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PurposeThe emerging markets are facing a lot of risks and disruptions across their supply chains (SCs) due to the deadly coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. To mitigate the significant post-COVID-19 consequences, organizations should modify their existing strategies and focus more on the key flexible sustainable SC (SSC) strategies. Still now, a limited number of studies have highlighted about the flexible strategies what firms should adopt to reduce the rampant effects in the context of emerging markets.Design/methodology/approachThis study presents an integrated approach including Delphi method, Bayesian, and the Best-Worst-Method (BWM) to identify, assess and evaluate the importance of the key flexible SSC strategies for the footwear industry in the emerging market context.FindingsThe results found the manufacturing flexibility through automation integration as the most important flexible SSC strategy to improve the flexibility and sustainability of modern SCs. Also, developing omni-channel distribution and retailing strategies and increasing the level of preparedness by using artificial intelligent are crucial strategies for overcoming the post-COVID-19 impacts.Originality/valueThe novelty of this research is that the research connects a link among flexible strategies, SCs sustainability, and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the research proposes a novel and intelligent framework based on Delphi and Bayesian-BWM to identify and analyze the key flexible SSC strategies to build up sustainable and robust SCs which can withstand in the post-COVID-19 world.
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The pandemic crisis and the resulting global uncertainties have obviously had a severe impact on the healthcare supply chain (HSC), leading scholars, healthcare executives, and policymakers to focus on the sustainability of the HSC. Technologies have emerged and developed rapidly in recent years, especially in the healthcare industry, for coping with the pandemic crisis and supporting the "new normal" for humankind. Within this context, various new technologies have been implemented to maximize the supply chain process, ensure patient and healthcare worker safety, and improve the quality of care. Hence, the integration of a technological dimension with the traditional three pillars of sustainability may aid in attempts to define the potential attributes of these dimensions of sustainability. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the key attributes of a sustainable healthcare supply chain (SHSC), and this paper presents a new, four-dimensional model for SHSCs, consisting of social, environmental, economic, and technological dimensions. A systematic literature review was conducted, resulting in the identification of 35 potential SHSC attributes. The Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) was then applied to determine the appropriateness of these potential attributes according to the consensus of 13 experts, including healthcare workers in a variety of medical specialties, who profoundly understand HSC sustainability. The results yielded 22 appropriate attributes, which were then categorized across the four dimensions. Consequently, a new model of an SHSC, which prioritizes patient safety, was constructed and is proposed here. This SHSC model can be applied strategically to the healthcare industry to enhance the safety of both medical personnel and patients in a sustainable manner.
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PurposeThe main purpose of this paper is to explore innovative ideas for a sustainable fashion supply chain in the future by focusing on investigating the impacts of COVID-19 on the fashion supply chain and review sustainable supply chain.Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature review (SLR) and a case study have been undertaken to explore the innovative ideas for a sustainable fashion supply chain developed after the COVID-19 outbreak. Having conducted a comprehensive literature search in electronic databases Google Scholar, Emerald Insight, ScienceDirect and ProQuest, 69 articles were selected and reviewed. A case of the Kering Group was used to explain the results.FindingsThis paper highlighted the basic concepts of a sustainable supply chain, reviewed the 10 principles of the United Nation Global Compact and their connections to promoting supply chain sustainability, as well as the three components of a sustainable supply chain: green supply chain, transparent supply chain and circular supply chain. Based on the results of a SLR and a real case of Kering Group, the paper identified 12 innovative ideas for a sustainable fashion supply chain: (1) biodegradable and natural materials, (2) textile recycling, (3) nearshoring, (4) artificial intelligence (AI), (5) robot, (6) 3D printing, (7) Internet of Things, (8) blockchain, (9) reverse resources;(10) bio-packaging, (11) augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) and (12) digital runway.Research limitations/implicationsThe epidemiological situations of the COVID-19 pandemic and the corresponding innovative ideas for a sustainable supply chain may change over time. While this paper provides a comprehensive literature review and case study, further research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of current efforts in the development of a sustainable fashion supply chain through collecting both quantitative and qualitative data.Practical implicationsEmbracing the issues from the COVID-19 pandemic, the results of this study are further explained by the case of Kering Group in the fashion industry. The managerial implications of the results and discussion are the need to adopt innovative ideas for a more sustainable fashion supply chain in the future. The success of sustainable supply chains work by leveraging the best available technologies such as robot, 3D printing, AR and VR, setting consistent standards for sustainability such as Environmental Profit and Loss and Kering & Textile Exchange and communicating with all parties throughout the supply chain, such as blockchain and AI. Investment in developing technology and innovative ideas will be the key of future to supply chain sustainability. Nonetheless, the specific approach used by each organization must be tailored to its characteristics, goals and circumstances.Social implicationsBringing upon unprecedented challenges, the pandemic has shown both companies and consumers just how fragile our planet is. Thus, to protect our planet in the long run, we need to not only make businesses more sustainable but also live more eco-friendly lifestyles.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first work that conducts a systemic review of the relevant academic journal articles addressed to the managerial audience on sustainable (fashion) supply chain. In addition, this paper also adds some consideration to this gap by exploring the innovative ideas for a sustainable fashion supply chain in the future and using a case to illustrate how these ideas can be put in a real-life context. This paper discusses the impact of COVID-19 on different stages of the supply chain and gives innovative ideas that can be used in response to the changing epidemiological situations of the pandemic.
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Along with the increase in population, the increase in demand for freight in e-commerce has complicated the transportation of goods with increasing transportation costs. The demand for e-commerce has also increased rapidly, especially during the current outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic. Along with this need, the paper presents the current situation of freight transportation in the last mile of the e-commerce industry and new trends to improve the conditions in the last-mile delivery. Through published studies, several applications in last-mile delivery have also been identified for comparison with other costing methods. Studies also show that the application of new technologies in last-mile delivery can optimise costs, the environment, as well as delivery policies for companies. The paper also points out that the difficulty in applying and managing new technologies is very complicated and requires policies from managers. This can also be considered a new research direction that contributes to promoting new technologies in last-mile delivery to reduce time and costs for delivery companies as well as customer costs for last-mile delivery. Copyright © 2022 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
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PurposeThis study evaluated the influence of the coronavirus pandemic on the healthcare and non-cold pharmaceutical care distribution supply chain.Design/methodology/approachThe model involves four objective functions to minimize the total costs, environmental impacts, lead time and the probability of a healthcare provider being infected by a sick person was developed. An improved version of the augmented e-constraint method was applied to solve the proposed model for a case study of a distribution company to show the effectiveness of the proposed model. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to identify the sensitive parameters. Finally, two robust models were developed to overcome the innate uncertainty of sensitive parameters.FindingsThe result demonstrated a significant reduction in total costs, environmental impacts, lead time and probability of a healthcare worker being infected from a sick person by 40%, 30%, 75% and 54%, respectively, under the coronavirus pandemic compared to the normal condition. It should be noted that decreasing lead time and disease infection rate could reduce mortality and promote the model's effectiveness.Practical implicationsImplementing this model could assist the healthcare and pharmaceutical distributors to make more informed decisions to minimize the cost, lead time, environmental impacts and enhance their supply chain resiliency.Originality/valueThis study introduced an objective function to consider the coronavirus infection rates among the healthcare workers impacted by the pharmaceutical/healthcare products supply chain. This study considered both economic and environmental consequences caused by the coronavirus pandemic condition, which occurred on a significantly larger scale than past pandemic and epidemic crises.
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The functioning of existing logistics supply chains was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the consequences of which have not been overcome yet. The crisis was caused by the termination of logistics operations as a result of lack of resources, as well as long delays in the supply of products from suppliers and logistics partners. The cardinal transformations which are taking place in the supply chains are also associated with the transition of all logistics operations to the digital environment. The purpose of the study is to develop a strategy for the formation of a sustainable supply chain that more comprehensive responds and effectively overcomes external influences. Redesigning of the global network, setting of the new parameters for supply chain buffers, and proactive supplier's management are aimed to overcome external influences. Rapid response to emerging logistics chain failures is achieved through end-to-end supply management, the use of an artificial intelligence-based risk management system, and planning based on forecasting, modeling and scenario development. The application of the proposed strategy for the creating of a sustainable supply chain will improve the level and quality of customer service, increase the revenue and reduce risks through the cost savings. The developed strategy for the formation of a sustainable supply chain will allow not only to monitor ongoing processes at any time, but also to correct possible changes in order to maintain the sustainability of the supply chain. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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Industry in Morocco is facing one of the hardest crises in its history due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies are managing several changes and reforms into their business model based on Industry 4.0 transformation, mainly on their supply chain. Two objectives are targeted: enhance innovation inside the supply chain processes and strengthen supply chain resilience and sustainability in front of this crisis, and also the relative environment's changes. Our paper investigates the COVID-19 pandemic impact on the main factors empowering this innovation and sustainability during 2020 and 2021. It evaluates a business model considering six constructs with the mediation of industry 4.0 technological systems in achieving sustainable supply chain innovation. The evaluation is based on data analysis using SEM PLS method to provide the model validation and reliability.
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Industry in Morocco is facing one of the hardest crises in its history due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies are managing several changes and reforms into their business model based on Industry 4.0 transformation, mainly on their supply chain. Two objectives are targeted: enhance innovation inside the supply chain processes and strengthen supply chain resilience and sustainability in front of this crisis, and also the relative environment's changes. Our paper investigates the CO VID-19 pandemic impact on the main factors empowering this innovation and sustainability during 2020 and 2021. It evaluates a business model considering six constructs with the mediation of industry 4.0 technological systems in achieving sustainable supply chain innovation. The evaluation is based on data analysis using SEM P LS method to provide the model validation and reliability. © 2022 IEEE.
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The functioning of existing logistics supply chains was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the consequences of which have not been overcome yet. The crisis was caused by the termination of logistics operations as a result of lack of resources, as well as long delays in the supply of products from suppliers and logistics partners. The cardinal transformations which are taking place in the supply chains are also associated with the transition of all logistics operations to the digital environment. The purpose of the study is to develop a strategy for the formation of a sustainable supply chain that more comprehensive responds and effectively overcomes external influences. Redesigning of the global network, setting of the new parameters for supply chain buffers, and proactive supplier’s management are aimed to overcome external influences. Rapid response to emerging logistics chain failures is achieved through end-to-end supply management, the use of an artificial intelligence-based risk management system, and planning based on forecasting, modeling and scenario development. The application of the proposed strategy for the creating of a sustainable supply chain will improve the level and quality of customer service, increase the revenue and reduce risks through the cost savings. The developed strategy for the formation of a sustainable supply chain will allow not only to monitor ongoing processes at any time, but also to correct possible changes in order to maintain the sustainability of the supply chain. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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Purpose The emerging markets are facing a lot of risks and disruptions across their supply chains (SCs) due to the deadly coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. To mitigate the significant post-COVID-19 consequences, organizations should modify their existing strategies and focus more on the key flexible sustainable SC (SSC) strategies. Still now, a limited number of studies have highlighted about the flexible strategies what firms should adopt to reduce the rampant effects in the context of emerging markets. Design/methodology/approach This study presents an integrated approach including Delphi method, Bayesian, and the Best-Worst-Method (BWM) to identify, assess and evaluate the importance of the key flexible SSC strategies for the footwear industry in the emerging market context. Findings The results found the manufacturing flexibility through automation integration as the most important flexible SSC strategy to improve the flexibility and sustainability of modern SCs. Also, developing omni-channel distribution and retailing strategies and increasing the level of preparedness by using artificial intelligent are crucial strategies for overcoming the post-COVID-19 impacts. Originality/value The novelty of this research is that the research connects a link among flexible strategies, SCs sustainability, and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the research proposes a novel and intelligent framework based on Delphi and Bayesian-BWM to identify and analyze the key flexible SSC strategies to build up sustainable and robust SCs which can withstand in the post-COVID-19 world.
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In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chains have become important policy tools to ensure the security and resilience of regional trading blocs of major economies. The US government's focus on supply chains for selected strategic industries and the EU Commission's renewed efforts to strengthen its supply chains using 'sustainability standards' coincides with the global trend in the shift towards digital and low-carbon economies. Furthermore, the rising tensions between the US and China, with no signs of reconciliation over key issues of contention, have emphasized the need for more credibility and trust in global supply chains. However, such policies also have the potential to serve as new barriers to participation in supply chains by less-developed economies which are not yet prepared to meet the high-level sustainability criteria which aim for higher protection of the environment and labor rights. There also seems to be an apparent shift in paradigm supporting the interventionist role of government that emphasize the need for more discretion for policy objectives that pursue societal and democratic values, not to mention national security interests. The current rules of international trade, however, do not sufficiently address these new issues and need to be realigned in order to meet the new demands. The current 'rules of the game' need to be reinforced in order to accommodate the rising need of countries for increased consideration of issues of sustainability and competitiveness. © 2021 Jungseok Research Institute of International Logistics and Trade. All rights reserved.
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Supply chains are encountering more uncertain conditions and risks. Disruptions that impede the flow of material through a supply chain that can also result in failure to deliver end goods are a significant category of risks. The consequence of the Covid-19 outbreak has led to shut down production in the supply chain system, resulting in significant impediments for many foreign supply-dependent enterprises. The constraints cause substantial disruptions of the supply chain, production delays, and supplier delays. In recent years, managing supply chain risks has been given more importance to protect supply chains from interruptions by forecasts and prevention. The effects of disruptions on logistics, costs, demand, profits, and inventory levels of the supply chain are analyzed. SVM is one of the most convenient and effective supervised learning algorithms commonly used for classification and regression challenges. This paper presents a modernistic machine learning model, multi-category support vector machines (MC-SVM) algorithm through training on selected samples. In order to abet MC-SVM model to perform well on imbalanced data, k-means clustering algorithm has been proposed to classify clusters of nodes at-disruption, which share similar interruption profiles and can find the relationships between the data object, provide massive information and contribute significantly to accelerating classification and prediction of the SVM model. Data from portfolios of different firms in pharmaceutical industry has been used to train the MC-SVM model which maps the economic performance of a firm to a certain type of supply chain disruption (SCD). The potentiality of this research will privilege better management of the supply chain and thus will permit a network to approach faster response times to the customer, lower costs in all respects of the chain and to the end customer terrific levels of stretch-ability, lower inventories throughout the chain, and diminished the bottleneck effect in the supply chain logistics. © IEOM Society International.
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COVID-19 pandemic has significantly interrupted the global production and supply chain operation in all aspects of the consumer market. Along with other domains, the pharmaceutical industry has experienced its outbreaks on supply chain drivers impacting sustainable production and consumption patterns during the post-pandemic era. This motive stimulated the necessity for analyzing supply chain disruptions that severely affected logistics, procurement, production and distribution in the supply chain. Elimination of these disruptions in the supply chain may depend on many critical drivers which can accelerate the implementation of sustainability thus enhancing the performance of the supply chain in the context of an impending environment. In order to improve the resilience and performance of the supply chain, this study identifies and addresses those critical drivers and characterizes them based on their percentage implemented by Pareto analysis. Furthermore, a grey based Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) model is proposed to establish the causal relationships among these critical drivers. The findings of this work will demonstrate the structure and interrelationships between drivers and identify the most critical drivers for a long term sustainability of supply chain to eliminate disruptions in the supply chain. The findings can pave a way to business managers, policymakers and other stakeholders in numerous industries to identify critical drivers in attaining undisrupted business environment in the pandemic context. © IEOM Society International.
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Over the years, sustainable supplier selection (SSS) has become increasingly popular among scholars and practitioners as a viable means to actualize supply chain sustainability. Little, however, is known about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sustainable supplier selection particularly in the manufacturing sector. In this paper, we present pandemic response strategies as a significant aspect of the COVID-19 pandemic's impact and investigate the relative importance of such strategies in SSS implementation. Drawing upon a rich data pool from the Nigerian manufacturing sector, we proposed an integrated multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methodology to analyse the interrelationships between the COVID-19 pandemic response strategies and Triple-Bottom-Line (TBL) criteria for SSS. Our analysis shows that economic criteria and pandemic response strategies are the highest ranked in terms of relative importance and thereby pinpoints the need for manufacturing firms to emphasize such during SSS implementation in the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, quality, cost, use of personal protective equipment and use of information technologies for customer demand prediction are inferred as highly significant in SSS implementation in the COVID-19 pandemic era. Furthermore, the efficiency of the proposed methodology was validated by a comparative analysis with other MCDM methods. Therefore, this study presents implications on the significance of pandemic response strategies in SSS and thereby enriches literature on the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on supply chains.
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With the COVID-19 pandemic, supply chains are today confronted with more uncertainties than ever before. In the face of unanticipated disruptions, being resilient and sustainable has been rewarding for supply chains in terms of competitive advantage. However, literature is still far from possessing an encompassing sustainable supply chain framework (SSCF). As a contribution to the extant literature, the present study expounds a prominent concept termed negative entropy and explores its role in the SSCF. To accomplish this goal, the effect of negative entropy on supply chain sustainability is tested. Following the open systems theory and drawing from the collaboration and information management aspects of the negative entropy, co-creation, open innovation and network governance concepts which are considered to be relevant in this context are selected to be the antecedents of negative entropy. The empirical research is conducted on prominent logistics service providers and firms from various sectors with approved research and development departments in Turkey. The obtained data were subjected to covariance-based structural equation modeling analysis via Lisrel program. According to results, negative entropy is found to be a robust element in explaining supply chain sustainability. Furthermore, whereas co-creation and network governance reflected significant effects on negative entropy, surprisingly, open innovation demonstrated no substantial impact. This paper opens up a new front in sustainable supply chain management studies with a notable empirical study introducing negative entropy in the context of open systems theory.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed businesses and societies to the shortfalls of normal patterns of production, consumption, and their long-lasting impact on supply chains. In this opinion paper, we provide insights from the COVID-19 pandemic for making supply chains more resilient, transparent, and sustainable. These insights include supply chains needing to develop localization, agility, and digitization (LAD) characteristics. We link LAD to a potential solution using blockchain technology and circular economy principle capabilities. Use cases are used to show how blockchain-enabled circular economy practices can support supply chain LAD efforts. Supply chain tracking, tracing, and responsiveness can be supported through blockchain-enabled circular economy practices. One result of identifying these relationships include solutions and insights at multiple levels and stakeholders - individual, organizational, supply chain, governmental, and community. These crisis-related observations and findings set a future research foundation for sustainable production and consumption.
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Motivated by the COVID-19 pandemic and the challenges it poses to supply chain sustainability (SCS), this research aims to investigate the drivers of sustainable supply chain (SSC) to tackle supply chain disruptions in such a pandemic in the context of a particular emerging economy: Bangladesh. To achieve this aim, a methodology is proposed based on the Pareto analysis, fuzzy theory, total interpretive structural modelling (TISM), and Matriced Impacts Cruoses Multiplication Applique a un Classement techniques (MICMAC). The proposed methodology is tested using experienced supply chain practitioners as well as academic experts' inputs from the emerging economy. This study reveals the influential relationships and indispensable links between the drivers using fuzzy TISM to improve the SCS in the context of COVID-19. Findings also reveal that financial support from the government as well as from the supply chain partners is required to tackle the immediate shock on SCS due to COVID-19. Also, policy development considering health protocols and automation is essential for long-term sustainability in supply chains (SCs). Additionally, MICMAC analysis has clustered the associated drivers to capture the insights on the SCS. These findings are expected to aid industrial managers, supply chain partners, and government policymakers to take initiatives on SSC issues in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.