ABSTRACT
Blockchain, AI and robotics are the top three disruptive technologies that are likely to consume a major share of the supply chain (SC) technology investments in this decade. As in the past, each technology comes with inherent elements that have the potential to unlock governance and business capabilities, but not all the technological elements/ features of each are equally facilitative to the objectives of an organization. However, due to the lack of understanding of the capabilities of a technology in a specific context, governments and organizations make major investments in technologies that then result in suboptimal return on investment (ROI). This research study identifies the most facilitative features of the blockchain technologies and demonstrate their differential effects on achieving specific outcomes. Our case-based research identifies how each BCT feature contributes to specific performance benefits. Particularly this study focuses on two different use cases to show how transparency, immutability, smart contracts and consensus enablement in blockchain-based systems can help enforce Covid-19 rules and assure food safety. Finally, this research study has concluded that matching the features of a technology, specifically blockchains to the expected project outcomes can increase adoption of the technology with better return on technology investment. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
This study, in the two years since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, reveals the most focused issues by the Turkish white goods suppliers regarding Industry 4.0 and the challenges encountered while engaging in Industry 4.0 practices. The data were obtained through a questionnaire form participated by the managers of 36 different companies that are members of the Turkish White Goods Suppliers Association. The collected data were classified, and it was found that the most focused issues of the companies were technology investments, ERP and MES, data collection, business processes, investment plans, organizational transformation, occupational health and safety, and participation in Industry 4.0-related events, respectively. Moreover, the most common challenges companies face concerning Industry 4.0 are related to the not being able to come together, finance, technology providers, postponement of investment plans, and loss of employees. On the other hand, 16% of the participating companies stated that they did not encounter any difficulties. © 2022 IEEE.
ABSTRACT
In the big data era, managing data-driven hospital operations have become one of the most important tasks for healthcare executives, increasing responsiveness to exceptional disruptions such as those caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they are still facing the challenges of how best to orchestrate the digital medical resources for improving operational performance such as cost, delivery, and quality. Therefore, drawing upon resource orchestration theory, this article investigates how hospitals orchestrate data-driven culture (DDC) and digital technology orientation (DTO) to develop big data analytics capability (BDAC) for operational performance improvement. Survey data were collected from 105 hospitals in China and analyzed using structural equation modeling and ordinary least square regression. The results show that DDC has a significant positive impact on DTO. More interestingly, there is no significant interaction effect between DDC and DTO, indicating that DDC and DTO affect BDAC independently, and not synergistically. The results further reveal that BDAC fully mediates the DTO-operational performance relationship. The findings offer useful and timely guidance on how healthcare executives can manage data-driven hospital operations to improve operational performance during and post the COVID-19 pandemic.