Marcelo Bronzo Ladeira

The impact of business analytics on supply chain performance

The paper investigates the relationship between analytical capabilities in the plan, source, make and deliver area of the supply chain and its performance using information system support and business process orientation as moderators. Structural equation modeling employs a sample of 310 companies from different industries from the USA, Europe, Canada, Brazil and China. The findings suggest the existence of a statistically significant relationship between analytical capabilities and performance. The moderation effect of information systems support is considerably stronger than the effect of business process orientation. The results provide a better understanding of the areas where the impact of business analytics may be the strongest.

A global investigation of key turning points in business process maturity

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on the results of research into the precedence of the maturity factors, or key turning points in business process maturity (BPM) implementation efforts. A key turning point is a component of BPM that stabilizes within an organization and leads to the next maturity level.Design/methodology/approach – Several years of data from over 1,000 companies in the USA, Europe, China, and Brazil that have completed a BPM assessment are analyzed to identify which components of BPM stabilize, when and in what order. Different analysis methods are employed in order to identify global commonalities and differences.Findings – The paper identifies key turning points from several different perspectives using several different approaches and develops some conclusions common to all methods used in this research.Research limitations/implications – The relationship between the components (dependencies) is only suggested but not statistically analyzed. Several data sets are also o...

Supply chain maturity and performance in Brazil

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to investigate the relationship between supply chain maturity and performance, with specific references both to the business process orientation maturity model and to the supply chain operation reference model.Design/methodology/approach – Quantitative, survey based research was carried out with 478 Brazilian companies. Statistical analysis combined the use of descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling.Findings – Empirical results indicate a strong and positive statistical relationship between supply chain maturity and performance. The results also suggest that the deliver process maturity has a higher impact on overall performance than the other supply chain processes.Research limitations/implications – Quantifying supply chain maturity and performance is an opportunity for a company to align its performance measurements and process improvement actions with its broader policies and strategies. The use of this approach has been validated in several previo...

Business Analytics, Process Maturity and Supply Chain Performance

The paper investigates the relationship between analytical capabilities in the plan, source, make and deliver area of the supply chain and its performance. The effects of analytics on different maturity levels are analyzed with various statistical techniques. A sample of 788 companies from the USA, Europe, Canada, Brazil and China was used. The results indicate the changing impact of business analytics use on performance, meaning that companies on different maturity levels should focus on different areas. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are thoroughly discussed.

The Supply Chain Process Management Maturity Model – SCPM3

In recent years, a growing amount of research, much of which is still preliminary, has been dedicated to investigating maturity models development for the strategic management of supply chains (Chan and Qi, 2003; Gunasekaran et al., 2001; Coyle et al., 2003). The concept of process maturity derives from the understanding that processes have life cycles or developmental stages that can be clearly defined, managed, measured and controlled throughout time. A higher level of maturity, in any business process, results in: (1) better control of the results; (2) more accurate forecast of goals, costs and performance; (3) higher effectiveness in reaching defined goals and the management ability to propose new and higher targets for performance (Lockamy and McCormack, 2004; Poirier and Quinn, 2004; McCormack et al., 2008). In order to meet the performance levels desired by customers in terms of quantitative and qualitative flexibility of service in demand fulfillment, deadlines consistency and reduction of lead times related to fulfilling orders, firms have developed repertoires of abilities and knowledge that are used in their organizational process (Day, 1994 apud Lockamy and McCormack, 2004; Trkman, 2010). In two past decades, management of supply chain processes has evolved, also because of these new demands, from a departmental perspective, extremely functional and vertical, to an organic arrangement of integrated processes, horizontal and definitely oriented to providing value to intermediate and final costumers (Mentzer et al., 2001). This new pattern of logistical process management had lead towards the development and application of different maturity models and performance metrics useful as support tools to help define a strategy and to face trade-offs, as well as to identify items that are considered critical to quality improvement of logistical services rendered to the client. The purpose of this article is to explore the concept of maturity models and to answer an important question specifically directed to the management of supply chain processes. What best practices are fully matured and in use at what maturity level? This paper will more fully define the maturity levels based upon the capabilities of the company using statistical analysis of a global data set.

Managing supply chain resources with Big Data Analytics: a systematic review

ABSTRACT Big Data Analytics (BDA) has the potential to improve demand forecasting, communications and better manage supply chain resources. Despite such recognised benefits and the increase of BDA research, little is known about the general approaches used to investigate BDA in the context of supply chain management (SCM). In the light of the Resource-based View, the main goal of this study was, by means of a systematic literature review, to comprehend how BDA has been investigated on SCM studies, which resources are managed by BDA as well as which SCM processes are involved. Our study found out that the predictive and prescriptive approaches are more frequently used and organisational, technological and human resources are often managed by BDA. It was observed a focus on Demand Management and Order Fulfilment processes and a lack of studies on Returns Management, which indicates an open research area that should be exploited by future studies.

Gestão de processos, indicadores analíticos e impactos sobre o desempenho competitivo em grandes e médias empresas brasileiras dos setores da indústria e de serviços

This article compiles the main findings of a study that aimed to investigate the nature of the relationships between business process orientation (BPO) constructs, analytical indicators, and competitive performance from a sample of 368 large and midsized Brazilian companies that are present in different sectors of industry and services operations within the Brazilian economy. By means of a survey, this research involved the use of hypothesis testing and bivariate and multivariate statistical techniques. Tests were carried out to measure the internal consistency of the research tool scales as well as to assess the model structure using structural equation modeling. Both the scales and the model were validated. The results show the strategic importance of BPO factors and analytical indicators as predictors of competitive performance of companies. Through the structural equation model, these predictive factors explained 66.3% of the variation in performance of the companies in the sample, and the direct effects (path coefficients) found among BPO constructs, analytical indicators, and performance were also significant.

An analysis of international coauthorship networks in the supply chain analytics research area

This work characterized the research community of supply chain analytics (SCA) with respect to coauthorship, a special kind of collaboration. A characterization of coauthorship in terms of researchers’ countries, institutions and individuals was elaborated, so three different one-mode networks were studied. Besides, the SCA research community is characterized in terms of Supply Chain Management (SCM) research streams. Coauthorship among researchers working on different streams is also analyzed. Metrics that depict the importance of the network nodes were studied such as degree, betweenness and closeness. This study found out an intense collaboration between USA and countries such as China, India, United Kingdom and Canada. Researchers from Canada and Ireland are better situated (central) in the network, although they have not published a considerable amount of papers. The presence of cliques and the small-world effect were also observed in these networks. In terms of research streams, more research on SCA located at the Strategic Management, Technology-focused and Logistics streams was found. The most common links between research streams are on the one side, Technology-focused with both Strategic Management and Logistics and on the other side Strategic Management with both Logistics and Organizational behavior. SCA researchers are rarely working with a focus on Marketing. This study contributes to the SCA literature by identifying the most central actors in this area and by characterizing the area in terms of SCM research streams. This study may contribute to the development of more focused research incentive programs and collaborations.

Business analytics leveraging resilience in organizational processes

Purpose The survival and growth of organizations presently depend on managing processes and capabilities to effectively use large volumes of data from different sources to assist organizations’ strategic and operational goals. This paper aims to test the relationship between organizational analytical capabilities (OAC), the performance results in organizational resilience (OR) and the business process management maturity (BPMM). Design/methodology/approach Based on a survey of companies operating in the state of Espirito Santo, Brazil, a conceptual model was proposed and tested using the partial least squares algorithm. Findings The results confirm the proposed theoretical hypotheses that OAC and BPMM positively impact OR. In addition, the results show that OAC exert a moderating effect on the relationship between BPMM and OR. Practical implications It is understood that stimulating the practice of data and information analysis in the organizational routine translates into a relevant managerial behavior, as this attitude leverages the knowledge development and understanding about how to manage unexpected risk events, enabling companies to assess their ability to react to disruptions, even in terms of operational failures.

Qualitative studies in supply chain management research: potential contributions of centring resonance analysis

The historical strong emphasis on quantitative studies in supply chain management (SCM) is giving place to more qualitative studies. The execution of SCM activities as well as interactions among participants in the chains generates lots of information which can be analysed using qualitative methods. A common methodological problem in such analyses is how to move beyond specific linguistic material to generalisations. One method suited for this is centring resonance analysis (CRA), which allows the synthesis of texts into smaller categories. This article discusses the contributions and potential future use of CRA in SCM field by performing a systematic literature review in studies that adopted this technique. Results showed that CRA has been adopted in SCM since 2010 in order to analyse documents that vary from training materials and corporate social reports to interviews and software documentation. A characterisation of methods applied in conjunction with CRA is also provided.