Towards cloud-based supply chain processes. Designing a reference model and elements of a research agenda

• Date: 08 August 2016
• Published date: 08 August 2016
• Pages: 438-462
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLM-09-2014-0139
• Author: Andreas Jede,Frank Teuteberg
• Subject Matter: Management science & operations,Logistics

Towards cloud-based supply

chain processes

Designing a reference model and elements

of a research agenda

Andreas Jede and Frank Teuteberg

Department of Accounting and Information Systems,

University of Osnabrueck, Osnabrueck, Germany

Abstract

Purpose –There are cloud computing (CC) services available for various applications within the

supply chain management (SCM). These services offer, for example, consistent global networking

platforms and enable quick decision making, which may strengthen competitive advantages. The

specification of the single-related elements and the coordination mechanisms between actors and

information flows is complex. In this paper, the authors argue that reference models can accelerate

understanding these processes. The purpose of this paper is to gain an understanding of the current

state of the underlying research field and to present a reference model that supports theory and

practice in adopting CC services at SCM.

Design/methodology/approach –This paperprovides a cross-discipline systematic literaturereview

from the research perspectives of information systems and SCM. Based on 102 papers, the authors

designed a reference modelshowing the interrelations between various elements of CC and SCM.

Findings –The authors discover the most important chances and risks for CC implementations in

supply chain (SC) processes and pay special attention to SC sustainability aspects of CC. Until now,

SCM research in the realm of CC usage is still in its infancy both in theory and practice.

Originality/value –To the best of the authors’knowledge, there is no systematic literature review

that consistently focusses CC usage within SC processes while integrating specific aspects of strategic

theory. The obtained insights lead to the first SCM-related reference model for CC usage.

Keywords Systematic literature review, Supply chain management, Cloud computing,

Reference modelling

Paper type Literature review

1. Introduction and motivation

While complexity and dynamics of contemporary supply chains (SC) increase,

stakeholders demand SCs to be environmentally friendly, social, and profitable (Zhang

et al., 2014; Steinfield et al., 2011). Herein it is indispensable to select and implement

suitable information systems (IS) that support the pre-existing challenges of specific

SCs. In this context, the term sustainable supply chain management (SCM) often

appears, and the questions arises which concepts, methods, and models are needed in

order to understand the interrelations between the single aspects.

With the introduction of traditional enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, it

was noted that these systems provide only limited progress for SCM (Akkermans et al.,

2003). Rather, they lack to provide effective SCM support especially due to their

insufficient functionality in cross-organizational flows, their closed non-modular system

architectures, as well as their inflexibility with respect to the ever-changing SC needs

(Akkermans et al., 2003). With service-oriented architectures(SOA), which may originate

from various vendors, the technical conditions have been created in order to provide

complete services from encapsulated functions at any location and any time

The International Journal of

Logistics Management

Vol. 27 No. 2, 2016

pp. 438-462

©Emerald Group Publishing Limited

0957-4093

DOI 10.1108/IJLM-09-2014-0139

Received 4 September 2014

Revised 18 February 2015

17 March 2015

Accepted 5 May 2015

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

www.emeraldinsight.com/0957-4093.htm

438

IJLM

27,2

(Bardhan et al.,2010). Based on SOA, at the end of the last decade,the paradigm of “cloud

computing (CC)”has emerged (Youseff et al., 2008). Due to the factthat IT processes are

becoming more and more stable and flexible, e.g., through scalability and virtualization

(Tao et al., 2014; Bharadwaj et al. 2013; Hoberg et al., 2012), CC offers significant

advantages particularly for the decentralized and loosely coupled nature of global SCs.

By now, first papers indicate positive effects of CC on the environment and on social

behaviors of end users (Venters and Whitley, 2012; Morgan and Conboy, 2013).

We are motivated by the fact that the obviously existing advantages of CC usage at

SC processes lack a profound theoretical basis, since the current research is at an early

stage in both theory and practice (Marston et al., 2011).

So far, the majority of scientific publications on CC focus especially on the technical

aspects (Fremdt et al., 2013). Inter-disciplinary recommendations for specific strategic

business areas (Hoberg et al., 2012), such as SCM (Blau et al., 2009; Leimeister et al.,

2010), are scarce. Although first noteworthy successes have been achieved (Meer et al.,

2012), the construction of CC-based SC systems remains significantly more challenging

than is the case with traditional systems. We argue that this is partially because

researchers and practitioners have been struggling with the lack of reference models

providing precise vocabulary for describing and reasoning about the key architectural

characteristics of CC usage in SCM. Since research propagates that CC offers

significant advantages for the IS of decentralized SCs, we carried out a systematic

literature review in order to analyze the detailed links of a cloud-based SC. We are

driven by the motivation to unite the existing research on CC and SCM and to detect

further research gaps in literature by means of a quantitative and qualitative data

analysis. Further, by focussing the intersection of the science disciplines IS and SCM,

our review fulfills the requirements for investigating CC in a more inter-disciplinary

context (Bardhan et al., 2010). Eventually, derived from the literature analysis,

we present an application reference model which supports SC managers durin g

the conceptual phase of CC adoption and serves as a solid base to rely on common

practice (Ahlemann and Riempp, 2008). Then, we exemplarily implemented this model.

The following research questions will be addressed:

RQ1. What is the current state of the art of CC research in the realm of SCM?

RQ2. Which elements should be considered to design an adequate reference model

for integrating CC in SC processes?

The paper is built up as follows: after the introduction, the basic terms are defined in

the second section. In the third section we describe the methodology of the literature

analysis. The results from the literature review are presented and discussed in Section 4.

In Section 5 we extract the information for designing and evaluating a reference model.

The paper closes with a conclusion in Section 6.

2. Theoretical background

Cooper et al. (1997) define SCM as “the integration of key business processes from

end-user through original suppliers that provides products, services, and information

that add value for customers and other stakeholders.”In the definition, in contrast to

prior definitions (Houlihan, 1984; Oliver and Webber, 1992) the borders lie beyond the

own organization.Carter and Rogers (2008) expand the pre-existingeconomic definitions

by two additional dimensions, namely, the social and the environment dimensions.

An adequate strategyshould determine how to integrate allthree dimensions in order to

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Towards

cloud-based

supply chain

processes