Balancing resilience and efficiency in supply chains: Roles of disruptive technologies under Industry 4.0

Abstract

In the Industry 4.0 era, disruptive technologies such as big data analytics, blockchain, Internet-of-Things, and additive manufacturing have become major forces driving supply chain transformation. Under such circumstances, particular attention should be attached to balancing resilience and efficiency of the supply chain, especially in the presence of more turbulence. In this study, we first summarize the conflicts between supply chain efficiency and supply chain resilience regarding practices and objectives. Then, we discuss the positive effects of disruptive technologies in improving resilience and efficiency. Afterwards, we propose a research agenda that covers both the influence mechanism and trade-off mechanism of these technologies in terms of resilience and efficiency.