What Have We Learned? A Bibliometric Review of a Three-Decade Investigation into the Supply Chain Uncertainty and a Revised Framework to Cope with the Challenges

Abstract

Three decades ago, supply chain uncertainty was recognized as a significant conceptual problem that must be resolved to successfully satisfy supply and demand activities. For this reason, firms have developed several workable approaches and techniques (including lean, agility, and resilient framework) in response to the need to maintain such activities in the face of uncertainty. Despite this, the current pandemic’s onset has hampered supply chain management, indicating that current solutions fall short of being sufficient to shield firms from being impacted. Therefore, it raises the question of what we have learned from decades of research and studies to prepare us for such adversities. And what plans must the firms have put in place to address this disaster? To focus on this, the current study intends to explore supply chain uncertainty trends and patterns, to emphasize the future orientation. Using the PRISMA 2020 (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses 2020) protocol, 884 peer-reviewed journal articles were selected from the Web of Science database and analyzed using bibliometric analysis through MS Excel and VOSviewer software (version 1.6.18). There are two ways the results are presented. First, performance analysis revealed that 2335 writers had written 884 publications (1993–2022), which had an average 32.2 citation level across 176 journals. Second, the science mapping analysis included well-known methods, such as citation analysis, co-citation analysis, bibliographic coupling, co-word analysis, and co-authorship analysis. The original contribution of this study lies in the identification of four clusters through the analysis, namely, overall impact of uncertainty, demand uncertainty, challenges uncertainty, and uncertain strategy. This led to recommendations for future research that practitioners could use.