How visible is your supply chain? A model for supply chain visibility assessment

ABSTRACT

Recent studies have highlighted the potential of supply chain visibility (SCV) to improve companies’ performance, support the decision-making process and increase the resilience and sustainability of supply chains (SC). However, the definition and the approaches to manage visibility are not consensual, especially when it comes to its assessment. This paper studies the influence that some characteristics of the information shared among SC partners have on SCV and provides a model that allows to assess the level of visibility. Focus group research was used to discuss the visibility assessment model with academic and practical experts and case studies were conducted to evaluate the implementation of the model in real contexts. The results support the applicability of the model in complex SCs and show that the visibility indices proposed can help managers to identify the SC partners where improvement actions are needed. This study contributes to literature and practice by means of a model to assess the visibility throughout the SC by considering different types and characteristics of the information shared.

KEYWORDS:

• Supply chain visibility
• information sharing
• information processing theory
• resource-based view

Acknowledgments

This work is financed by the FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology) within project CMUP-ERI/TPE/0011/2013 of the CMU Portugal Program. The authors thank the company managers participating in this research for their valuable contribution.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dario Messina

Dario Messina has a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Management at Faculty of Engineering of University of Porto, and he is also visiting professor of Organization Management in Bosnia and Herzegovina. His research interests are related with Information Management, Supply Chain Management, Risk Management and Operation Management.

António Lucas Soares

António Lucas Soares is an associate professor at the Department of Informatics Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering - University of Porto and head of research centre at INESCTEC. His area of expertise is Information Systems specialised in applications to Collaborative Networks and Information and Knowledge Management, particularly in industrial organisations. His research interests include socio-technical design, knowledge representation, digital platforms for collaboration, design science research.

Ana Cristina Barros

Ana Cristina Barros is a senior researcher at INESC TEC in the field of operations, supply chain and technology management. At INESC TEC, Ana Barros participated in several European projects, in research projects in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University, and in consultancy projects in the area of technology strategy and Industry 4.0. Ana Barros obtained a PhD in Engineering and Management (Technical University of Lisbon), an MBA in Logistics and Entrepreneurship (Technical University of Munich), and a M.S. and B.S. in Chemical Engineering (University of Porto). She was visiting researcher at Carnegie Mellon University, CMU, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, and Cornell University and worked in the procurement and production planning departments of German and Portuguese companies.

Ricardo Zimmermann

Ricardo Zimmermann is a researcher at INESC TEC and an invited Professor at the University of Aveiro, Portugal. His qualification includes a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Management and a Master in Management by the University of Aveiro, a Master in Business Administration by SENAI (National Service of Industrial Learning) and a B.S. in Management by the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Brazil. His current research focuses on the role of digital technologies for more resilient and sustainable supply chains as a response to contemporary challenges.