A Design Theory for Supply Chain Visibility in the age of Big Data

Existing literature has extensively discussed that supply chain visibility (SCV) can help to improve supply chain performance. Yet there is no sound approach available to effectively operationalize SCV. We posit that information sharing alone is not decisive for SCV, as SCV is context sensitive. On one side, there is the generator role that shares information. However, we posit that there is also the utilizer role, which aims to solve specific management problems. This study documents three knowledge moments in the search for SCV in the age of big data. The first knowledge moment is of a nomothetic science, where we define SCV from a utilizer and generator perspective. The second knowledge moment is of a nomothetic design, where we developed an ISDT and proposed five design principles. Finally, the third knowledge moment is of an ideographic design, where we described an actual implementation in an actual garment supply chain

Towards a Paradigm for Inter-Organization E-Collaboration: Collaborative Business

As the adoption of information technologies, especially the Internet technologies, there is an increasing interest on inter-organization collaboration in e-business. The ‘collaboration’s in the existing literatures often mean different. These diverse views make it difficult to understand what the collaboration is and to know what have been achieved and what still needs to be done. The paradigm of e-Collaboration has yet to be established. This paper provides a framework for Inter-organization e-Collaboration. The framework identifies the heart of e-Collaboration — joint intellectual efforts, which has seldom been explored by existing studies. Moreover, existing relevant literatures are organized and are analysed using the framework and future research directions are indicated based on the analysis

Dynamic Isomorphism: IT Adaptation of the Bandwagon Followers

Firms often mindlessly adopt IT due to institutional pressure, which often leads to hastened and irrational decisions. Institutional pressure is therefore often considered as a negative effect on IT adoption. That is because little literature investigates into the adaptation effect after IT adoption due to institutional pressure. We advocate that institutional pressure indeed has a catalyzing effect on IT adoption in general, but firms can still mindfully correct the hastened decisions into a competitive advantage over time. We call this phenomenon dynamic isomorphism, which describes the IT adaptation process after institutional pressure. We propose to investigate in dynamic isomorphism by the use of a cross-case analysis, as it can provide an in-depth explanation of the proposed phenomenon

Towards a Framework for Aligning RFID Applications With Supply Chain Strategies

Supply chain management has two streams of strategies, namely lean and agile. However, current RFID applications tend to overlook supply chain strategies and are designed for obvious RFID applications, like simply replacing barcodes. However, the full potential of RFID might not be achieved when RFID applications are not aligned with the supply chain strategies. Therefore, this study analyzes the current literature to investigate whether RFID applications are indeed misaligned with their strategies. Results shows that RFID is still at its infancy and most RFID applications focus on cost reduction, a lean practice, and less attention has been paid on how RFID can satisfy customer demands, an agile practice. It is therefore suggested that management should ensure that RFID applications are aligned with their supply chain strategy, in order to gain the most benefits out of RFID

On IoT Impact Of Supply Chain Visibility

Supply chain visibility (SCV) is much sought after in supply chain management, yet SCV remains an intangible topic with no tangible artifacts. The on-demand visibility view required of one decision maker, the seeing role, in a supply chain is quite different to any others – context specific, and managerial varied. Data available for the view must be collected and captured by the being seen role with on-target provenance. IoT technology becomes an integrative glue in supply chain integration fabrics, facilitating on-target design with manageable end-to-end visibility. In this paper, we propose a duality SCV framework to operationalize visibility. Contributions of the paper are firstly to bring current SCV discussions into focus to how IoT technology deployment can be formulated with on-target precision by the being seen, and secondly to extend to how on demand supply chain visibility to the seeing is enabled anywhere anytime

A Relationship-Based Acess Control Model for On-demand Privacy and Security Entitlement in RFID-enable Supply Chains

RFID adoption in supply chains is both viable in gaining on-target end-to-end visibility and crucial to sustain competitiveness. RFID-based information flow will cut across partners in business chains that extended beyond borders. Privacy and security preferences (PSP) are manifested when supply chain parties are sharing (EPC-RFID-based) data to gain visibility. The role of each party cannot be singly used to determine the preference of either party to derive the necessary entitlement for the requesting party. The preference-based entitlement must ensure data sharing is privacy-protected and security-enforced. In this research, a Relationship-Based Access Control (ReBAC) model is proposed for on-demand privacy and security entitlement in RFID-enabled supply chains. The model includes two key concepts: on-demand preference and privacy and security scheme. Preference is governed by the two parties’ relationship, and the scheme is driven by the data dimensions (i.e., data sensitivity, data location and data ownership). RBAC is capable of addressing one party’s need to gain pre-determined permissions according to role assignment or activation. The relationship-based approach is on-demand, two-party, relationship-based preference to gain entitlement (for visibility services) with scheme-enabled privacy and security activation

Designing Privacy and Security Protection in RFID-enabled Supply Chain

RFID is an automatic identification system that uses radio frequency technology in product tags. The technology brings out the greater enhancement to synchronize the logistics flow and information flow. Unfortunately, it also introduces the great concerns on the privacy and security protection, not only on the individual use but also on the supply chain collaboration. This study proposes an on demand access control to protect the information flow in an RFID-enabled supply chain. The design considers the role in a supply chain as well as the media of carrying the information. A case study on garment industry will be provided for validation

Three Phases RFID Adoption: A Road Map to Success

Radio frequency identification (RFID) uses radio frequency technology for automated identification. The use of RFID brings the second source of information to enterprise management. It is said the second source is because, in the conventional approach, the information is shared among the various units through an integrated enterprise system. In this study, we define three layers of networks, i.e. Intranet, Extranet, and Internet, can be used to share RFID data and the adoption of RFID technology can be recognized into three phases: standalone adoption, supply chain adoption, and global adoption. Issues in each adoption will be address as well as road map to the success will be included

Dynamic Partnership in Online Logistics Community

Agents of various capabilities in the logistics community individually or together collaboratively serve very different shipment requests offline. With the challenges of global e-business, the capabilities of collaborative partnering and planning online increase agents’ competitiveness and enhance logistics process performance. In this paper, we define dynamic partnership – a conceptual underpinning to maximize the four e-rights for the online logistics community. Three core factors, namely credibility, reliability and viability are introduced to guide successful partnership online. A survey of logistics service providers in Hong Kong confirms the relevancy of the four e-rights and three core factors in collaboration efforts. A conceptual analysis with respect to partnership flexibility, collaboration and performance of dynamic partnership is given. To realize such partnership in the logistics community, the electronic platform requirements are identified

Visibility Cloud: A Supply Chain Perspective

Visibility in a supply chain brings benefits across all partners, leading to positive effect on overall supply chain performance. IoT-based approach has been shown to be effective in enhancing end-to-end visibility. An IT artifact can be designed to deliver supply chain visibility to individual users. Yet, factors like ownership, costs, and know-how often deter the adoption by supply chains. In this paper, we present the design of a cloud-based IT artifact for supply chain visibility services. With IT services and a service-oriented approach to visibility, a concept of visibility cloud (VC) is proposed. The design objectives of VC are articulated, leading to two key services formulated as Visibility-as-a-Service and App-as-a-Service. The two services are described and followed by an illustrative instantiation. VC servicetizes SCV with affordability and expandability according to the pace of each individual party. With metered SCV services via mobile devices, supply chain management is effective definite (definite effective?) anytime anywhere