PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify and evaluate the critical success factors (CSFs) responsible for supplier development (SD) in a manufacturing supply chain environment.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 13 CSFs for SD are identified (i.e. long‐term strategic goal; top management commitment; incentives; supplier's supplier condition; proximity to manufacturing base; supplier certification; innovation capability; information sharing; environmental readiness; external environment; project completion experience; supplier status and direct involvement) through extensive literature review and discussion held with managers/engineers in different Indian manufacturing companies. A fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) is proposed and developed to evaluate the degree of impact of each CSF on SD.FindingsThe degree of impact for each CSF on SD is established for an Indian company. The results are discussed in detail with managerial implications. The long‐term strategic goal is found to be the most significant CSF for successful SD implementation.Research limitations/implicationsThis study has not been statistically validated in a manufacturing supply chain environment for complete acceptability.Practical implicationsThe simplicity and clarity of the proposed approach enhances its acceptability for evaluating CSFs in manufacturing supply chain environment. It also provides the direction for optimally allocating the efforts and resources for successful implementation of SD in short duration.Originality/valueAlthough both CSFs and SD have been widely researched, but no study has been reported in the literature to prioritize and rank the CSFs of SD in an Indian manufacturing environment. The paper contributes to research in the supply chain management area in general and SD in particular for manufacturing environment. The proposed approach has the ability to capture the judgment of multiple experts to prioritize and rank CSFs for SD.

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Purpose This paper aims to review the healthcare supply chain (HSC) literature along various areas and to find out the gap in it. Design/methodology/approach In total, 143 research papers were reviewed during 1996-2017. A critical review was carried out in various dimensions such as research methodologies/data collection method (empirical, case study and literature review) and inquiry mode of research methodology (qualitative, quantitative and mixed), country-specific, targeted area, research aim and year of publication. Findings Supply chain (SC) operations, performance measurement, inventory management, lean and agile operation, and use of information technology were well studied and analyzed, however, employee and customer training, tracking and visibility of medicines, cold chain management, human resource practices, risk management and waste management are felt to be important areas but not much attention were made in this direction. Research limitations/implications Mainly drug and vaccine SC were considered in current study of HSC while SC along healthcare equipment and machine, hospitality and drug manufacturing related papers were excluded in this study. Practical implications This literature review has recognized and analyzed various issues relevant to HSC and shows the direction for future research to develop an efficient and effective HSC. Originality/value The insight of various aspects of HSC was explored in general for better and deeper understanding of it for designing of an efficient and competent HSC. The outcomes of the study may form a basis to decide direction of future research.

Purpose Agile manufacturing (AM) has evolved as a revolutionary way of manufacturing the products while managing the uncertainties, product introduction time, responsiveness, innovation, superior quality, etc. along the supply chain to satisfy the ever increasing customer demand and to maximize the profit. The purpose of this paper is to critically analyze the literature related to various dimensions of AM and to report the findings. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents the reviews of 300 scholarly articles from 1993 to 2016 by various researchers and practitioners on AM collected from different sources, i.e. Google Scholar and ResearchGate. The information related to AM is also captured during industrial visits to different Indian manufacturing plants. Findings AM definitions are reported along divergent scopes and objectives in the literature. The researchers have given importance on performance measurement and process analysis through empirical and descriptive analysis whereas its implementation issues are neglected. It is also observed that the effort made on AM is significant for manufacturing industries which is overlooked in service industries. Practical implications This literature review has identified many research gaps in AM which were not paid attention before. Researchers can address these research gaps for strengthening the AM implementation. Originality/value In total, 300 research papers are reviewed and analyzed to capture the various aspects of AM and its related issues but not restricted to research methodologies, author profiles, types of industries, tools/techniques/methodology used, etc.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the agility level of a manufacturing system along different timelines. Design/methodology/approach – The fuzzy synthetic extents of agile manufacturing enablers (AMEs), on the basis of their importance, are determined. Then they are integrated with their performance ratings along different timeline for calculating the Fuzzy Agile Manufacturing Index (FAMI). Euclidean distances of FAMI from predetermined agility levels are mapped to determine the agility level of the manufacturing system along different timeline. Findings – The proposed methodology was implemented in an Indian manufacturing organization to determine its agility level. It was concluded from the obtained results that there was significant improvement in the agility level along the timeline. Research limitations/implications – The weights of the AMEs are assumed to be constant along the timeline. Practical implications – The supply chain mangers can easily apply this methodology in their respective manufacturing organizations to assess and determine the agility level. This proposed approach will show the direction to check the performance of agility and evaluate the evolution of agility in their respective manufacturing organizations. Originality/value – The combination of fuzzy synthetic extent of weights and average fuzzy performance ratings of AMEs to calculate the FAMI along the timeline considering judgments of multiple experts is a unique contribution.

Purpose – Information sharing enhances the supply chain profitability significantly, but it may result in adverse impacts also (e.g. leakages of secret information to competitors, sharing of wrong information that result into losses). So, it is important to understand the various risk factors that lead to distortion in information sharing and results in negative consequences. Information risk identification and assessment in supply chain would help in choosing right mitigation strategies. The purpose of this paper is to identify various information risks that could impact a supply chain, and develop a conceptual framework to quantify them. Design/methodology/approach – Bayesian belief network (BBN) modeling will be used to provide a framework for information risk analysis in a supply chain. Bayesian methodology provides the reasoning in causal relationship among various risk factors and incorporates both objective and subjective data. Findings – This paper presents a causal relationship among various information risks in a supply chain. Three important risk factors, namely, information security, information leakages and reluctance toward information sharing showed influence on a company’s revenue. Practical implications – Capability of Bayesian networks while modeling in uncertain conditions, provides a prefect platform for analyzing the risk factors. BBN provides a more robust method for studying the impact or predicting various risk factors. Originality/value – The major contribution of this paper is to develop a quantitative model for information risks in supply chain. This model can be updated when a new data arrives.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review and analyze the perishable inventory models along various dimensions such as its evolution, scope, demand, shelf life, replenishment policy, modeling techniques and research gaps. Design/methodology/approach In total, 418 relevant and scholarly articles of various researchers and practitioners during 1990-2016 were reviewed. They were critically analyzed along author profile, nature of perishability, research contributions of different countries, publication along time, research methodologies adopted, etc. to draw fruitful conclusions. The future research for perishable inventory modeling was also discussed and suggested. Findings There are plethora of perishable inventory studies with divergent objectives and scope. Besides demand and perishable rate in perishable inventory models, other factors such as price discount, allow shortage or not, inflation, time value of money and so on were found to be combined to make it more realistic. The modeling of inventory systems with two or more perishable items is limited. The multi-echelon inventory with centralized decision and information sharing is acquiring lot of importance because of supply chain integration in the competitive market. Research limitations/implications Only peer-reviewed journals and conference papers were analyzed, whereas the manuals, reports, white papers and blood-related articles were excluded. Clustering of literature revealed that future studies should focus on stochastic modeling. Practical implications Stress had been laid to identify future research gaps that will help in developing realistic models. The present work will form a guideline to choose the appropriate methodology(s) and mathematical technique(s) in different situations with perishable inventory. Originality/value The current review analyzed 419 research papers available in the literature on perishable inventory modeling to summarize its current status and identify its potential future directions. Also the future research gaps were uncovered. This systemic review is strongly felt to fill the gap in the perishable inventory literature and help in formulating effective strategies to design of an effective and efficient inventory management system for perishable items.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the agriculture supply chain (ASC) literature along many dimensions which include but are not restricted to scope, objective, wastages, driver, obstacle, outcome, etc. Design/methodology/approach In total, 203 relevant and scholarly articles of various researchers and practitioners during 2000-2016 were reviewed. The information related to definition, research methodology, global research spread, supply chain strategy, various types of produce, author profile and year of publication of ASC were collected and analysed. Findings The information related to empirical research and viewpoint of various ASC drivers were captured, studied and analysed in detail. Although inventory policy, demand forecasting and ASC integration were found to be important areas of ASC, they were less focused, studied and researched. Research limitations/implications Mainly post-harvest ASC of different agricultural produces were considered whereas products such as dairy, fishery and meat supply chains were not included in the study. Originality/value The paper provides an insight into various aspects of ASC in general and one can get a deeper and richer knowledge on it which will help in formulating effective strategies to design of an effective and efficient ASC. It uncovers the research gaps for the new future research paths. This systemic review is strongly felt to fill the gap in the ASC literature.