Supply chain resilience for global operations (2) : a re-evaluation of performance benchmarking (information sharing)

• Main Author: Tan, Tricia Zann Yinn
• Other Authors: Teo Chee Chong
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2021
• Subjects: Engineering::Maritime studies
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/150374
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

2020 was a memorable year for global humanity. Nobody had foreseen the emergence of Coronavirus (COVID-19) - the black swan event that turned the world upside down. Strict regulations including quarantines, lockdowns were enforced nationally that in turn resulted in immense consequences internationally. While Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) products and daily necessities were being snapped up at lightning speed, offices and factories were slowing or ceasing their operations to minimise transmission. This mismatch between demand and supply inadvertently caused the supply chain and its members to experience huge disruptions. Disruptive events like COVID-19 are unpredictable. Nobody can deduce when the next big catastrophe will occur again. As supply chains become increasingly complex, the problem of experiencing disruptions is recognised by many organisations as being inevitable. The reality is not about supply chains facing a problem but rather the issue of when a problematic event will occur and the severity of it (Skipper & Hanna, 2009). Therefore, major attention is now directed towards creating a resilient supply chain network. In this study, the identified solution to manage supply chain disruptions is the adoption of Information Sharing (IS). Information is a key driver of supply chain. With effective sharing of information between supply chain partners in times of disruption, it increases transparency and visibility that reduces any disruption impacts – thereby building a stronger, resilient, and agile supply chain. However, the implementation of a functional IS strategy is not simple as it seems. For instance, managers from the sharing end might find it difficult to determine the quantity or type of information to share, while on the receiving end, managers might ponder about the reliability and usefulness of that same information shared. As such, this study utilises the concept of benchmarking – a traditional methodology that enables organisations to pinpoint the best practices and help boost performance. Through an extensive re-evaluation of existing measures of IS found in academic journals as well as suggestions gathered from professionals, a novel IS benchmark framework will then be developed. This framework will then serve as a guide for an organisation to implement functional IS strategies.