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Supply chains need to be made viable in this volatile and competitive market, which could be possible through digitalization. This study is an attempt to explore the role of Industry 4.0, smart supply chain, supply chain agility and supply chain resilience on sustainable business performance from the lens of natural resource-based view.

The study tests the proposed model using a covariance-based structural equation modelling and further investigates the ranking of each construct using the artificial neural networks approach in AMOS and SPSS respectively. A total of 234 respondents selected using purposive sampling aided in capturing the industry practices across supply chains in the UK. The full collinearity test was carried out to study the common method bias and the content validity was carried out using the item content validity index and scale content validity index. The convergent and discriminant validity of the constructs and mediation study was carried out in SPSS and AMOS V.23.

The results are overtly inferring the significant impact of Industry 4.0 practices on creating smart and ultimately sustainable supply chains. A partial relationship is established between Industry 4.0 and supply chain agility through a smart supply chain. This work empirically reinstates the combined significance of green practices, Industry 4.0, smart supply chain, supply chain agility and supply chain resilience on sustainable business value. The study also uses the ANN approach to determine the relative importance of each significant variable found in SEM analysis. ANN determines the ranking among the significant variables, i.e. supply chain resilience > green practices > Industry 4.0> smart supply chain > supply chain agility presented in descending order.

This study is a novel attempt to establish the role of digitalization in SCs for attaining sustainable business value, providing empirical support to the mediating role of supply chain agility, supply chain resilience and smart supply chain and manifests a significant integrated framework. This work reinforces the integrated model that combines all the constructs dealt with in silos so far in prior literature.

With the holistic approaches of Industry 4.0, products, services, standards, and application techniques have been improved. This digitalization era has not only impacted the production and service dynamics, but also added advanced dimensions to logistics and supply chain management. According to the current world standards, consumer behavior makes the logistics and supply chain processes more challenging. Especially during the COVID-19 outbreak, logistics and supply chain operations became more crucial for the firms, as most consumers have tended toward online shopping while they are in lockdown. Therefore, the competitive environment today enables firms to adapt the technologies and approaches of Logistics 4.0 and smart/digital supply chain, as they must respond to consumers' demands quickly. Moreover, firms need to have strong relations with their supply chain partners via these technologies. The technologies such as the Internet of Things (IOT), cyber-physical system, Big Data, and cloud computing help to change the fundamentals of logistics and supply chain and improve processes for all industries. This study aims to analyze the transformation of traditional logistics and supply chain activities into Logistics 4.0 and smart/digital supply chain. Primarily, we hope to analyze the existing studies by investigating the concept of Logistics 4.0 within Industry 4.0 dynamics. As firms develop their logistics operations, their supply chain processes will be shaped by the technologies and applications, and this situation also leads us to find out the importance of smart or digital supply chain operations. Discussing the potentials of smart or digital supply chain also lets us to reveal how companies handle their logistics operations during the COVID-19 period.

Industry 4.0 has put forward a smart perspective on managing supply chain networks and their operations. The current manufacturing system is primarily data-driven. Industries are deploying new emerging technologies in their operations to build a competitive edge in the business environment; however, the true potential of smart manufacturing has not yet been fully unveiled. This research aims to extensively analyse emerging technologies and their interconnection with smart manufacturing in developing smarter supply chains.

This research endeavours to establish a conceptual framework for a smart supply chain. A real case study on a smart factory is conducted to demonstrate the validity of this framework for building smarter supply chains. A comparative analysis is carried out between conventional and smart supply chains to ascertain the advantages of smart supply chains. In addition, a thorough investigation of the several factors needed to transition from smart to smarter supply chains is undertaken.

The integration of smart technology exemplifies the ability to improve the efficiency of supply chain operations. Research findings indicate that transitioning to a smart factory radically enhances productivity, quality assurance, data privacy and labour efficiency. The outcomes of this research will help academic and industrial sectors critically comprehend technological breakthroughs and their applications in smart supply chains.

This study highlights the implications of incorporating smart technologies into supply chain operations, specifically in smart purchasing, smart factory operations, smart warehousing and smart customer performance. A paradigm transition from conventional, smart to smarter supply chains offers a comprehensive perspective on the evolving dynamics in automation, optimisation and manufacturing technology domains, ultimately leading to the emergence of Industry 5.0.

As traditional supply chains are increasingly becoming intelligent with more objects embedded with sensors and better communication, intelligent decision making and automation capabilities, the new smart supply chain presents unprecedented opportunities for achieving cost reduction and enhancing efficiency improvement. The purpose of this paper is to study and explore the currents status and remaining issues of smart supply chain management.

A literature review is conducted to synthesize the earlier work in this area, and to conceptualize and discuss the smart supply chain characteristics. Further, the authors formulate and investigate five key research topics including information management, IT infrastructure, process automation, advanced analytics, and supply chain integration.

Studies in those aforementioned subject fields are reviewed, categorized, and analyzed based on the review questions defined in the study. It is notable that while the topics of converging atoms with digits are increasingly attracting attention from researchers and practitioners alike, there are many more interesting research questions needing to be addressed.

The paper provides original and relevant guidance for supply chain management researchers and practitioners on developing smart supply chains.

This paper aims to present a smart, sustainable supply chain practices structure on the basis of the relational view.

A method based on fuzzy cognitive map was applied to construct a relational map to introduce and implement such relational methods. Considering this relational map as a guideline, observations into particular methods and ways of applying relational methods to attain sustainable development goals across organizations has been introduced.

Primary outcomes provided a series of relational methods for the purpose of giving advice to those organizations and their suppliers for smart, sustainable supply chain. Reliance between relational methods were examined and assessed under seven meaningful groups: economic internet of things (IoT), green internet of things, social internet of things, economic supply chain, green supply chain, social supply chain and other variables.

This study guides managers toward an improved perception of the connection among IoT instances and sustainable supply to modeling smart, sustainable supply chain. Managers can determine the practices that need more focus along with the practices that are less relevant. Thus, this will help managers in the decision-making process and to organize their decisions by planning and calculating the relative importance and influence of smart, sustainable practices on each other and on the company’s smart, sustainable program.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first approach that promptly examines and determines the interdependencies between relational methods and constructs a relational map for the purpose to introduce and analyze smart, sustainable supply chain.

This study explores the influencing factors affecting smart supply chain innovation (SSCI) performance of commodity distribution enterprises, and proposes the corresponding framework from the perspective of the application of technology to improve the SSCI performance and make up the research gap in this field.

A multi-case study method is adopted in this study. Four distribution commodity distribution enterprises A, B, C and D in China are chosen as case enterprises. The interviews with senior management team members are used to collect data. The combination of open coding and axial coding are used to process the data. By testing the reliability and validity, the theoretical framework is summarized.

First, we find that the technology application cost inhibits SSCI and that the level of technology suitable for enterprise development will promote SSCI. Second, SSCI in structure, management and services can improve the performance and innovation ability of enterprises. Third, the quality of multi-channel integration and degree of customization around customer demand can significantly modify the above effects.

Compared with previous studies, this study reveals for the first time the correlation between the SSCI performance and technology application, SSCI in structure, management and service, providing new ideas for relevant researches on SSCI, and providing new theoretical support for managers' decision-making related to SSCI.

While it is known that digital transformation facilitates data flow in supply chains, its importance on green supply chain management (GSCM) has not been investigated concisely. This paper aims to expand the theory of digital transformation in GSCM by investigating the interconnections between these concepts and providing an integrative view of a smart green supply chain management (Smart GSCM).

This adopts a configurational perspective on digital transformation and supply chain management (SCM) to investigate the different dimensions of Smart GSCM and their contribution to green performance. Therefore, this paper analyzes data from 473 manufacturing companies using regression techniques.

The results show how smart supply chain contributes to green performance through managing green relationships (external GSCM activities) and establishing green operations (internal GSCM activities). Furthermore, this paper finds partial mediating effects for external and internal GSCM activities on green performance. These findings show that smart supply chain (i.e. digital transformation strategy and front-end technologies, supported by several back-end technologies) is directly associated with higher levels of GSCM. It is specifically associated with one of the internal dimensions of green operations, namely, green purchasing activities. Hence, the findings suggest that digital transformation alone is insufficient to achieve green performance, needing a GSCM configuration to mediate this effect.

This study calls attention to how managers should integrate these at least three different perspectives of SCM: digital transformation, external relationships and internal operations to increase green performance.

As the main contribution, this study provides a configurational and holistic understanding of the different dimensions and mechanisms in Smart GSCM.

This study aims to identify blockchain-related innovation trends that can improve trust networks in a smart city's transport and supply chain networks. Trust networks are crucial in building and maintaining the trust of citizens in smart cities. By promoting transparency and accountability, facilitating collaboration and innovation, enhancing citizen participation and protecting privacy and security, trust networks can help to ensure that smart cities are developed and implemented in a responsible and sustainable way. A systematic literature review identifies 60 conceptual and empirical studies. This research focuses on the current problems and developing procurement and supply chain strategy and the potential benefits of using blockchain in these areas. It suggests ways for the smart city's transport and supply chain networks to utilise blockchain to improve operations and supply chain strategy and identifies innovation trends related to blockchain. The study also includes a systematic literature review and Blockchain Transformation and Influence model as the basis to enhance trust networks in the supply chain.

The aims of this paper is to show how supply chains can become a lot smarter to deal effectively with risk and meet business objectives.

For this Global Chief Supply Chain Officer Study, IBM group leaders interviewed 400 senior executives from North America, Western Europe, and the Asia Pacific region who are responsible for their organizations' supply‐chain strategies and operations.

Findings in five key areas summarize the state of supply‐chain management today: cost containment; visibility, risk; customer intimacy; and globalization.

IBM sees a different kind of supply chain emerging – a smarter supply chain with three core characteristics: Instrumented – supply‐chain data previously created by people will increasingly be generated by sensors, RFID tags, meters, actuators, GPSs, and other devices and systems; Interconnected – smarter supply chains would take advantage of unprecedented levels of interaction that will facilitate collaboration on a massive scale; and Intelligent – to assist executives in evaluating trade‐offs, intelligent systems will assess myriad constraints and alternatives, allowing decision makers to simulate various courses of action.

Smarter supply chains would have the analytic capability to evaluate myriad alternatives in terms of supply, manufacturing, and distribution – and the flexibility to reconfigure flows as conditions change. Executives could then plan for contingencies and execute them.

Smart contracts are self-executing computer programmes that have the potential to be used in several applications instead of traditional written contracts. With the recent rise of smart systems (e.g. Internet of things) and digital platforms (e.g. blockchain), smart contracts are gaining high interest in both business and academia. In this work, a framework for smart contracts was proposed with using reputation as the system currency, and conducts currency mining through fulfilling the physical commitments that are agreed upon.

A game theory model is developed to represent the proposed system, and then a system dynamics simulator is used to check the response of the blockchain with different sizes.

The numerical results showed that the proposed system could identify the takeover attacks and protect the blockchain from being controlled by an outsider. Another important finding is that careful setting of the maximum currency amount can improve the scalability of the blockchain and prevent the currency inflation.

This work is proposed as a conceptual framework for supply chain 4.0. Future work will be dedicated to implement and experiment the proposed framework for other characteristics that may be encountered in the context of supply chain 4.0, such as different suppliers' tiers, different customer typologies and smart logistics applications, which may reveal other challenges and provide additional interesting insights.

By using the proposed framework, smart contracts and blockchains can be implemented to handle many issues in the context of operations and supply chain 4.0, especially in times of turbulence such as the COVID-19 global pandemic crisis.

This work emphasizes that smart contracts are not too smart to be applied in the context of supply chain 4.0. The proposed framework of smart contracts is expected to serve supply chain 4.0 by automating the knowledge work and enabling scenario planning through the game theory model. It will also improve online transparency and order processing in real-time through secured multitier connectivity. This can be applied in global supply chain functions backed with digitization, notably during the time of the pandemic, in which e-commerce and online shopping have changed the rules of the game.