Joseph B. Skipper

Reverse logistics: past research, current management issues, and future directions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the key issues faced by todays supply chain professionals when managing reverse logistics (RL) processes and compare these issues with the topics examined in extant research. By making such a comparison, the paper identifies areas of practical relevance that are being adequately addressed in the literature, as well as areas that may need further attention. Design/methodology/approach – The paper employed a Delphi method in order to uncover the most salient RL issues faced in industry, as viewed by practitioners. The paper then completed a systematic analysis of the RL literature in order to examine the degree to which topics addressed in the extant literature correspond with the framework proposed by Carter and Ellram (1998). Finally, the paper compared and contrasted the findings of the content analysis and Delphi study, which highlights areas for future investigation that may help to better align research with practice. Findings – In the Delphi study, ...

Big data and predictive analytics for supply chain sustainability

Big data/predictive analytics (BDPA) impacts financial/strategic performance in SCM.We suggest that BDPA can also be used to enhance and enable sustainable SCM.We review extant theories that can inform research in this area.A theory-based research agenda is proposed. Big data and predictive analytics (BDPA) tools and methodologies are leveraged by businesses in many ways to improve operational and strategic capabilities, and ultimately, to positively impact corporate financial performance. BDPA has become crucial for managing supply chain functions, where data intensive processes can be vastly improved through its effective use. BDPA has also become a competitive necessity for the management of supply chains, with practitioners and scholars focused almost entirely on how BDPA is used to increase economic measures of performance. There is limited understanding, however, as to how BDPA can impact other aspects of the triple bottom-line, namely environmental and social sustainability outcomes. Indeed, this area is in immediate need of attention from scholars in many fields including industrial engineering, supply chain management, information systems, business analytics, as well as other business and engineering disciplines. The purpose of this article is to motivate such research by proposing an agenda based in well-established theory. This article reviews eight theories that can be used by researchers to examine and clarify the nature of BDPAs impact on supply chain sustainability, and presents research questions based upon this review. Scholars can leverage this article as the basis for future research activity, and practitioners can use this article as a means to understand how company-wide BDPA initiatives might impact measures of supply chain sustainability.

Inter-organizational IT use, cooperative attitude, and inter-organizational collaboration as antecedents to contingency planning effectiveness

Purpose – Todays supply chains face increasing vulnerabilities; effective management of disruptions is critical to an organizations ability to weather disruptive events and remain competitive. Contingency planning is a method of risk management that promotes effective crisis management. This research tests proposed antecedents of contingency planning effectiveness in a supply chain setting.Design/methodology/approach – A survey method was used to gather data from 103 participants who are involved in their respective organizations contingency planning and implementation processes. The data were analyzed using partial least squares to examine relationships between contingency planning effectiveness, inter‐organizational information technology (IT) use, cooperative attitude, and inter‐organizational collaboration.Findings – The proposed model explains 87 percent of the variance in contingency planning effectiveness. The findings suggest that inter‐organizational collaboration, inter‐organizational IT use,...