The role of artificial intelligence in supply chain management: mapping the territory

AbstractThe study aims to identify the current trends, gaps, and research opportunities in research pertaining to the disruptive field of artificial intelligence (AI) applications in supply chain management (SCM). Since SCM represents managerial innovation due to its new way of integrated system thinking, SCM has emerged as one of the most fruitful business disciplines for AI applications. The study utilises bibliometric review in tracing the evolution of AI research in SCM and further synthesises decades of past AI research efforts to develop viable solutions for various supply chain problems and then proposes promising future research themes that would enrich supply chain decision-aid tools. The study identified five main research clusters through scholarly network and content analysis. The identified themes were: (a) supply chain network design (SCND), (b) supplier selection, (c) inventory planning, (d) demand planning, and (e) green supply chain management. As the role of AI in SCM continues to grow, there is a growing need for exploiting AI as a way to add value to supply chain process. The study proposes a research framework which will help academicians and practitioners in identifying current research patterns of AI in SCM.KEYWORDS: Artificial intelligencesupply chain managementbibliometric analysiscitation analysistrend analysis Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Data availability statementData will be made available upon request.Additional informationNotes on contributorsRohit SharmaDr. Rohit Sharma is presently working as an Assistant Professor in the Decision Sciences area at the Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida. His main research areas include operations and supply chain management, sustainable operations management, agribusiness management and logistics management. He holds a Ph.D. in Operations and Supply Chain Management from the National Institute of Industrial Engineering, Mumbai. His publications have appeared in leading journals such as Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, International Journal of Information Management, Computers in Industry, Computers and Operations Research, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Journal of Enterprise Information Management, the International Journal of Logistics Management, and International Journal of Logistics: Research and Applications. He was awarded the ‘Industry 4.0 Award’ by the IEOM Society in 2021 and the Tata-Cornell Ag Initiative Scholarship at the second International Global Food Security Conference in 2015.Anjali ShishodiaDr. Anjali Shishodia is presently working as an Assistant Professor at LMTSM, Patiala, Punjab. She has completed her Doctoral programme in operations management from National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai. She holds a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology and bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University. She is a recipient of academic excellence award. Her teaching and research interests include production and operations management, quantitative techniques, project management and supply chain management. Her work has been published in leading journals such as Production Planning and Control, Computers and Industrial Engineering, Journal of Enterprise Information Management, International Journal of Logistics: Research and Applications, and the International Journal of Logistics Management.Angappa GunasekaranDr. Angappa Gunasekaran is presently the director of the School of Business Administration, Penn State Harrisburg. Prior to joining Penn State, Dr. Gunasekaran served as a special assistant to the provost for Academic Affairs and Student Success at California State University in Bakersfield, California, where he also has served as dean of the School of Business and Public Administration, and as the principal investigator for the Small Business Development Center in Bakersfield. He also is professor of operations management. Previously, he served as dean of the Charlton College of Business, chairperson of the Department of Decision and Information Sciences, and the founding director of Business Innovation Research Center at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. He has more than 10 years of global work experience. Dr. Gunasekaran has published more than 400 peer reviewed journal articles with over 60,000 plus citations. He has served on the editorial board of over 30 peer-reviewed journals and has organised several international workshops and conferences in the emerging areas of operations management and information systems.Hokey MinDr. Hokey Min is James R. Good Chair in Global Supply Chain Strategy in the College of Business Administration at the Bowling Green State University. Prior to joining the Bowling Green State University, he was the Distinguished University Scholar and Founding Director of the Logistics and Distribution Institute (LoDI), the UPS Center for World-wide Supply Chain Management and the Center for Supply Chain Workforce Development at the University of Louisville. He earned his Ph.D. degree in Management Sciences and Logistics from the Ohio State University. His research interests include global logistics strategy, health-care supply chains, e-synchronised supply chains, business intelligence, and supply chain modelling. He has published more than 175 articles in various refereed journals including European Journal of Operational Research, Journal of Business Logistics, Journal of the Operational Research Society, International Journal of Production Research, Transportation Journal, and Transportation Research. He is an editor of International Journal of Logistics: Research and Applications and is currently serving on the editorial review board of Journal of Business Logistics, International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, and International Journal of Integrated Supply Management. He also got involved in various outreach or consulting projects for more than 50 organizations including UPS Air, UPS Supply Chain Solutions, Exel Logistics, and the Track Chair of Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC) to name a few.Ziaul Haque MunimDr Ziaul Haque Munim is presently an Associate Professor of Maritime Logistics at the Faculty of Technology, Natural and Maritime Sciences at the University of South-Eastern Norway. His main research interests include supply chain management, maritime logistics, machine learning and research methods. He holds a PhD degree in International Management from the University of Agder and MSc degree in Supply Chain Management from the Vienna University of Economics and Business. His publications have appeared in leading journals such as the Journal of Business Research, Transportation Science, Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Journal of Cleaner Production, and others. He received the Palgrave Macmillan Best Paper Award at the IAME 2016 conference, the KLU Young Researcher Best Paper Award at the IAME 2018 conference, and the MPM Best Journal Paper Award 2020.