achieved an exploration of the different conceptual frameworks, there is no compelling evidence of the existence of a conceptual SCM that incorporates the basic theoretical constructs and the new roles and elements of Industry 4.0. Therefore, the main components of Industry 4.0 and their impact on DSC Management are described, driving the proposal for a new conceptual model which addresses and accelerates a vision of the future of the interconnectivity between different DSCs, grouped in clusters in order to add value, through new forms of cooperation and digital integration.

This research explores the gap in the current SCM models leading into Industry 4.0. The proposed model provides a novel and comprehensive overview of the new concepts and components driving the nascent and current DSCs. This conceptual framework will further aid researchers in the exploration of knowledge regarding the variables and components presented, as well as the verification of the newly revealed roles and constructs to understand the new forms of cooperation and implementation of Industry 4.0 in digitalized SCs.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has disrupted global supply chains, revealing dreadful gaps and exposing vulnerabilities. Retailers are challenged to tackle risks and organise themselves to fit into the “new normal” scenario. This global outbreak has established a volatile environment for supply chains; it has raised the question of survival in the market, forcing companies to rethink resilient strategies to be adopted for the post-pandemic situation to mitigate the long-term effects of this virus. This study explores the priorities for retail supply chains (RSCs) to align their business operations and strategies for the post-pandemic world.

This study has utilised integrated full consistency model (FUCOM) – best–worst method (BWM) for assessment of RSCs to enhance their business performance irrespective of pandemic disruptions. The FUCOM has been employed to identify the priorities of determinants enhancing business performance, whereas RSC strategies are evaluated using the BWM method.

The current study identifies “Collaboration Efficiency” as the main criterion for accelerating the performance of RSCs in a dynamic social environment. Also, the study concludes that “Order Fulfilment” and “Digital RSCs” are the most appropriate resilient business strategies to mitigate the long-term effects.

Supply-demand balancing is a challenging task at the moment, but highly significant for the future. The pandemic disruptions have placed intense pressure on retailers to deliver products as per consumers' changing behaviours towards the purchase of essentials and other products. Hence, “Order Fulfilment” and “Digital RSCs” should be adopted for meeting customer requirements and to ensure sustainability in the post-pandemic business world.

This work sets out a comprehensive framework which will be helpful for accelerating RSCs performance against pandemic disruption by adopting resilient strategies to mitigate the long-term effects.

Digital supply chain (DSC) is an agile, customer-driven and productive way to develop different forms of returns for companies and to leverage efficient approaches with emerging techniques and data analytics. Though the advantages of digital supply chain management (DSCM) are many, its implementation is quite slow for several reasons. The purpose of this paper is to identify the major barriers which hinder the adoption of DSC and to analyse the interrelationship among them. The barriers of DSC are explored on the basis of existing literature and experts’ opinion.

This paper uses the interpretive structural modelling (ISM) approach to develop a hierarchical structural model which shows the mutual dependence among the barriers of DSC. Cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification analysis was performed to represent these barriers graphically on the basis of their driving power and dependence.

The research demonstrates that the barriers “no sense of urgency”, “lack of industry specific guidelines”, “lack of digital skills and talent” and “high implementation and running cost” are the most significant barriers to digital transformation of supply chain. This paper also suggests some managerial implications to overcome the barriers which hinder the implementation of digital transformation of supply chain.

This paper assists managers and policymakers to understand the order in which these barriers must be tackled and adopts a roadmap for successful implementation of DSCM and reap its benefits.

This is one of the initial research studies which has analysed the barriers of DSC using ISM approach.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how a systematic application of middle-range theorizing, which pays particular attention to contexts and mechanisms, can be used to extend current knowledge on logistics customer service (LCS) in a number of critical areas.

The paper applies Stank et al.’s (2017) framework for middle-ranging theorizing in logistics to develop a research framework and agenda that can guide future LCS research. Results are generated through a review of the LCS literature and an application of the main concepts of middle-range theorizing.

The paper outlines opportunities for middle-range research that would extend LCS knowledge in the areas of human and behavioral factors, time-based competition, supply chain complexity, and digitization and technological innovation.

Describing the main characteristics of middle-range theorizing and how middle-range theorizing can be fruitfully applied to LCS research should help to stimulate new knowledge creation in this important area of supply chain logistics management.

By focusing on why and when questions, middle-range theorizing engages with the practical realities of LCS that interest managers and students. Middle-range theorizing moves researchers toward developing a detailed understanding of what actually has to change in order for desired LCS-related outcomes to occur and the contextual factors likely impacting the change process. The paper should, therefore, allow managers to better translate LCS theory into action.

Middle-range theorizing remains new to the supply chain logistics field. The application of middle-range theorizing to LCS research, and logistics research more generally, demands new perspectives on established relationships with the potential to drive original research in areas most relevant to managers.