Sustainable Supply Chains in the Age of AI and Digitization: Research Challenges and Opportunities

Abstract

Sustainability has become a global corporate mandate with implementation impacted by two key trends. The first is recognition that global supply chains have a profound impact on sustainability which requires “greening” the entire supply chain. The second is technology—digitization, artificial intelligence (AI), and “big data”—which have become ubiquitous. These technologies are impacting every aspect of how companies organize and manage their supply chains and have a powerful impact on sustainability. In this essay, we synthesize current dominant themes in research on sustainable supply chains in the age of digitization. We also highlight potential new research opportunities and challenges and showcase the papers in our STF.

RETRACTED: Design of basketball robot based on behavior-based fuzzy control

“…The most important ability of basketball robots to achieve autonomous driving behavior is to obtain information about the environment. 13 Among them, ultrasonic sensors have been widely used in robot sensing systems due to their high-cost performance and simple hardware implementation. The sensor model is shown in Figure 1.…”

Supply Chain Plasticity: Redesigning Supply Chains to Meet Major Environmental Change

“…Sanders et al. () provide an introduction to the STF with a thought piece that illustrates the connection between supply chain sustainability and the adoption of advanced digital technologies. The paper opens with a poignant set of observations: “…the challenge for both researchers and practitioners is to determine how to leverage these technologies and the enormous amounts of data they generate for performance measurement and transparency; effectively integrating the capabilities of digital platforms into supply chain sustainability decisions; and to develop innovative tools, techniques, and models that can leverage these technologies to unlock value.” The authors proceed to iterate various ways in which technology implementation can affect end‐to‐end supply chain operations and, in turn, prospects for sustainability.…”

“…Sanders et al. () speak to the contributions of the subsequent papers appearing in the STF, but allow us to offer a brief portrait of each.…”

“…We then transition to a Special Topic Forum (STF) focused on "Sustainable Supply Chains in a Digital Inter-Connected World," co-edited by Nada Sanders, Tonya Boone, Ram Ganeshan, and John Wood. Sanders et al (2019) provide an introduction to the STF with a thought piece that illustrates the connection between supply chain sustainability and the adoption of advanced digital technologies. The paper opens with a poignant set of observations: ".…”

“…They then present an array of research opportunities that remain essential for unlocking the larger premise of the driving research question (i.e., how advanced technologies can be leveraged to unlock not just economic but more holistic sustainable value add). Sanders et al (2019) speak to the contributions of the subsequent papers appearing in the STF, but allow us to offer a brief portrait of each.…”