The role of digital techniques in supply chain resilience: exploration in the logistics sector

Abstract

With the increasing need to transport quickly and efficiently, logistics companies have played a crucial role in overcoming the time and distance constraints in modern supply chains over the past years. However, unpredictable supply chain disruptive events such as economic crises, extreme weather and pandemics have caused unparalleled disruptions in the logistics industry. Given the high level of socialised services and strong conductivity and linkage roles of logistics firms, the impact of any supply chain disruptive events on the logistics industry will be transmitted and significantly affect the production and operation of upstream and downstream enterprises such as manufacturing and retailer companies, as well as the normal social life of residents.
To address the insufficiency of traditional risk management practices, logistics companies focus on building supply chain resilience (SCR) strategies that identify, monitor, and reduce supply chain risks and disruptions and react and recover quickly and cost-effectively. The digitisation of the supply chain has been one potential driver that can enable the development of SCR and mitigate the negative impacts of disruptions in the digital era. Logistics firms are trying to redesign their supply chain operations and adjust their scheme with digital techniques to maintain essential services in the face of the unavailability of materials and transportation restrictions due to unpredictable disruptions. Advanced digital techniques make tracking changes, implementing responses, and accurately monitoring the business more manageable, which can be a valuable tool for enhancing SCR.
However, the role of digital techniques in SCR remains unclear. The SCR actualisation process using digital techniques needs to be further explored. Unlike industry-embedded technologies that are more specific, digital techniques are tightly integrated with usage scenarios, behavioural subjects, and goal orientation to achieve diverse goals for organisations and industries. There is still limited empirical evidence about the affordance of SCR and digital techniques. Besides, few studies have highlighted how digital techniques can influence SCR and mitigate the disruption. The interplay of digital techniques (digital orientation and digital competency) and SCR in disruptive events is under-researched. Moreover, the literature often treats digital innovation and resources as isolated variables, ignoring multiple conjunctive causation relationships.
Therefore, this thesis applied multiple methods (such as thematic analysis, structural equation model, and fuzzy-set qualitative comparison analysis) to explore how digital techniques afford SCR goals, help firms deal with disruptions, and combine resources with digital innovation to achieve and develop SCR in the logistics sector. China was selected as the study area. China has the largest logistics market in the world based on logistics opportunities and business fundamentals. Second, the development of Chinese commercial logistics has shown new features, one of which is the continuous improvement of digitalisation and intelligence levels.
Study one moves affordance theory into the SCR research agenda. The thesis proposes a theoretical framework of digital affordances and SCR based on affordance theory. Results find that five digital affordances exist in logistics infrastructure, human capital, and collaboration networks, including flexibility, agility, visibility, and diversity. The results reveal three SCR goals: stability, continuity and opportunity creation. Digital affordances enhance and actualise SCR through service modularisation, information visibility, resource configuration, process optimisation and customer connection.
Study two first revealed that digital orientation (DO) and digital competency (DC)might affect SCR and firm performance through thematic analysis. Study two further develops a conceptual framework and the associated hypotheses by combining the qualitative findings with those reported in the literature. The results show that DC can positively affect SCR and firm performance. DO can directly and positively affect firm performance and indirectly affect SCR through the mediation role of DC.
Based on the resource orchestration theory and ambidextrous innovation perspective, study three uncovered that human capital, logistics infrastructure and exploitative digital innovation have configuration effects on motivating SCR. In contrast, exploratory digital innovation can combine collaboration networks and human capital to develop SCR. The findings reveal distinct pathways through which combinations of digital innovations and resource orchestration contribute to SCR, underscoring these relationships’ non-linear and conditional nature.
This thesis extends affordance theory into the domain of SCR, providing a new theoretical lens to SCR. It gives researchers and supply chain managers a new line of inquiry and strategic suggestions on perceiving and actualising digital affordance to enhance SCR. This thesis provides a reference for improved operations and resilience development under uncertain conditions such as extreme weather and climate change. Moreover, the thesis contributes to the literature by offering a nuanced understanding of SCR’s multifaceted antecedents and provides actionable insights for logistics managers to optimise resource allocation and innovation strategies. The configurational approach of the thesis advances theoretical knowledge on SCR and holds practical value for crafting resilient supply chain strategies in the digital era.

Date of Award	16 Nov 2024
Original language	English
Supervisor	Hing Kai Chan (Supervisor), Faith Chan (Supervisor), Yi Peng (Supervisor) & Dimple R. Thadani (Supervisor)