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Purpose Particularly in volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) business conditions, staff in supply chain management (SCM) look to real-time (RT) data processing to reduce uncertainties. However, based on the premise that data processing can be perfectly mastered, such expectations do not reflect reality. The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether RT data processing reduces SCM uncertainties under real-world conditions. Design/methodology/approach Aiming to facilitate communication on the research question, a Delphi expert survey was conducted to identify challenges of RT data processing in SCM operations and to assess whether it does influence the reduction of SCM uncertainty. In total, 14 prospective statements concerning RT data processing in SCM operations were developed and evaluated by 68 SCM and data-science experts. Findings RT data processing was found to have an ambivalent influence on the reduction of SCM complexity and associated uncertainty. Analysis of the data collected from the study participants revealed a new type of uncertainty related to SCM data itself. Originality/value This paper discusses the challenges of gathering relevant, timely and accurate data sets in VUCA environments and creates awareness of the relationship between data-related uncertainty and SCM uncertainty. Thus, it provides valuable insights for practitioners and the basis for further research on this subject.

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Business and EntrepreneurshipOpen access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. I n the field of supply chain management (SCM), attracting and developing appropriate talent is critical for achieving most SCM goals, as extensive skills are necessary to do the job properly. In order to ensure that future-proof talent can continue to emerge in this discipline, the role of SCM executives is extremely important. Although many studies have been conducted in the field of talent management (TM), the future role of SCM executives has been mostly neglected in research. The present empirical study addresses this gap, taking into consideration the fourth industrial revolution, as innovation in technology continues to drive significant changes in the SCM field. Aiming to investigate the extent to which increasing digitalization is influencing the future role of SCM executives, a Delphi study with 103 experts from industry, academics, and politics/associations was carried out. In order to identify meaningful topic clusters from the data, fuzzy c-means clustering was used. From an actor-network theory perspective, our results show that in some areas of TM, digitalization is leading to a strong fusion of SCM executives and digital technologies, as well as to a clear division of roles, in which either SCM leaders or technology will dominate in the future.

Public and academic attention towards sustainably managing companies and corresponding supply chains has been gaining significant momentum in recent years. While extensive literature is available on corporate sustainability and the original equipment manufacturers' (OEMs) downstream supply chains, there is little empirical knowledge concerning why first-tier (FT) suppliers in the upstream supply chain implement sustainability into their supplier selection (SS) processes. However, FT suppliers have a crucial role in ensuring sustainability in upstream supply chains, as they are a key transmitter and often accountable for their OEMs' subsupplier portfolios. Grounded on a cross-case study approach of five FT suppliers, two associations and three non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as well as stakeholder theory, this paper investigates how different stakeholder groups are influencing the integration of sustainability aspects into FT suppliers' SS processes. Therefore, government, NGOs, OEMs and employees are investigated as stakeholder groups. Characteristics, such as FT suppliers' size, legal structure, material criticality, employees' distance to the supply chain function, company culture and industry culture, could be identified as factors that influence the urgency of stakeholders' sustainability claims and thus FT suppliers' perceived sustainability pressure. Moreover, with regard to the OEM stakeholder group, it was found that,