The Social Supply Chain and the Future High Street

Purpose: The paper examines how independent social and commercial activities have developed in response to the perceived decline in the UK High Street and in response to the challenges of increasing digital retailing opportunities. This examination is undertaken through the lens of the social supply chain as a means to understanding, suggesting and expanding on current research regarding retailing and the UK High Street. We reveal some of the challenges being posed by the changing patterns of growth and consumption in cities and couple these with shifting supply chain trends. Design: A case study approach is employed to explore the rapid advances and influence of digital technologies on businesses operating on the primary business street of suburban centre, towns or cities (described in the UK collectively as the ‘high street’). The study is conducted through the analytical lens of the social supply chain. Originality: For the purpose of this paper we use two distinct strategies relating to delivery and balancing and in relation to the actions of co-creation, co-production and co-consumption to emphasise and analyse changes currently occurring in the UK high street. We take a social supply chain management perspective to undertake a systematic critical review of the various recent efforts undertaken by local governments, communities and traders groups to revitalise the high street. Findings: Theoretically extending the ‘social’ in the social supply chain we illustrate the usefulness of the nuanced concept of the ‘social supply chain’ with two related strategies concerning delivery and balance. These strategies are themselves interlinked with the actions of co-creation, co-production and co-consumption. Examples of social supply chain strategies presented include retail businesses giving away something as an incentive, where the underlying requirement from the customer is that they will bring their own specialist product, skill or social network to a specified location (real or virtual)

Unblocking the Bottlenecks and Making the Global Supply Chain Transparent: How Blockchain technology stands to update global trade

The emergence of Distributed Ledger or Blockchain Technology BCT, stands to impact many parts of our society; from revolutionizing healthcare, to safeguarding voting, to keeping our data private. To the same affect, BCT stands to empower the very underpinnings that go into international trade: trust, traceability, accessibility and streamlining processes. As so many times before (e.g. ICT as well as the invention of the shipping container), novel technology lowers the costs and empowers international trade. This time to go from creating global value chains to scrutinizing and optimizing them. The aim of this policy brief is as follows; First, to provide a brief overview of the technology, the use and potential effects on international trade. Second, to provide some guidelines for policy makers on how to prepare for the development of the technology

Supply Chain Security Using RSA Algorithm

The success of supply chain depends greatly on how its information technology is used. Over the years the rate at which supply chain sensitive information is sent over the internet and network has increased drastically. It is for this reason that every company wants to ensure that its supply chain information is secured because large volume of sensitive information is sent over the internet on daily basis. This has created room for this information to be properly secure so that unauthorized user cannot gain access to such sensitive information. There is need for supply chain information to be transmitted via the internet and computer networks to be protected. The integrity of supply chain information can be secured by using appropriate data security technology. The aims of this thesis were to focus on supply chain security and how supply chain information sent through the computer network and internet can be secured using RSA technique. The thesis elucidates on the limitations of RSA algorithm and how these limitations can be overcome. The methods used in this thesis are information derived from secondary source materials made up of journal articles, conference proceedings, textbooks and good websites source. In this thesis, it was showed that supply chain security powered with RSA techniques was very important in supply chain management. In conclusion, 2048 bits or more bits RSA are recommended for better supply chain security

Supply chain management 4.0: a literature review and research framework

This article presents a review of the existing state-of-the-art literature concerning Supply Chain Management 4.0 (SCM 4.0) and identifies and evaluates the relationship between digital technologies and Supply Chain Management. A literature review of state-of-the-art publications in the subject field and a bibliometric analysis were conducted. The paper identifies the impact of novel technologies on the different supply chain processes. Furthermore, the paper develops a roadmap framework for future research and practice. The proposed work is useful for both academics and practitioners as it outlines the pillar components for every supply chain transformation. It also proposes a range of research questions that can be used as a base to guide the future research direction of the field. This paper presents a novel and original literature review-based study on SCM4.0 as no comprehensive review is available where bibliometric analysis, motivations, barriers and technologies’ impact on different SC processes have been considered

Unblocking the Bottlenecks and Making the Global Supply Chain Transparent: How Blockchain Technology Can Update Global Trade

The emergence of Distributed Ledger or Blockchain Technology BCT, stands to impact many parts of our society; from revolutionizing healthcare, to safeguarding voting, to keeping our data private. To the same affect, BCT stands to empower the very underpinnings that go into international trade: trust, traceability, accessibility and streamlining processes. As so many times before (e.g. ICT as well as the invention of the shipping container), novel technology lowers the costs and empowers international trade. This time to go from creating global value chains to scrutinizing and optimizing them. The aim of this policy brief is as follows; First, to provide a brief overview of the technology, the use and potential effects on international trade. Second, to provide some guidelines for policy makers on how to prepare for the development of the technology

Enabling marketing and innovation capability in the digital economy.

The present study examines the impact of marketing capabilities through a network perspective on innovative capabilities and firm performance. The market orientation and the resource-based view that underpin marketing capabilities have mainly treated marketing as internal capability of the firm. As firms are increasingly inter-connected and part of a business networks, a firm’s marketing capabilities need to be examined beyond a single firm. But, to date, no study has yet examined a firm's marketing capabilities from a network perspective in order to understand their influence on innovative capabilities. Thus, this study extends the existing research and conceptualisation of marketing capabilities from an internal perspective of a firm to external network relationships of the firm. This network perspective is based on a firm’s view of its network relationships, which accounts for inter-firm relationships, as well as through digital technology and learning orientation. With the advent of the Internet and information technology, this study conceptualises digital technology as an enabler of the relationship between marketing capability and innovative capability. Since capabilities evolve to become routines and/or deteriorate over time, a firm's learning orientation is also conceptualised for examining the extent to which capabilities impact on innovative capabilities. A survey data of 300 UK-based firms were analysed using statistical analysis to examine the influence of marketing capabilities on innovative capabilities and in turn, firm performance. In addition, interaction analyses were performed to test for mediating and moderating relationships of digital technology and learning orientation. Findings of the analysis show strong support for product development capability; marketing implementation capability; pricing capability. The results support the relative impact of marketing capabilities on innovative capabilities. While marketing capabilities may comprise interdependent capabilities, this finding suggests that firms can enhance innovative capabilities by emphasizing the salient marketing capabilities. Importantly, digital technology has a significant and positive mediating relationship for the relationship between marketing capabilities and innovative capabilities. This finding indicates that knowledge of the application of information technology would facilitate exploitation and exploration of marketing capabilities that enhance innovative capabilities. As indicated by the positive moderation of learning orientation for the relationship between marketing capabilities and innovative capability, the potential to harness marketing capabilities is better enhanced through learning orientation and digital technology. This new perspective of marketing capability analysis benefits from a firm’s network perspective that recognises a firm’s external relationships and inter-connected nature of business interactions. In this instance, digital technology extends the boundary of firm beyond a single firm, and learning orientation complements market orientation with learning and gathering of external market information. This research advances knowledge about specific types of marketing capabilities for improving innovative capability and firm performance through digital technology capability. The study also makes a significant contribution to building theoretical knowledge of the role of digital technology in enabling innovative capabilities by developing and empirically testing a new construct of digital technology. As the ability to mobilise digital technology is firm-specific, this study extends knowledge about the extent of learning orientation (moderator) to the marketing capabilities and innovative capabilities relationship through digital technology

Les impacts de la technologie RFID et du réseau EPC sur la gestion de la chaîne d'approvisionnement : le cas de l'industrie du commerce de détail

«RÉSUMÉ» : Définie comme une technologie sans-fil d’identification et de collecte automatique des données, la technologie d’identification par radiofréquence (RFID) est en train d’émerger comme un nouveau système inter-organisationnel, qui va profondément transformer les processus et pratiques d’affaires de la chaîne d’approvisionnement. Toutefois, l’importance de la co-adoption de la technologie RFID et du réseau EPC dans la chaîne d’approvisionnement a jusqu’à présent reçu peu d’attention dans la littérature et très peu d’études empiriques ont été menées sur la valeur et les impacts de cette co-adoption de la RFID et du réseau EPC dans un contexte de chaîne d’approvisionnement. Cette recherche représente un premier effort visant à combler cette lacune dans la littérature sur ces questions spécifiques. Notre étude s’appuie sur la revue de littérature existante sur la technologie RFID et le réseau EPC, la théorie de la gestion de l’innovation, la gestion de la chaîne et les systèmes inter-organisationnels pour répondre aux questions de recherche suivantes : (i) Que comprend précisément la technologie RFID?; (ii) Quelle est l’infrastructure minimale que requiert cette technologie?; (iii) Quel lien existe-t-il entre la technologie RFID et le réseau EPC?; (iv) Quel rôle pourrait jouer un laboratoire universitaire dans le processus d’adoption de la technologie RFID et du réseau EPC?; (v) Quels sont les impacts de la technologie RFID et du réseau EPC sur les processus d’affaires et les flux d’informations intra- et inter-organisationnels, sur la main-d’œuvre, et sur les modèles d’affaires; (vi) Quelles sont les stratégies à mettre en œuvre pour, d’une part, guider l’élaboration et la mise en œuvre des divers scénarios d’adoption intégrant la technologie RFID et le réseau EPC et, d’autre part, faciliter la communication entre les différents acteurs impliqués dans le processus d’identification des modèles d’affaires appropriés et les infrastructures technologiques pouvant supporter l’adoption d’un scenario intégrant de ces technologies?»----------«ABSTRACT : Defined as a wireless automatic identification and data capture (AIDC) technology, the Radio frequency identification (RFID) technology is emerging as an innovative inter-organizational system (IOS) that will profoundly transform the supply chain business processes and practices. However, the importance of the co-adoption of RFID and the EPC network within the supply chain has so far received insignificant attention in the literature and very few empirical studies have been conducted on the value and impacts of the co-adoption of RFID and EPC network in a supply chain context. This research represents an initial effort towards bridging the existing knowledge gap on these specific issues. Our study draws from the literature review on the RFID technology and the EPC network, the innovation management theory, the supply chain management and the inter-organizational systems to examine the following research questions : (i) What precisely does the RFID infrastructure include?; (ii) What is the link between the RFID technology and the EPC network? (iii) What role could play a university-based laboratory in the adoption process of the RFID technology and the EPC network?; (iv) What are the impacts of the RFID technology and the EPC network on intra-organizational and inter-organizational business processes and information flows, on the workforce, and on the existing business models; (v) What strategies should be implemented in order to, first, guide the development and the implementation of various adoption scenarios integrating the RFID technology and the EPC network, and, secondly, facilitate communication between the different stakeholders involved in the process of identifying the appropriate business models and technological infrastructure supporting the adoption of an optimal scenario integrating these technologies?

Technological innovation for digital supply chains within small and medium size manufacturing enterprises

The rapidly growing world of digitalisation opens the doorway for the new era of automation that plays a crucial role within the industry. Furthermore, technological innovations that are emerging every day are disrupting traditional business processes especially within small and medium size manufacturing enterprises (SMEs). The current industrial revolution pioneer for profit maximisation with cost reduction shows a significant refinement in improving sustainability that drives forward digitalisation. Evidence shows that industries have identified digitalisation as a priority in the upcoming years as the global supply chain is equipping itself with the digital world in the current industrial revolution. Economic growth is dependent on SMEs around the world where small and medium size Manufacturing Enterprises (SMMEs) play a vital role in the current competitive world while they are not able to manage their supply chains effectively and efficiently due to a lack of optimisation of digitalisation. They identify that technological innovation is evident for transforming themselves with digital supply chain, while global market leading organisations are positioning themselves with the world of digitalisation to their end consumers in their supply chain utilising technological innovation virtually driving towards a new era of a digital ecosystem. This research aims to investigate the impact of technological innovation to foster and promote digital supply chain within SMMEs. Due to the exploratory nature, this study adopted a case study approach where the data is collected using a semi-structured interview across 4 cases from three various countries. The findings indicate a lack of framework for the digitalisation of supply chains within SMMEs, in addition to a lack of technological innovation and financial constraints that served as limiting factors for digitalisation of supply chain within organisations. Further, a framework has been developed consisting of five elements that have been identified from empirical data as being critical for Digital Supply Chain (DSC) transformation. The theoretical contributions of this research are the identification of problems faced, limitations of technological innovation, and an improved understanding of how digital supply chain transformation can be initiated and achieved in the context of SMMEs. The practical contribution of this study is imbedded in the developed framework in the form of recommended strategies for SMMEs for digitalisation of supply chain

Electronic supply chain management systems in managing the bullwhip effect on selected fast moving consumer goods.

Ph. D. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2014.The amplitude in order variability as orders surge upstream a supply chain epitomises a phenomenon commonly called the bullwhip effect. The real consumer demand orders are comparatively and tentatively evinced less variability while trading supply chain members on the midstream and upstream stages experience the amplified order vacillations. The oscillator effect reveals a number of pernicious problems throughout the supply chain networks, as downstream sites include harmful bloated inventory and shortages with poor customer service, and the midstream and upstream sites depict the disharmonic capacity on improper planning and inconsistent scheduling in production. This study investigates the selected fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry on the amplified consumer demand order variability as orders cascade from downstream (retailers) to the midstream as well as upstream sites of the supply chain network.The effect of electronically-enabled supply chain management (e-SCM) systems remains the central hypothesis for instant information sharing on inventory positioning, integrated supply chain management processes and improved profitability through positive performance targets and outcomes across supply chain trading partners. The main objective aims to understand the on extent of the relationship to which the phenomenon of bullwhip effect can be explained by e-SCM system diffusion, optimal inventory positioning, strategic information sharing and global optimisation strategies. These seamless linkages between supply chain partners seem to entrench velocity on quasi-real-time information flow in consumer demand and supply sides, inventory status and availability, and capacity availability. This study found empirical research evidence on e-SCM systems that retail supply chain businesses have fastidiously adapted to technology clockspeed for the last five years. The majority of the respondents (92%) for both upstream and downstream echelon categories agreed that e-SCM systems have a significant role to play in mitigating the consumer demand order variability in the supply chain network. This study further discovered that the migration from in-house IT systems to integrated e-SCM systems (65%) would entrench close integration of information exchange and processes across different parts of the organisation and inter-organisational linkages. The e-SCM systems diffusion also depicted a positive linear relationship to the extent to which the organisations efficiently and timeously communicate the future strategic needs and demand order replenishments throughout the entire supply chain network. However, the access to advance economic information negatively related to e-SCM systems with the virtue of legal constraints and template-based information attachments