The role of artificial intelligence on supply chain resilience

Abstract

Purpose

Supply chains are facing several challenges due to disruptions and changing situations such as COVID-19 and the need for increased levels of resilience is more important than ever. This paper focuses on exploring the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on supply chain resilience (SCR) through a review of the existing literature. To address the gap of AI on SCR, this study focused on answering the following two research questions: (1) What is the role of AI technologies in SCR? (2) What are the key ethical and social implications of AI that arise in the process of enhancing SCR?

Design/methodology/approach

This study collected relevant data available in the existing literature from peer-reviewed journals and articles on supply chain and AI. The study employed a systematic literature review (SLR) and qualitative thematic analysis to identify the key themes that generate relevant findings.

Findings

The study’s findings highlight that AI’s role in enhancing SCR is important in several areas, such as improved demand and supply forecasts, accurate problem-solving, increased efficiency of tasks and improved customer services, amongst others. However, AI does not come without limitations. Although it improves the resilience of supply chains, it also leads to ethical and social implications related to job displacement, privacy and security, biases and transparency.

Research limitations/implications

The study offers intriguing insights into closing the disparity between theory and practice, utilising a systematic approach to demonstrate how AI impacts the resilience level of supply chains.

Originality/value

This study presents the positive impact that AI technologies have on enhancing the resilience of supply chains. Although there are challenges and ethical and social implications because of AI implementations, supply chains benefit from the use of AI and big data.