Unfolding the link between big data analytics and supply chain planning

Big data analytics (BDA) has captured growing research interests in operations and supply chain management literature, yet, despite the significant implication, extant knowledge falls short in drawing the link between BDA and supply chain planning (SCP) with in a structured manner. This paper employs the Delphi technique to uncover the synergies between BDA technology, conceptualized as big data sources and BDA methods, and the SCP activities framed with the SCP matrix. The panel runs for three rounds with 35 experts including scholars, supply chain practitioners, and BDA specialists. The results of this paper suggest that the relevance of BDA depends on the focal SCP activity. Thirty-five projections are presented on the expected impact of BDA on SCP that are classified into three groups based on the significance of impact and probability of occurrence. This work advances the understanding of BDA in supply chain management drawing implications to prioritize BDA investment for SCP

Exploiting supplier capabilities to maximise product design opportunities in the fuzzy front end activities

This paper explores the Fuzzy Front-End (FFE), i.e. the first phase of the Product Design and Development process where a company formulates a product concept to be developed and decides whether or not to invest resources in the further development of an idea. Our goal is to understand how companies leverage supply chain capabilities to improve product design opportunities in order to obtain optimized product concepts in the FFE. From the analysis of our pilot study, the results suggest that FFE is organized differently depending on design requirements and supply chain capabilities and that matching design requirements with supplier capabilities during the FFE improves performance. Therefore, the findings indicate that the proposed Conceptual Framework has the potential to be used by companies to design their FFE and to enhance the use of supply chain capabilities in their product design activities

A resource orchestration perspective of organizational big data analytics adoption: Evidence from supply chain planning

This paper investigated the organizational adoption of big data analytics (BDA) in the context of supply chain planning (SCP) to conceptualize how resources are orchestrated for organizational BDA adoption and to elucidate how resources and capabilities intervene with the resource management process during BDA adoption. This research elaborated on the resource orchestration theory and technology innovation adoption literature to shed light on BDA adoption with multiple case studies. A framework for the resource orchestration process in BDA adoption is presented. We associated the development and deployment of relevant individual, technological and organizational resources and capabilities with the phases of organizational BDA adoption and implementation. We highlighted that organizational BDA adoption can be initiated before consolidating the full resource portfolio. Resource acquisition, capability development and internalization of competences can take place alongside BDA adoption through structured processes and governance mechanisms. A relevant discussion identifying the capability gap and provides insight into potential paths of organizational BDA adoption is presented. We call for attention from policymakers and academics to reflect on the changes in the expected capabilities of supply chain planners to facilitate industry-wide BDA transition. This study opens the black box of organizational BDA adoption by emphasizing and scrutinizing the role of resource management actions

Assessing circularity along the agri-food supply chain: a decision making tool

Circular economy (CE) is gaining momentum as a sustainable and resource efficient economic model. In the agri-food context, the CE transition would effectively tackle the natural resource depletion, responding the urging challenges of food waste and insecurity. Combining systematic literature review and expert interviews, this paper addresses how CE strategies can be assessed in the context of agri-food supply chain. The study brings some initial advancement in circularity assessment, presenting a list of CE indicators relevant for each CE strategy and supply chain stage. Perspectives from the practitioner experts are integrated to present further considerations for advancement

Sustainability in Fashion Brands

This preview article introduces the Special Issue on "Sustainability in Fashion Brands" and presents a summary of the research. This editorial will highlight the contents and methodologies of selected papers, presenting diverse issues in sustainable fashion strategies and management. The authors conclude with a special thank you to the authors, reviewers, and the editor-in-chief for their roles in the preparation of the special issue

When sustainability becomes an order winner: linking supply uncertainty and sustainable supply chain strategies

This study investigates how to implement a sustainable supply chain strategy by choosing a set of sustainable practices while considering the strategic priority assigned to sustainability within a company’s competitive strategy (i.e., an order winner (OW), market qualifier (MQ) or desirable attribute (DA)). Therefore, two research questions arise: RQ1. What are the sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices adopted by companies under the different levels of priority assigned to sustainability (i.e., OW, MQ and DA)? and RQ2. How does supply uncertainty influence the choices regarding the SSCM practices to adopt or vice versa? We addressed these questions through a two-step methodology that includes 10 exploratory case studies in different industries and four explanatory cases in the furniture industry. Six research propositions are developed, and we show how some sustainable practices are common to all companies in the sample, while others are only applicable when sustainability is an MQ or an OW. Moreover, in contrast to the suggestion in the literature, we observed that companies with sustainability as an OW implement sustainability practices despite increasing exposure to supply uncertainty. However, when sustainability is a DA or an MQ, companies might implement sustainable practices with the aim of reducing supply uncertainty rather than for sustainability goals. The cases show that investment in these practices can trigger a transition towards a situation in which sustainability is an OW

Environmental Collaboration for Sustainability in the Construction Industry: An Exploratory Study in Italy

The notion of sustainability, in its three-fold meaning (economic, environmental, and social), is being adopted more and more by companies. Today it is widely accepted that sustainability cannot be achieved by firms in isolation, but requires the collaboration of all supply chain players. This issue is particularly relevant in industrial contexts where the supply chains are complex in terms of structure and number of players, such as the construction industry. Thus, the aim of the paper is to explore the sustainability practices adopted in the construction industry, with a particular attention to the role of environmental collaboration of supply chain partners in achieving sustainability. By means of multiple case study-based research, we investigate sustainability practices on a sample of construction companies of Italy, thus identifying three main sustainability approaches, which differ in both the strategic orientation towards sustainability and the level of implementation in design, purchasing, and governance processes, as well as the main variables driving the adoption of these approaches

Antimicrobial Peptides and Physical Activity: A Great Hope against COVID 19

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), α- and β-defensins, possess antiviral properties. These AMPs achieve viral inhibition through different mechanisms of action. For example, they can: (i) bind directly to virions; (ii) bind to and modulate host cell-surface receptors, disrupting intracellular signaling; (iii) function as chemokines to augment and alter adaptive immune responses. Given their antiviral properties and the fact that the development of an effective coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) treatment is an urgent public health priority, they and their derivatives are being explored as potential therapies against COVID-19. These explorations using various strategies, range from their direct interaction with the virus to using them as vaccine adjuvants. However, AMPs do not work in isolation, specifically in their role as potent immune modulators, where they interact with toll-like receptors (TLRs) and chemokine receptors. Both of these receptors have been shown to play roles in COVID-19 pathogenesis. In addition, it is known that a healthy lifestyle accompanied by controlled physical activity can represent a natural weapon against COVID-19. In competitive athletes, an increase in serum defensins has been shown to function as self-protection from the attack of microorganisms, consequently a controlled physical activity could act as a support to any therapies in fighting COVID-19. Therefore, including information on all these players' interactions would produce a complete picture of AMP-based therapies' response

Engineering and production decoupling configurations: an empirical study in the machinery industry

Engineer-to-order supply chains are traditionally considered to perform all engineering and production activities based on specific orders. However, in practice, some engineering and production activities can be speculatively undertaken to reduce the delivery lead time, thus leading to a range of decoupling configurations for both engineering and production processes. The literature rarely addresses this issue, mainly focusing on either the production or the engineering dimensions, which opens a gap between theory and practice. The purpose of this study is to reduce this gap and assess the potential impact of a unique two-dimensional customer order decoupling point (2D-CODP) framework that is inclusive of all the individual literature studies and to evaluate the managerial approaches employed in the different decoupling configurations. To achieve this aim, research using multiple case studies is conducted in the machinery industry. The key results flowing from the empirical analysis are the identification of 4 clusters of decoupling configurations chosen by the different cases and the classification of the managerial approaches employed in the specific decoupling configurations. The main contribution of this paper is that it adds insight regarding the debate on engineer-to-order definitions. Additionally, this paper enriches existing knowledge regarding the contingencies that drive the application of different managerial approaches upstream and downstream of the CODP. Finally, this paper provides cases that exemplify how to use the 2D-CODP framework, guiding managers in understanding the positioning of the product families and choosing how to manage and coordinate activities upstream and downstream of the CODP based on their positioning