Supply chain management maturity: An all-encompassing literature review on models, dimensions and approaches

Abstract

Background: In recent years, organizational maturity has disseminated its concepts to various management domains, for instance, Supply Chain Management (SCM). The present paper is an attempt to review the developments in the realm of SCM over the past two decades. In the domain of SCM maturity, different models, dimensions (areas) and approaches are advanced for maturity measurements. Methods: Research studies conducted and presented in the literature, including papers on conference proceedings, articles in journals and technical reports, are reviewed; the review covers a time span from the early 1990s to the present time (2019). Also provided in this review are the previous models, dimensions (areas/ elements), and approaches for measuring SCM maturity techniques. Additionally, research gaps are identified, analysed and discussed. Results: After reviewing, the research studies in the field and the dimensions found in the works are placed into different categories. The current study aims to present a review of the literature, ultimately providing help to researchers in realizing gaps and opportunities in the field of SCM maturity. There are also different approaches to supply chain maturity models. For example, one approach may solely focus on integration while another might concentrate on SC visibility and traceability. In more recent research studies, more attention is paid to such specific areas of supply chain as flexibility and sustainability. The results of the present paper point to gaps, which indicate that more research works are required. In addition, it is assumed that the materials presented here may help establish more comprehensive SCM maturity models. Conclusions: It is seen that supply chain management is rapidly shifting toward e-SCM, and some other technologies like blockchain. Also, supply chain sustainability comes to the fore as a significant approach. It should be reminded that other strategic features of supply chains like leanness, agility, resilience, sustainability, integration, green and reverse logistics etc., also play their own role in the field. Combining these strategic features can be an effective idea for developing more comprehensive models for SCM maturity. To sum up, the results of the present survey indicate that the published works need more adequacy and treatment research, and that more research is called for to bridge the gaps in the realm of SCM maturity.