On merchandise return policy, entrepreneurial internet retail, and customer reviews – Insights from an observational study

Entrepreneurship and supply chain management (SCM), respectively, have enjoyed meteoric rises in business practice and scholarly attention over the past three decades. Further, each of the two disciplines has much to offer the other. Yet, we have not witnessed sustained, meaningful integration of principles, practices, and influences despite powerful potential. This paper explores this potential by featuring prospects for entrepreneurship to influence SCM, and vice versa, bringing an entrepreneurial mindset to SCM and supply chain orientation (SCO) to entrepreneurial activities. In particular, we illustrate a validated assessment and diagnostic tool, the Corporate Entrepreneurship Assessment Instrument (CEAI), adapted for supply chain managers with the intent of instilling corporate entrepreneurial activity among supply chain professionals. Granted, supply chain managers are typically tasked with meeting expectations toward customer service effectiveness, efficiency, asset utilization, and safety. Yet, we believe that forming an organizational environment conducive to entrepreneurial thinking could be extremely valuable in the supply chain realm, enhancing capabilities like agility, plasticity, and responsiveness such that innovation and business growth are achieved alongside traditional SCM expectations. Further, we feature several avenues for future research at the interface of entrepreneurship and SCM.

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Developing an entrepreneurial mindset in supply chain managers: Exposing a powerful potential

Goldsby,

Kuratko,

Goldsby

2024

Last‐Mile Delivery: A Process View, Framework, and Research Agenda

Masorgo,

Dobrzykowski,

Fugate

2024

The expansion of e‐commerce has increased scholarly interest in Business‐to‐Customer (B2C) last‐mile delivery (LMD). LMD occurs in a unique logistical context and presents many new, evolving challenges worthy of scholarly investigation. While most LMD studies emerged after 2018, existing literature reviews predate the “boom.” Current reviews have focused at the macro‐level, considering LMD secondarily within broad topics like omni‐channel or micro perspectives that address granular issues like transportation within LMD. The majority of studies have focused on analytical models that investigate different concerns compared to conceptual and empirical studies. Our study examines an up‐to‐date sample of 104 articles in LMD literature from a process, meso‐level perspective. We develop a framework, classifying studies around pre‐delivery, delivery, and post‐delivery activities that produce valuable insights linking these activities. We synthesize the prior literature and offer a research agenda that incorporates different stakeholder perspectives and identifies methodological opportunities. The analysis reveals several areas of future research that were validated and enhanced by practitioner interviews.

Consumer‐Centric Supply Chain Management: A Literature Review, Framework, and Research Agenda

Baldi,

Confente,

Russo

et al. 2024

The dynamic landscape of consumer behavior is pressuring companies to adapt to rapidly evolving consumer expectations. The burgeoning interest in the supply chain management (SCM) literature toward consumer‐centric research is capturing the attention of scholars and sparking diverse calls to action. While a significant growth in SCM research has centered on consumers as the unit of analysis over the past decade, it remains necessary to improve understanding of how the role of consumers as actors within the supply chain dynamic has evolved. We aim to enhance consumer‐centric SCM research by conducting a systematic literature review that summarizes and synthesizes SCM studies that focus on consumers as the unit of analysis. Our review encompasses 174 articles from 16 leading journals. We bundle the literature based on two key trajectories: (i) major functions involved in SCM activities, and (ii) phases of the customer journey. To synthesize the literature, we develop a framework that encompasses the following elements: (i) factors influencing consumer‐centric SCM, (ii) resultant consumer‐related outcomes, and (iii) retail supply chain structures. Based on the literature review, we propose a research agenda that serves as a basis for advancing SCM research by identifying research questions that are relevant to scholars and practitioners.