Measuring Global Supply Chain Vulnerabilities Using Trade Network Analysis Method

With the trade network analysis method and bilateral country-product level trade data of 2017-2020,this paper reveals the overall characteristics and intrinsic vulnerabilities of China’s global supply chains.Our research finds that first,most global supply-chain-vulnerable products are from technology-intensive sectors.For advanced economies,their supply chain vulnerabilities are primarily exposed to political and economic alliances.In comparison,developing economies are more dependent on regional communities.Second,China has a significant export advantage with over 80%of highly vulnerable intermediate inputs relying on imports of high-end electrical,mechanical and chemical products from advanced economies or their multinational companies.China also relies on developing economies for the import of some resource products.Third,during the trade frictions from 2018 to 2019 and the subsequent COVID-19 pandemic,there was a significant reduction in the supply chain vulnerabilities of China and the US for critical products compared with other products,which reflects a shift in the layout of critical product supply chains to ensure not just efficiency but security.China should address supply chain vulnerabilities by bolstering supply-side weaknesses,diversifying import sources,and promoting international coordination and cooperation.

Reliability supply chain network design model for perishable products

The classical supply chain network(SCN)design problem is extended,where the candidate facilities are subject to failure and the products are prone to elapsed time deteriorion.First,the reliable SCN design problem is defined by introducing the probability that a facility may be prone to inactivity based on the analysis of perishable product characteristics.The perishable product SCN design problem is formulated as a 0-1 integer programming model.The objective is to minimize the weighted sum of the operating cost(the fixed plus transportation cost)and the expected failure cost.And then,the perishable product SCN design model is discussed and solved using the genetic algorithm(GA).The results show how to generate the tradeoff curve between the operating costs and the expected failure costs.And these tradeoff curves demonstrate empirically that substantial improvements in reliability are often possible with minimal increase in the operating costs.

Remanufacturing closed-loop supply chain network design based on genetic particle swarm optimization algorithm

As the huge computation and easily trapped local optimum in remanufacturing closed-loop supply chain network (RCSCN) design considered, a genetic particle swarm optimization algorithm was proposed. The total cost of closed-loop supply chain was selected as fitness function, and a unique and tidy coding mode was adopted in the proposed algorithm. Then, some mutation and crossover operators were introduced to achieve discrete optimization of RCSCN structure. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can gain global optimal solution with good convergent performance and rapidity. The computing speed is only 22.16 s, which is shorter than those of the other optimization algorithms.

Supply Chain Network Equilibrium with Revenue Sharing Contract under Demand Disruptions

Contract is a common and effective mechanism for supply chain coordination,which has been studied extensively in recent years.For a supply chain network model,contracts can be used to coordinate it because it is too ideal to obtain the network equilibrium state in practical market competition.In order to achieve equilibrium,we introduce revenue sharing contract into a supply chain network equilibrium model with random demand in this paper.Then,we investigate the influence on this network equilibrium state from demand disruptions caused by unexpected emergencies.When demand disruptions happen,the supply chain network equilibrium state will be broken and change to a new one,so the decision makers need to adjust the contract parameters to achieve the new coordinated state through bargaining.Finally,a numerical example with a sudden demand increase as a result of emergent event is provided for illustrative purposes.

Supply chain network equilibrium model with capacity constraints

The supply chain network with capacity constraints of manufacturers and retailers is considered.The linkage between supply chain network equilibrium and transportation network equilibrium is investigated.By analyzing the relationships among the manufacturers,retailers and consumers in the supply chain network and their own decisions concerning maximum profits,a combined variational inequality for the supply chain network equilibrium mode is proposed.Then an equivalent supernetwork of the supply chain network is constructed by adding additional links which denote the producing of manufactures and the handling of retailers.By the supernetwork,the supply chain network equilibrium model can be reformulated as a transportation network equilibrium model.Equivalent mathematical programming is,therefore,obtained based on the principle of a Wardrop user equilibrium.The corresponding Lagrange multiplier of the capacity constraints can be explained as the extra cost of marginal production when capacity is exceeded.A numerical example is given to illustrate the rationality of the model and the validity of the results.

Literature Review on Network Design Problems in Closed Loop and Reverse Supply Chains

The productivity of an organization is very much affected by non-value adding activity like logistics, which moves the resources from suppliers to factory, raw materials/semi-finished items within the factory and finished goods from factory to customers via a designated distribution channel called as forward logistics. In some cases, parts of the products such as automobiles, computers, cameras, mobile phones, washing machines, refrigerators, garments, footwear and empty glass bottles of beverages, etc. will be brought back to the factories as a product recovery strategy through reverse logistics network which is integrated in a sustainable closed loop supply chain network. So, it is highly essential to optimize the movement of the items in the reverse logistics network. This paper gives a comprehensive review of literature of the design of networks for the reverse logistics as well as for the reverse logistics coupled with forward logistics. The contributions of the researchers are classified into nine categories based on the methods used to design the logistics network.

Development and Comparison of Hybrid Genetic Algorithms for Network Design Problem in Closed Loop Supply Chain

This paper presents four different hybrid genetic algorithms for network design problem in closed loop supply chain. They are compared using a complete factorial experiment with two factors, viz. problem size and algorithm. Based on the significance of the factor “algorithm”, the best algorithm is identified using Duncan’s multiple range test. Then it is compared with a mathematical model in terms of total cost. It is found that the best hybrid genetic algorithm identified gives results on par with the mathematical model in statistical terms. So, the best algorithm out of four algorithm proposed in this paper is proved to be superior to all other algorithms for all sizes of problems and its performance is equal to that of the mathematical model for small size and medium size problems.

Closed-loop supply chain network equilibrium strategy model with environmental protection objectives

With the increasing popularity of ecological civilization and sustainable development,enterprises should consider environmental protection measures in their operations in addition to pursue their economic interests.This paper establsihes a closed-loop supply chain network model composed of multiple suppliers,manufacturers,retailers,recyclers,and demand markets—regarding their dual goals of the profit maximization and the minimization of carbon emissions.The conditions necessary for establishing overall equilibrium and an equilibrium model of the entire closed-loop supply chain network are determined by applying variational inequality and dual theory.A modified projection contraction algorithm is used to design a model-solving program.Finally,using numerical examples,the paper conducts a comparative static analysis on important parameters such as the weight coefficients of environmental protection objectives and consumers'awareness of low-carbon environmental protection and attains some beneficial enlightenment on management.The results indicate that when the environmental protection objectives of a certain type of enterprise increases,both the economic benefits and environmental protection performance will improve;when the environmental protection objectives of all enterprises increases simultaneously,environmental protection performance improves significantly,but the changes in economic benefits of different enterprises are inconsistent and profit coordination is more complex.Although consumers’awareness of low-carbon preference could improve environmental performance,it reduces the overall profits of network members and the entire closed-loop supply chain network as a whole.The above conclusions can be used as a reference for the government in designing low-carbon environmental protection policy and in closed-loop supply chain research.

Construction of Network Management Information System of Agricultural Products Supply Chain Based on 3PLs

The necessity to construct the network management information system of 3PLs agricultural supply chain is analyzed,showing that 3PLs can improve the overall competitive advantage of agricultural supply chain.3PLs changes the homogeneity management into specialized management of logistics service and achieves the alliance of the subjects at different nodes of agricultural products supply chain.Network management information system structure of agricultural products supply chain based on 3PLs is constructed,including the four layers (the network communication layer,the hardware and software environment layer,the database layer,and the application layer) and 7 function modules (centralized control,transportation process management,material and vehicle scheduling,customer relationship,storage management,customer inquiry,and financial management).Framework for the network management information system of agricultural products supply chain based on 3PLs is put forward.The management of 3PLs mainly includes purchasing management,supplier relationship management,planning management,customer relationship management,storage management and distribution management.Thus,a management system of internal and external integrated agricultural enterprises is obtained.The network management information system of agricultural products supply chain based on 3PLs has realized the effective sharing of enterprise information of agricultural products supply chain at different nodes,establishing a long-term partnership revolving around the 3PLs core enterprise,as well as a supply chain with stable relationship based on the supply chain network system,so as to improve the circulation efficiency of agricultural products,and to explore the sales market for agricultural products.

Network topology optimization of supply chain information systems

Network topology optimization has been widely researched. Since market competition has gradually developed into competition among the supply chain information systems, the network to- pology optimization of supply chain information systems has been in urgent need. However, the net- work topology optimization of supply chain information systems is still in its early stages and still has some challenges. So a description of typical seven network topologies for various supply chain infor- mation systems has been given. The generic characteristics of each network topology can be summa- rized. To analyze the optimization of network topology optimization of supply chain information sys- tems, a numeric model has been established based on these general characteristics. A genetic algo- rithm is applied in the network topology optimization of supply chain information systems model to a- chieve the minimum cost and shortest path. Finally, our experiment results are provided to demon- strate the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed model.

Agri-food Supply Chain Management: Literature Review

The purpose of this paper is to present a critical review of prior literature relating to agri-food supply chain management. An in-depth analysis has been carried out to identify the influential information from the literature. This paper has identified gaps to be explored about agricultural supply chain management (SCM) practices which may be used by researchers to enrich theory construction and practitioners may concentrate on establishing the extent and frontiers of agri-food SCM. This research work is the first attempt to make a critical literature review of available literature on agri-food SCM practices for developing countries like India. The research articles and other materials related to the agri-food supply chain management were collected from online data bases like Scopus, EBSCO and Google Scholar for the period of 10 years (2006-2016). The study performs content analysis and is followed by descriptive analysis. In the next phase, the literature in the field of agri-food supply chain management is classified into four broad categories viz. general literature review of agri-food supply chain, policies affecting the segments of agri-food supply chain, individual segments of agri-food SCM (structure of supply chain segments and conduct of supply chain segments) and performance of supply chain segments. These four categories are comprehensively reviewed and elaborated the research gap in the literature based on agri-food supply chain management. Finally, potato supply chain of India is considered as a case example for comprehensive analysis and elaborated in detail.

Empirical topological investigation of practical supply chains based on complex networks

The industrial supply chain networks basically capture the circulation of social resource, dominating the stability and efficiency of the industrial system. In this paper, we provide an empirical study of the topology of smartphone supply chain network. The supply chain network is constructed using open online data. Our experimental results show that the smartphone supply chain network has small-world feature with scale-free degree distribution, in which a few high degree nodes play a key role in the function and can effectively reduce the communication cost. We also detect the community structure to find the basic functional unit. It shows that information communication between nodes is crucial to improve the resource utilization. We should pay attention to the global resource configuration for such electronic production management.

A Empirical Study on Impact Factors of Employee＇s Knowledge Capital in Supply Chain： Social NetworkPerspective

In contrast to the previous studies of knowledge capital from the perspective of enterprises, this study discusses the employee knowledge capital formation mechanism in the supply chain using social network method from the perspective of social capital s~＇ucture, taking individual employees as the study objects. 150 effective questionnaires of three groups were returned by multistage cluster sampling, and then they were analyzed through regression and the structural equation model. The results are as follows： （1） the acquisition of social capital and knowledge capital is affected by the network structure position of the employees in the supply chain; （2） the knowledge capital is affected by how much social capital the employees obtained in the supply chain; （3） social capital is an intermediary variable to affect the knowledge capital in the network structure. Finally, related suggestions for the supply chain management and the subsequent studies are proposed. 1

A closed-loop Supply Chain Network Equilibrium Model with Fuzzy Demand under Production Capacity Constraints and Price Rigidities

A closed-loop supply chain network equilibrium problem is examined,which consists of mutual competitive manufacturers with production capacity constraints and retailers with fuzzy market demands,mutual competitive collectors as well as a binding price ceiling of the commodities.By utilizing the credibility measure of fuzzy event,variational inequality and Lagrange dual theory,the optimum behaviors of manufactures,retailers,collectors and consumers are described.Therefore,the supply chain network equilibrium model is established.Numerical examples were given to illustrate the impact of production capacity constraints and price ceiling on the network equilibrium pattern.The results show that the shortage of commodities in consumer market will be more serious,the wholesale price of product and purchase price of waste products rise,the profits of retailers decrease,the profits of manufacturers and collectors increase as the government gradually reduce the binding price ceiling on competitive markets,and the trend will be more obvious in the existence of production capacity constraints at same time.

Decision and Coordination of an E-commerce Supply Chain Considering Returns and Network Externalities

Considering the large number of returns in online sales and the network externalities of e-platforms,we develop a decentralized model and a centralized model to explore the impacts of returns and network externalities on e-commerce supply chain(ECSC)decisions.We show that in the decentralized model,the service level,price,market demand,and ECSC members’profits increase with the network externality strength.However,the service level and price increase,while the market demand and ECSC members’profits decrease with the product return rate.The centralized model is the optimal operating mode when it is properly coordinated.We design the“commission and return cost-sharing”contract to optimize ECSC,in which the proportion of the e-platform’s sharing of the return handling cost is exactly equal to the proportion of the system profit after coordination.Based on the decentralized model,we develop two extended models in which we endogenize the impacts of the service level and return rate on the network externality strength.Through comparisons between the extended and decentralized models,we show that high-quality service can improve ECSC’s profitability,while a high return rate hurts its economic performance.

Supply Chain Finance Credit Risk Evaluation Method Based on Self-Adaption Weight

Credit risk is the core issue of supply chain finance. In the supply chain, problems happened in different enterprises can influent the whole to different degrees through transferring, thus statuses of all enterprises and their different influences should be considered when evaluating the supply chain’s credit risk. We examine the characters of supply chain network and complex network, use the local growing complex network to simulate the real supply chain, use cluster analysis to classify the company into several levels;Introducing each level’s self-adaption weight formula according to the company’s quantity and degrees of this level and use the weight to improve the credit evaluation method. The research results indicate that complex network can be used to simulate the supply chain. The credit risk evaluation (CRE) of an enterprise level with bigger note degrees has a greater weight in the supply chain system’s CRE, thus has greater effect on the whole chain. Considering different influences of different enterprise levels can improve credit risk evaluation method’s sensitivity.

The Application of Busywork Flow in Supply Chain Management of Fruits

Firstly,I point out the problems in the fruit supply chain management.Then through field survey,we know that busywork flow plays a very important role in the fruit supply chain management.I establish the mathematical model,to derive that the supply chain management of corporate procurement and supply network is the optimal economic model.In terms of the performance of supply chain,I draw the following conclusions:(i) Busywork flow can achieve the supply chain management,and reduces logistics costs in the whole process of circulation;(ii) Busywork flow can improve logistics services for the customers and reduces coordination costs;(iii) The establishment of modern information system can reduce logistics costs;(iv) Busywork flow can improve distribution efficiency and reduce costs;(v) Busywork flow can reduce and avoid the costs of return of goods;(vi) The operation of the busywork flow can achieve integrated transport and business outsourcing to third-party logistics,thereby reducing costs,reducing transport links,reasonably choosing the means of transport,formulating the optimal transportation plan,improving the mode of transport,and increasing the cargo loading amount.(vii) Busywork flow promotes the use of e-commerce.I also express my own views on upgrade version of corporate procurement and supply network.Finally I point out some problems in the existing corporate procurement and supply network,and put forward the following recommendations:developing township-level 4S fruit shop according to the business development,with the functions of purchasing apple,supplying means of agricultural production,providing technical services and developing market;building " corporate ecological orchard" through holding.

Application of ontologies to traceability in the dairy supply chain

Systems for tracking products through supply chains range from paper-based records maintained by producers, processors, and suppliers to sophisticated ICT-based solutions. In addition to supporting product traceability, ICTs may also support data capture, recording, storage, and sharing of traceability attributes on processing, genetics, inputs, disease/pest tracking and measurement of environmental variables. A key success factor for a traceability system is the capability to integrate and share information along the supply chain. ICT represents a tool to overcome integration problems, data fusion and information dissemination. In this paper we illustrate the application of ontology as a tool to model business processes and rules within an agri- food chain. The business case is represented by the Bovlac project: a scientific and technologic platform to trace fresh cheese production.

Simulation of Service Supply Chainly Formation Based on Mobile Agent

In E-Commerce, consumers and service suppliers can find the services through the searching of Mobile Agents (MA). The suppliers disassemble the service requests of consumers into the sub-requests. Then suppliers respond the sub-requests cooperatively. Thus the Service Supply Chain (SSC) can be formed. But the existing bottom-up and up-bottom supply chain formation fashions cannot be adapted to the SSC in distributed environment of E-Commerce. Task Dependency Network is exploited to illustrate the service relationship among consumers and suppliers. The formation of SSC with some simulations is elaborated. Then the influence on the formation of SSC caused by the type of service suppliers, the quantities of MA and its variety in number is elucidated.

Optimization of Medical Supply Chains and Forward Store Locations for Recurrent Homecare Patient Demand with Periodic Interruptions

Robust and cost-effective distribution is critical to any home delivery network growing company, both to meet demand under normal conditions and to adapt to temporary disruptions. Home healthcare is anticipated to be a rapidly growing modality of healthcare, itself the largest industry in the US and rife with optimization needs in areas such as logistics, scheduling, and supply chains. We develop two mixed integer programming models to optimize forward storage locations in the supply chain of a national consumable medical supplies company with consistent monthly repeating demand, temporary disruption of facility operations, and remote international manufacturers. Modified p-median single and multi-echelon models are used to determine optimal locations of warehouses and distribution facilities that minimize total transportation cost, with 13% savings in one application (approximately $1.4 million annually). Sensitivity analyses to a range of scenarios suggest that the optimal solution is robust across a number of potential scenarios.