【Topic】
The Unintended Consequences of Digitalisation on Supply Chain Relationships
【Host】
Prof. JI Guojun, professor of Department of Management Science, School of Management, Xiamen University
【Abstract】
A potential dark side of digitalisation is a drastic shift in supply chain ecosystems and power relationships between enterprises. Often, manufacturing small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) need to relax various constraints and acquiring new critical resources in the digitalisation processes to facilitate collaboration and trust across organizational boundaries. This, in turn, will lead to a structural change in the power relationship between SMEs and large corporations, as well as its supply chain ecosystem of customers, suppliers, and subcontractors. Through a series of case studies in Japan, this presentation investigates how industrial boundaries are blurred and how value chain is integrated in the SMEs digitalisation journey. The findings of this research benefit SMEs to better understand how best to address the unintended consequences of digitalisation. The “dark side” of digitalisation on supply chain relationships in the longer term is worth worldwide attention, as this research could inform the next generation of supply chain ecosystem.
【Speaker】
Kim Hua Tan
(Professor of Operations and Innovation Management in the UK Nottingham University Business School)
Dr. Kim Hua Tan served as Associate Dean for Research of NUBS UK in Jan 2022 - March 2023. Prof Tan is a Senior Fellow of HK higher Education Academy (HEA), a Fellow of JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science), and World Class Professorship at Institute Technology Sepuluh (ITS) of Surabaya. Prior to this, he was a Research Fellow and Teaching Assistant at Centre for Strategy and Performance, University of Cambridge. Professor Tan spent many years in industry, holding various executive positions before joining academia in 1999. His current research interests are accelerated innovation, lean management, operations strategy, digital transformation, sustainable operations, and supply chain management. Professor Tan has consulted many Fortune 500 companies and appointed as Our Common Future Fellow by the Volkswagen Foundation in 2009. He has been the Principal Investigator for various grants from EPSRC, ESRC, DTI, UK Royal Society, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), EU-TEMPUS, China National Natural Science Foundation (NSFC), Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, Emerald Research Fund, etc. Professor Tan has published various books including ‘Winning Decisions: Translating Business Strategy into Action Plans,’ and more than 150 high impact articles in academic journals.
