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Measuring Business Excellence

ISSN : 1368-3047

Article publication date: 9 April 2021

Issue publication date: 21 February 2022

In the previous decade, a substantial amount of research has been undertaken to measure the digitalized supply chain (DSC) performance. This paper aims to present a systematic literature review on DSC performance measurement metrics to apprehend current practices, recognize gaps and advocate future research itineraries.

Design/methodology/approach

To guarantee a replicable, rigorous and transparent research process, the authors used a systematic literature review methodology to synthesize the research. A combination of 25 keywords was used to obtain 248 scientific studies in the first step. The balance scorecard (BSC) model was used to categorize 299 gathered performance metrics into 4 BSC perspectives.

The review highlighted the need for qualitative performance measuring metrics for DSC. During the review, only one study was identified that primarily focused on developing performance metrics for DSC. Additionally, the review identified that metrics related to internal and financial perspectives received the most attention while the “growth and learning” perspective received the least attention. The review also identified that external partners, such as distributors and suppliers, were virtually ignored in previous literature.

Originality/value

Although numerous literature reviews have been conducted in the past on the performance measuring metrics for supply chain management, no literature review aiming to synthesize the measuring metrics for DSC has yet been undertaken.

• Performance measurement
• Systematic literature review
• Digital supply chain
• Digital transformation
• Digitalization
• Balance scorecard

Rasool, F. , Greco, M. and Grimaldi, M. (2022), "Digital supply chain performance metrics: a literature review", Measuring Business Excellence , Vol. 26 No. 1, pp. 23-38. https://doi.org/10.1108/MBE-11-2020-0147

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Performance Metrics in Digital Supply Chain Paradigm

• First Online: 01 October 2023

Cite this chapter

• R. Prashanna Rangan 7 ,
• R. Kumanan 7 ,
• K. Ram Prasad 7 &
• M. Nishal 7  

Part of the book series: Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes ((EFEPP))

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1 Citations

Globalisation in corelation with technology development has recently made it possible to compete in business and prosper. Digital technology must now be included by companies if they are to remain sustainable and globally competitive. The fourth industrial revolution has altered how individuals interact with their surroundings and communicate. The supply chain has begun to be digitalised in order to accommodate digital goods and services as internal business processes change so quickly. Innovative strategies, including technologies for digital transformation, are required to obtain an advantage in the digital supply chain. Current methods for global supply chain management and logistics for moving, storing and managing cargo are not suitable for the future from an economic, environmental or social standpoint. To assess how effectively a company is performing in achieving its goals, supply chain metrics and performance measures obtained through benchmarking are essential. Monitoring a company's operations, performance and behaviour is made possible via performance metrics. They ensure that the supply chain is controlled and operating efficiently by enabling visibility into key operations. This chapter provides insights into the performance metrics which control the supply chain activities internally and externally. The Key Performance Indicators known as KPI’s which drive the organisation towards its intended results have been listed, and their significance towards the digital supply chain has been elaborated in detail. The measurements can be used to determine inventory accuracy, turnover and inventory-to-sales ratios. Therefore, by monitoring supply chain indicators, a business may quickly pinpoint areas that require improvement or where supply chain effectiveness may be increased. To maximise the gains of implementing a Digital Supply Chain (DSC), it is crucial to identify all of the potential opportunities, pain spots, difficulties and development chances beforehand.

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Rangan, R.P., Kumanan, R., Prasad, K.R., Nishal, M. (2024). Performance Metrics in Digital Supply Chain Paradigm. In: Vimal, K.E.K., Rajak, S., Kumar, V., Mor, R.S., Assayed, A. (eds) Industry 4.0 Technologies: Sustainable Manufacturing Supply Chains. Environmental Footprints and Eco-design of Products and Processes. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-4819-2_11

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Digital supply chain performance metrics: a literature review

Abstract: purpose in the previous decade, a substantial amount of research has been undertaken to measure the digitalized supply chain (dsc) performance. this paper aims to present a systematic literature review on dsc performance measurement metrics to apprehend current practices, recognize gaps and advocate future research itineraries. design/methodology/approach to guarantee a replicable, rigorous and transparent research process, the authors used a systematic literature review methodology to synthesize the researc… show more.

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Cited by 34 publication s

References 53 publication s, digitalization strategies and evaluation of maritime container supply chains.

PurposeThis study proposes practical digitalization strategies and well-grounded evaluation criteria for maritime container supply chains.Design/methodology/approachThe authors identified the status of supply chain digitalization of the Port of Busan in South Korea and developed three digitalization strategies based on industry requirements and consultations with port experts. The authors proposed 11 evaluation criteria for examining the main digitalization strategies in the supply chain operations reference model, based on a survey among 46 experts and used multi-criteria decision-making approaches to prioritize the strategies and evaluation criteria.FindingsThe results delineate the status of the digitalization of a real-world port-focal supply chain. The model can be successfully customized to include well-grounded evaluation criteria for digitalization strategies, and presents a practical way to advance the supply chain digitalization strategies. Based on the survey and evaluation, the authors find that increasing data accessibility and improving quality are preferred to adopting a data and information sharing platform.Research limitations/implicationsAs the study is limited to the Port of Busan, future case studies could be undertaken to container supply chains driven by different regional ports.Practical implicationsStakeholders, such as truckers, terminal operators, and shipping liners, might consider the proposed strategies and evaluation criteria when digitalizing their supply chains.Originality/valueBy identifying the needs and specifications of maritime container supply chain digitalization strategies, developing evaluation criteria, and conducting a case study for proof of concept, the study proposes an operational management process with practical, real-world benefits for port-focal supply chains.

Digital Supply Chain: Conceptualisation of the Research Domain

In this decade, manufacturing companies are facing events that disrupt delicate balances and experiencing tangible challenges that cannot be deferred. Among these, the acceleration of technological transformation to follow the introduction of Industry 4.0, the difficulty in sourcing raw materials and accessing different markets due first to the COVID 19 pandemic and more recently to geopolitical tensions and conflicts. In this scenario, traditional supply chain models need to transform into digital supply chains (DSCs), where functional silos are broken down to enable end-toend visibility, agility, collaboration, and resilience to such shocks. The literature on the subject is still immature and many concepts are still vague and undefined. In this regard, this article aims to answer the following questions: (i) What are the main research areas within the topic? (ii) What is the development trajectory of the topic? (iii) What are the main digital technologies that can support DSC capabilities? (iv) What can be its research agenda? For this purpose, this paper aims at reviewing the existing scientific production on DSCs, combining a systematic review with bibliometric tools. The resulting framework can serve as a preliminary guide for companies facing the challenges listed above and can open up future research that can validate the results empirically.

Exploring drivers of business performance in web-enabled supply chains: the role of web technology training and supply chain integration

PurposeGrounded on the resource-based and dynamic capability views and the contingency theories, this study examines the direct and indirect effects of web technology training (WTT) and web-enabled transaction use (WTU) on business performance (BPE) through internal supply chain integration (ISCI) and supplier supply chain integration (SSCI).Design/methodology/approachBased on survey data collected from a sample of 175 respondents in the USA, the authors used structural equation modeling with AMOS 24.0 to test the measurement model for validity, reliability and the conceptual model for hypothesized structural relationships.FindingsThe results reveal that WTT significantly impacts WTU, which, in turn, has a significant direct relationship with BPE. Further, WTU indirectly affects BPE through SSCI. Additionally, ISCI has a significant direct effect on SSCI.Practical implicationsThe findings support the relationship between WTT and BPE via WTU SCI. Managers are advised to develop ongoing capabilities in WTT to maximize the value of WTU to enhance the ISCI and SSCI operations, thus leading to improvements in BPE.Originality/valueThe research contributes to the supply chain literature by empirically demonstrating the usefulness of WTT in improving WTU use and BPE through effective ISCI and SSCI.

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APPLIED RESEARCH:

DSC Performance Metrics

If you don’t measure it, you won’t get it

It is clear that the Digital Supply Chain (DSC) has an expanded vision, one that creates success not just through minimizing cost but also through pleasing customers and growing revenue. The journey to the game changing DSC has many steps including new ways to manage Demand, People, Technology and Risk. Without the right metrics necessary, changes won’t happen. With the right metrics, closely tied to pay, your company will accelerate progress.

The necessity to develop new performance metrics was identified as a top priority by the Center for Global Enterprise (CGE) and the supply chain leaders of 24 global companies in December of 2016. These 24 companies (we call them the Global Experts Group or GEG) had just completed working, after nearly a year of effort, on the Frontside Flip, a white paper that spelled out the vision for the DSC and the revolutionary improvements that it would bring.

CGE’s Digital Supply Chain Institute (DSCI) team has developed three tools that should help accelerate progress towards the DSC:

• Transformational Maturity Assessment
• Digital Supply Chain Strategy Development Workshop
• Essential Digital Supply Chain Metrics

An assessment that will allow you to pinpoint where you are on your transformation path to the Digital Supply Chain and point out significant opportunities. We have prepared the online tool that supply chain executive can use to measure the transformation progress across four key management areas – Demand, People, technology, and Risk – across select customers, suppliers and your internal team.

The DSCI team has accumulated decades of experience in designing and facilitating executive level strategy workshops. Utilizing the DSCI “Front Side Flip”, demand-driven research and guides as a framework, the workshop blueprint will lead your senior team through a series of structured dialogs, with the goal of developing implementable strategies and actions. The content portion of the program introduces key concepts of the demand-driven Digital Supply Chain, highlights new strategies, and measures for the performance domains of Demand, People, Technology, and Risk.

Transforming to a Digital Supply Chain is the most important step for any companies, including the companies that have not traditionally considered themselves as having a supply chain focus. New Metrics are needed to drive these changes and transformational efforts to truly transform to Digital Supply Chain and to assess the transformation pathways. The DSCI team has developed a list of Essential Digital Supply Chain Metrics, which has categorized into four key management areas – Demand, People, Technology, and Risk – and into Output and Process Categories. We believe the adoption of these measures will help companies dedicated to undertaking this transformation improve revenue by an average of 10% while reducing cost by 20%.

Please contact us if you want to be a part of this transformative research with our Institute Members, call us on 202-220-3177

For more information, email us at  [email protected]

Digital Supply Chain Transformation Guide: Essential Metrics

“Digital Supply Chain Transformation Guide: Essential Metrics” is part of the Digital Supply Chain Institute’s (DSCI) research on performance metrics. The DSCI research team has developed this guide to help senior supply chain executives understand some of the key metrics needed to transition companies towards a truly Digital Supply Chain. This guide is the result of extensive research and numerous consultations with our DSCI members, Global Experts Group, industry leaders, practitioners, and academics.

The report has four major sections:

• The first section covers a review of currently used supply chain metrics, which are referred to as “Traditional” Supply Chain (TSC) metrics. These TSC metrics are important as they make up 80% of the new Digital Supply Chain (DSC) scorecard.
• The second section outlines a new set of “Essential Digital Supply Chain Metrics.” These new metrics account for change in the areas of Demand, People, Technology, and Risk.
• The third section includes a comprehensive “ Transformation Maturity Assessment .” The assessment is designed to help supply chain executives determine how much progress has been made in their supply chain transformation, and provides guidance on where companies should focus their efforts to improve.
• The fourth and final section provides guidance on how companies can implement these new DSC changes to help grow revenue and reduce costs.

We believe the implementation of these new measures, combined with certain existing traditional metrics, will help companies accelerate their transition to a Digital Supply Chain. The work is intended for senior supply chain executives but can also serve as an insightful guide for anyone working on or studying supply chain management and best practices. Part of the transition to a Digital Supply Chain involves redefining our understanding of supply chains to include industries that have not traditionally considered themselves supply chain businesses, including the finance and service industries.

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The digital supply chain revolution: A mountain worth climbing?

A staff member of Nihonbinary demonstrates their 3D printer. Image:  REUTERS/Yuya Shino

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If I had a bitcoin for every prediction about the transformative effect of new technologies on supply chains that has so far failed to materialise, I would be a very rich man. Much has been promised yet we remain at the foothills of this endeavour. Looking ahead, we should anticipate an alluring possibility of a world in which the end-to-end supply chain is utterly transformed – highly connected, flexible, efficient, resilient and truly responsive to customer needs. However, if large global companies are to reach this summit they will need to reinvent themselves. And for many of them – with their organisational siloes and complicated, multi-tiered supply chains – is that just too big a mountain to climb?

While no-one underestimates the scale of change required, particularly if a firm was to try to exploit multiple technologies at the same time, doing nothing is not an option. Too slow to embrace change and a firm you’ve never heard of could severely disrupt your market. Put all your eggs in the wrong technology basket and the consequences could be catastrophic. Fail to experiment and opportunities will undoubtedly be lost.

To make matters worse, firms are having to decide how to proceed amidst a significant skills shortage. Many lack the home-grown talent they need to bring about a digital transformation and the competition to recruit new talent from a relatively small pool is increasingly fierce.

Finding a way forward

As a result, many organisations have started the ascent to digitalisation, but tentatively. In this context of almost overwhelming digital opportunity, the most important question for firms is how do they decide where to start? At Cambridge, we are researching the design of manufacturing supply networks and, in particular, how can you bring together different layers of analysis into a single framework that can drive effective decision-making in a hugely complex ecosystem. To help firms think about their digital options, we have extended our thinking to develop a series of digital scenarios across the supply chain which show firms what could be done. These range from the automated e-sourcing of parts, to digitally-enabled production processes (3D printing, for example), through smart factory design and automation to direct-to-the customer e-commerce, with real-time monitoring and perpetual self-optimisation embedded throughout the supply chain. (The full set of scenarios is illustrated below.)

By breaking down the digital supply chain into these distinct but connected scenarios, we have created a framework against which firms can measure their current performance and aspirations. It helps them identify the most promising opportunities and develop a more strategic approach to digitalisation.

It’s an approach we are already using with a number of firms from different sectors and this is throwing up some interesting results in terms of organisational focus. Firms that deal directly with end-users are, as you might expect, focused on getting products to customers, whereas firms that use complex materials and parts in their manufacturing are concentrating on collaborative e-sourcing and procurement. For firms that rely on costly and complex equipment (in sectors such as oil and gas, mining and aerospace) prioritising investment in smart factories, automation and digital production processes are key. Firms with many production sites, on the other hand, that need to optimise how they work with their suppliers are prioritising network design and collaborative e-sourcing.

What we see from all this is the emergence of ‘hot spots’ – combinations of activities that will lead to competitive advantage. And, the other – but equally important – side of the same coin, a way of identifying which digital possibilities firms should leave to one side.

Breaking the problem down into manageable chunks is already helping firms to navigate the complexity. And, consonant with our findings, we see that some sectors are more successfully embracing aspects of digitalisation than others. Platforms that deliver services direct to the consumer – whether it’s online banking, calling a cab, or listening to music – are already commonplace. But harnessing the potential of, for example, continuous production processes or ‘watch towers’ to monitor a whole supply chain is still in its relative infancy. And that’s where another sort of platform comes in.

The importance of platforms

The pharmaceutical sector is an example of an industry facing a perfect digital storm. The big pharma companies are contending with the emergence of new production processes and packaging technologies at the same time as they are trying to apply digital technologies to address the problems that have long bedevilled their supply chains. While breaking down the problem and focusing on the priority areas helps to a certain extent, in a sector that is this technically complex and highly regulated, another approach is also needed.

And it’s important to make progress in this sector. These new technologies have the potential to deliver much better quality, highly bespoke care to individual patients, much more efficiently. Everyone – the patient, the clinician, the healthcare provider and the pharma companies themselves – will benefit. But, even if it were organisationally possible, no single manufacturer can take the risk of a wholesale implementation of innovative technologies at the same time as redesigning its supply chain, and potentially, its whole business model. So while many have been experimenting with new technologies, they are doing so either ‘at the edge’, isolated from the main business or in ways which provide incremental improvements to their current activities.

Clearly, that only gets you so far. If these firms are going to take full advantage of their technological opportunities – and move from experimentation to total reinvention - they need to find another way of clearing the foothills of implementation. One of these ways is through platforms – pre-competitive collaborations, co-funded by industry and government - that bring together manufacturers and suppliers, regulators and universities. We have been involved in a number of these collaborations in recent years and they are now gaining significant momentum, helping the sector as a whole find its way through the complexity while reducing the risk for individual firms. There may be useful lessons here for policy makers thinking about how best to develop their national innovation strategies.

Are we doing the right thing?

As we scale the foothills, we start to get a clearer view of the hazards that lie ahead. The potential benefits of transformation may be compelling but what about the costs? Some recent analysis by WEF suggests that the rise of these new technologies will result in a net loss of jobs across all sectors and in developed and developing countries alike. Is this a price we want to pay, or indeed can afford to pay, when inequality is rising within countries and is so persistent between countries? Will this inexorable march to a new technological future just make things worse for the already disadvantaged?

There is no question that manufacturing will change – eventually. The days of the large monolithic factory, churning out standardised products and shipping them all round the world seems increasingly at odds with the drive towards environmental sustainability, customisation, shorter lead times and greater scrutiny on the provenance of the product. New technologies mean we can now envisage different ways of doing things. Distributed manufacturing (using new production processes) could mean that goods are produced close to the customer, in small factories with shorter supply chains, delivering more personalised products and services with a lower cost to the environment. This sounds like an attractive model but the scale of change needed to get there is enormous – and we need to better understand its likely impact on employment and the economic and societal consequences for all of us.

Further reading

Srai J.S., Christodoulou P., and Settanni E., Next generation supply chains: making the right decisions about digitalisation . University of Cambridge Institute for Manufacturing, Cambridge, UK. Available at: https://www.ifm.eng.cam.ac.uk/insights/global-supply-chains/nextgensc/

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The transport sector is a major source of emissions in Asia. Here are 6 ways to fix that

James Leather and Sudhir Gota

October 22, 2024

Sustainable deliveries: How cities and companies can lead on logistics

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This is how hydrogen trains could transform transport

High-Emitting Sectors: Challenges and Opportunities for Low-Carbon Suppliers

How digitalization can drive sustainable supply chains in the least developed countries