Amir Moslemi, Olli-Pekka Hilmola and Jyri Vilko
This study aims to explore and analyzes the risk factors in container shipping and logistics services using a dual perspective. The authors gather data not only from logistics…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore and analyzes the risk factors in container shipping and logistics services using a dual perspective. The authors gather data not only from logistics service companies but also from their most important customers.
Design/methodology/approach
In this research, the authors used case study methodology (interviews and surveys) to examine risk factors that are related to one another within the interaction between logistics service companies and their customers in the emerging markets of the Mediterranean region (Turkey, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya).
Findings
The findings show the most important risk factors and compare them using a dual perspective. Customers identify additional risks and estimate their consequences as wider. Interestingly, oil price change plays a dual role because a price increase could be beneficial to the region; at the same time, however, the competitiveness of shipping would decrease. In both response groups, risk likelihood and risk consequence have a positive and statistically significant correlation.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of the study are limited to one shipping/logistics service company. On a global scale, the company is medium-sized; however, in terms of Northern Europe, it is an important player. Extending its service portfolio to the Mediterranean region is an important step.
Practical implications
In emerging markets, risks go hand in hand with profitability, and companies need to apply extensive risk analysis and mitigation strategies to survive.
Social implications
The southern Mediterranean region is showing some signs of economy recovery. Efficient, robust supply chains are in demand to support sustainable growth.
Originality/value
Using a case study approach in supply chain risk management in shipping is rather rare; this work is ground-breaking in that it uses dual perspective in the analysis.
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Ville Voipio, Kalle Elfvengren, Jukka Korpela and Jyri Vilko
The digital twin (DT) has become a heated topic among supply chain and information technology practitioners. While many papers in this area focus on technical tactics and…
Abstract
Purpose
The digital twin (DT) has become a heated topic among supply chain and information technology practitioners. While many papers in this area focus on technical tactics and learnings, this research paper aims to evaluate its business implications. According to literature, it has also been a weakly covered topic.
Design/methodology/approach
The research was conducted as a single case study, in which the impact of radio-frequency identification–enabled DT was quantified from the business benefits perspective. The evaluation was carried out using a framework model developed for the assessment identifying key contribution areas and the dynamics explaining how the benefits are expected to land on a business level.
Findings
Implementation of the DT was calculated to provide a significant supply chain performance improvement. The main contributor in the immediate benefits was the reduction in supply chain costs, in person-hours. However, the product availability improvement was conservatively considered in the evaluation, and thus, this paper estimates that it, together with higher cognition tools, constitutes the main financial return in the long run showing in the topline improvement. This paper suggests that the shift to DT can be generally limited by the cost savings perspective.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies released on the business impact of the cutting-edge technical solution area of the DT in supply chain management. In practice, businesses require an understanding of the business implications to decide on the investments in this area; thus, it is a critical part of the discussion.
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The scale and measure of the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on economic development has been a popular topic in the literature. The global pandemic has posed…
Abstract
Purpose
The scale and measure of the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on economic development has been a popular topic in the literature. The global pandemic has posed challenges to the supply chains and logistics in many countries, causing delays and disrupting supply chains and decreasing the volume of logistics flows. To ensure economic growth in the future, it is essential to acknowledge the impact the COVID-19 in order to increase the accuracy of anticipating changes during widespread pandemic. In this study, the linkage between economic development and the COVID-19 estimated and real impact is illustrated in a case study comparison between the Finnish and German logistic companies' viewpoints. The study shows how the international COVID-19 pandemic has affected to logistics organization perceptions on the changes in operational environment and continuity of business.
Design/methodology/approach
The empirical part of the study relies on mixed methods approach using panel data from logistics companies and expert group discussion. The panel data participants were logistics sector actors and the data was collected through a questionnaire. Numerous sources found from the literature are used to gain a holistic understanding of the attributes and impact of change in the logistics field.
Findings
This study provides an important, yet sparsely addressed viewpoint to the supply chain management literature by illustrating the changes caused be a widespread pandemic can cause to the logistics sector companies. Furthermore, the findings illustrate how different roles in supply chain actors perceived the COVID-19 in their operations, before and during the pandemic. The findings of the paper illustrate how drastic uncertainty and changes in the operational environment is seen in the logistics organizations. The findings suggest that increased uncertainty and changes in the operational environment can cause significant drop in expectations of the business development in the logistics sector depending on the actor’s role in the supply chain and international perspective.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the supply chain management and logistics literature with insights into how widespread pandemic is perceived in different roles of the supply chain as well as in different countries where the pandemic has spread in different pace. Analyzing the differences between the expected and realized impact from the business environment can give valuable information for academics and managers in the field, and thus give insights to improve the planning and decision-making in logistics field during a global pandemic.
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Electricity networks in Europe have been experiencing drastic changes driven by deregulation. The old monopoly businesses do not always find it easy to make the required…
Abstract
Purpose
Electricity networks in Europe have been experiencing drastic changes driven by deregulation. The old monopoly businesses do not always find it easy to make the required improvements, and some are outsourcing the functions to private service providers. Outsourcing is a fairly new phenomenon in electricity distribution, however, and there are few studies on the subject. The purpose of this paper is to narrow the gap in assessing the affecting factors and the impact in a case involving outsourcing the underground cabling functions of a publicly‐owned network company to a private service provider.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based mainly on qualitative interviews and an expert group session set up to analyse the acquired data. The affecting factors and the outsourcing impact levels were determined in the group discussion, and analysed in accordance with the risk/benefit framework developed, taking account of both the short‐ and long‐term aspects.
Findings
Outsourcing in the electricity network industry should be assessed holistically from the perspectives of the outsourcing company and the service provider. The results of outsourcing depend on the function in question, and there are wide differences in how it affects different elements of the organisations involved. A risk/benefit framework provides significant insights into the impacts and increase understanding about the causalities of the phenomenon and the goals of the partners.
Originality/value
The paper provides new knowledge with regard to electricity distribution by illustrating the affecting factors and the impacts of outsourcing. The presented framework gives a holistic picture of the impacts in an analysis of both parties' viewpoints and the short and long time scales in the relationship.
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Jyri Vilko, Paavo Ritala and Jan Edelmann
The concept of uncertainty is a relevant yet little understood area within supply chain risk management. Risk is often associated with uncertainty, but in reality uncertainty is a…
Abstract
Purpose
The concept of uncertainty is a relevant yet little understood area within supply chain risk management. Risk is often associated with uncertainty, but in reality uncertainty is a much more elaborate concept and deserves more in-depth scrutiny. To bridge this gap, the purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework for assessing the levels and nature of uncertainty in this context.
Design/methodology/approach
The aim of the study is to link established theories of uncertainty to the management of risk in supply chains, to gain a holistic understanding of its levels and nature. The proposed conceptual model concerns the role of certainty and uncertainty in this context. Illustrative examples show the applicability of the model.
Findings
The study describes in detail a way of analysing the levels and nature of uncertainty in supply chains. Such analysis could provide crucial information enabling more efficient and effective implementation of supply chain risk management.
Practical implications
The study enhances understanding of the nature of the uncertainties faced in supply chains. Thus it should be possible to improve existing measures and analyses of risk, which could increase the efficiency and effectiveness of supply chain and logistics management.
Originality/value
The proposed conceptual framework of uncertainty types in the supply chain context is novel, and therefore could enhance understanding of uncertainty and risk in supply and logistics management and make it easier to categorise, as well as initiate further research in the field.
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Services are increasingly growing in importance in the global economy. However, in the context of manufacturing industry supply chains, services are still little discussed…
Abstract
Purpose
Services are increasingly growing in importance in the global economy. However, in the context of manufacturing industry supply chains, services are still little discussed. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding of service business development for manufacturing small- and medium-sized enterprises by further developing previous conceptual frameworks for service supply chain management, based on the current scientific literature and empirical cases.
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based mainly on qualitative interviews and expert group sessions set up to analyze the acquired data and test the developed model. The developed model is based on a multidisciplinary literature review, to provide a holistic perspective on the affecting factors in new business development in the service supply chain context.
Findings
The implications of the study are beneficial from both the scientific and practical perspectives, which help to understand better the process and related factors in multi-actor service business development. The study contributes to the current scientific discussion of new business development in the supply chain context, proposing a new scientific framework based on the previous literature. The practical findings of the study give insights from manufacturing firms’ new service developments, and from the roles and resources required in the process.
Originality/value
The paper provides new knowledge with regard to new service business development in the supply chain context, by illustrating the most essential factors and the new process framework based on those. The presented framework gives a holistic picture of the process, but also enables better consideration of the most essential points by using a more precisely structured model.
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Mika Immonen, Jyri Vilko, Jouni Koivuniemi and Kaisu Laasonen
The purpose of this paper is to focus on the availability and demanded locations of health care services in a rural context. The authors analyse subjective experiences because…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to focus on the availability and demanded locations of health care services in a rural context. The authors analyse subjective experiences because mobility and other individual factors influence the availability of public services.
Design/methodology/approach
Results from a mail survey in southeastern Finland are presented. Data collection was conducted using a random sample of 3,000 people from age 60 to 90 years. A total of 1,121 valid responses were received.
Findings
The acceptable distance to service sites depends on learned behaviour where differences exist between suburban and rural residents. The authors found that service networks can be sparser in rural areas if the service sites are located in the daily activity space of the residents and travel burdens caused by distance and time are adequately solved. However, continuous downscaling of the provision may lead to the loss of health benefits which is harmful for individuals and expensive for society.
Research limitations/implications
Further research should assess a broader variety of residential areas from the perspective of service availability. The results presented do not enable a direct comparison of the service availability between cities and sparsely populated rural areas.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to the debate on access barriers to public service in rural regions. The question of availability of public services is topical because increasing overall demand requires urgent productivity improvements in public services. Currently this is solved by centralisation to search economies of scale.
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Claus Nottbrock, Amy Van Looy and Steven De Haes
Organizations invest in novel digital innovations to improve their business processes. These innovations, including Industry 4.0 technologies, enable full organizational…
Abstract
Purpose
Organizations invest in novel digital innovations to improve their business processes. These innovations, including Industry 4.0 technologies, enable full organizational integration with business process management (BPM), thereby requiring interorganizational relationship (IOR) capabilities. Many organizations lack knowledge about areas of interorganizational (IO) capability for integrating digital innovations into their value chains. They therefore have difficulty understanding that, as a socio-technical concept, digitalization surpasses the intraorganizational level and requires tools to develop mandatory IOR capabilities. The authors’ systematic literature review (SLR) explores these capabilities within the discipline of BPM. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue.
Design/methodology/approach
This SLR follows the standard methodology for structuring a broad research field. The authors assessed capabilities relevant to manufacturing organizations from 58 academic articles published between 2011 and 2021.
Findings
Building on existing firm-centric capability frameworks, the authors developed individual capabilities into a novel framework of digital interorganizational value chain (DIOVC). The authors’ conceptual model provides a basis for researchers and practitioners to consider capabilities and the theoretical spectrum of IO value chains.
Research limitations/implications
Future studies should validate these DIOVC capabilities as input for an updated model of BPM maturity aimed at improving business process performance through digital innovations.
Practical implications
This study provides organizations with IOR knowledge, supports decision makers in governing digital innovations and develops IO capabilities to improve their value chain performance.
Originality/value
The authors’ DIOVC capability framework is robust, with constructs and dimensions grounded in the literature, demonstrating theoretical and practical relevance.