{"title":"From Ecosystem Orchestrators to Partners: Unraveling the Diffusion Effect of AI Adoption in Manufacturing Ecosystems","authors":"Qingyue Shi;Lei Shen","doi":"10.1109/TEM.2025.3563242","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2025.3563242","url":null,"abstract":"Artificial intelligence (AI) is a key driver of innovation across industries, especially in transforming manufacturing. However, the pathways of AI diffusion in manufacturing ecosystems, especially from central orchestrators to their partners, remain underexplored. To address this gap, our study investigates AI diffusion in manufacturing ecosystems based on diffusion of innovations theory. Using social network analysis and k-means clustering on data from Chinese A-share listed firms (2008–2022), we identify and examine 173 ecosystems. We find that AI adoption by ecosystem orchestrators significantly enhances AI adoption among partners, with robustness ensured through instrumental variables method and propensity score matching. Our investigation also uncovers that financial constraint, innovation capability, and network centrality have moderating effects on AI diffusion. Moreover, AI diffusion is stronger when orchestrator and partners are in the same province and partners are nonstate-owned. This research reveals AI diffusion at ecosystem level, offering valuable insights into technological changes for ecosystem members.","PeriodicalId":55009,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management","volume":"72 ","pages":"1745-1759"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143925062","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Multilevel Examination of Performance in Innovation Ecosystems: Board, Asset Scale, Technology, and Government Support","authors":"Ling Zhang;Rifat Kamasak;Yuxuan Tang;Yingdan Cai;Berk Kucukaltan","doi":"10.1109/TEM.2025.3562907","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2025.3562907","url":null,"abstract":"We investigate how the firm's board structure (i.e., Chief Executive Officer duality or independence) and its asset scale at the microlevel, the industry's technological intensity at the mesolevel, and the government's initiatives at the macrolevel influence firms’ digital innovation performance in the innovation ecosystem of the Chinese manufacturing industry. Drawing on a longitudinal study of 1098 firms sourced from the China Stock Market and Accounting Research database, in this article, we utilize a coevolutionary multilevel model for the exploration. Our findings reveal that firms led by independent board members with large-scale assets and that have received government subsidies are more likely to achieve superior digital innovation performance. Furthermore, the impact of microlevel factors varies with technological intensity, with medium- and high-tech firms showing more significant innovation performance improvements. We suggest that firms maintain a board composition with a balanced mix of independents with objective oversight and nonindependents with strategic influence and allocate their resources to capitalize on emerging technological trends to perform better in innovation ecosystems. Firms should not solely depend on government support but align their resource basis and governance structures to leverage technology and incentives effectively. Policymakers should craft targeted initiatives depending on the innovation ecosystems’ technological intensity and the firms’ resource endowments.","PeriodicalId":55009,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management","volume":"72 ","pages":"1714-1729"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143925064","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Item Storage Assignment for Mobile-Rack Warehouses in the Industry 4.0 Era","authors":"Mengyue Zhai;Zheng Wang;Jiuh-Biing Sheu;Bo Hu","doi":"10.1109/TEM.2025.3561945","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2025.3561945","url":null,"abstract":"Mobile-rack warehouses have become increasingly popular in online retail due to their efficient order-picking capabilities. They adopt the parts-to-picker mode for order picking, while also introducing a new item storage assignment problem (ISAP). This problem involves determining both the categories and quantities of items assigned to each rack, with the objective of minimizing the expected number of rack movements required to fulfill orders under a given distribution. We formulate the ISAP as a stochastic integer programming model and then convert it into a deterministic version using sample average approximation. To address the vast solution spaces resulting from multidimensional category-quantity correlations, we develop a parallel adaptive large neighborhood search algorithm featuring reduced formulations and customized operators. Experimental results demonstrate a 2.84–38.94% reduction in rack movements compared to popular methods. Sensitivity analyses reveal that setting 20–24 bins per rack or reserving approximately 20% of rack capacity achieves a favorable balance between productivity and operational flexibility.","PeriodicalId":55009,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management","volume":"72 ","pages":"1877-1891"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144131662","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Blockchain Adoption in Enabling Disruptive Supply Chain Finance Innovation: Toward a Research Agenda","authors":"Tianyu Zhang;Fu Jia;Lujie Chen","doi":"10.1109/TEM.2025.3559468","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2025.3559468","url":null,"abstract":"The objective of this study is to conduct a systematic literature review to investigate the factors influencing blockchain technology (BCT) adoption in supply chain finance (SCF), its barriers, outcomes, and BCT-enabled SCF innovations. By analyzing 62 academic papers published between 2008 and 2024, in this article, we address the research questions: What are the antecedents, barriers, and outcomes of BCT adoption in SCF? and How do BCT technologies facilitate the SCF innovation? The analysis identifies two primary antecedents—stakeholder demands and external environmental changes—and categorizes barriers into technological, organizational, and environmental dimensions. Key outcomes include operational improvements and enhanced risk control, while two types of BCT-enabled innovations (product and business model) are highlighted. A conceptual framework is proposed to advance the understanding of BCT adoption in SCF. This study provides insights into engineering management studies on BCT adoption and guides researchers in avoiding redundant investigations and addressing gaps for further exploration.","PeriodicalId":55009,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management","volume":"72 ","pages":"1519-1531"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143896475","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Channel Structure and Decarbonization Innovation in Contract Manufacturing","authors":"Wenju Niu;Weili Xue;Mengchu Wu","doi":"10.1109/TEM.2025.3560951","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2025.3560951","url":null,"abstract":"Electric vehicle startups often rely on established automakers for mass production, yet this reliance is contentious due to concerns about product cannibalization and technology spillovers. This article examines whether an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) should outsource production to a contract manufacturer (CM) that directly sells substitutable products to customers or to an alternative contract manufacturer (ACM) that specializes exclusively in production, as well as whether investing in product decarbonization is mutually beneficial. We develop models for various channel structures and investment strategies. Analysis of the equilibrium outcomes shows that if the OEM's advantage in product greenness over the CM is strong (weak), the equilibrium is characterized by the coopetitive (competitive) channel with (without) decarbonization innovation. Otherwise, there exist some thresholds below which the equilibrium is the competitive channel with decarbonization innovation, and above which it shifts to the coopetitive channel without such innovation. We elucidate the emergence of these equilibrium strategies by highlighting the decarbonization effect, the channel effect, and the synergy effect, while also clarifying how they vary with changes in product differentiation and technology spillovers. Finally, we validate the robustness of our key findings in scenarios where production costs increase due to product decarbonization, the CM and the ACM compete on wholesale prices, and decarbonization outcomes are uncertain because of innovation failures.","PeriodicalId":55009,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management","volume":"72 ","pages":"1843-1861"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144090764","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Opportunities and Challenges in the Metaverse and NFTs for Business Model Innovation: A Managerial Point of View","authors":"Chiara Bartoli;Francesco Fasano;Francesco Cappa;Paolo Boccardelli","doi":"10.1109/TEM.2025.3560910","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2025.3560910","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the role that the metaverse and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) play in innovating the business model of firms. We employed qualitative data collected through a survey, which included more than 100 managers at both small and medium-sized enterprises and large enterprises representing over 20 different industrial sectors, and through a panel of experts. The empirical outcomes show that the metaverse and NFTs can be significantly leveraged by firms to innovate the building blocks of their business models in different ways, as summarized in the framework we have developed, which provides a guide to best practices when adopting these emerging technologies. In addition, this work also highlights the major challenges faced in the adoption of such technologies. In doing so, our aim is to advance overall scientific understanding of the metaverse and NFTs, which facilitates conscious implementation, and to highlight the potential for innovation that should be considered to favor business development.","PeriodicalId":55009,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management","volume":"72 ","pages":"1685-1698"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10965482","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143908397","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Priyanka C. Bhatt;Yu-Chun Hsu;Kuei-Kuei Lai;Vinayak A. Drave
{"title":"Technology Convergence Assessment by an Integrated Approach of BERT Topic Modeling and Association Rule Mining","authors":"Priyanka C. Bhatt;Yu-Chun Hsu;Kuei-Kuei Lai;Vinayak A. Drave","doi":"10.1109/TEM.2025.3556006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2025.3556006","url":null,"abstract":"The rapid evolution of technology necessitates advanced methods to assess and understand emerging innovations. As formal documents record inventions, patents provide rich data for analyzing technological advancements. This study employs text mining and data mining techniques to analyze patent data, focusing on technology convergence and innovation trends in the e-payment technological domain. Using bidirectional encoder representations from transformers topic modeling, patent abstracts are classified into distinct thematic areas, uncovering hidden patterns and thematic landscapes of technological domains. International Patent Classification codes categorize these patents, facilitating the identification of technological convergence through association rule mining. The study integrates these methods, addressing gaps in previous research by providing a comprehensive analysis of technological evolution and convergence. The research aims to propose a convergence indicator, to highlight heterogeneous technological convergence. The limitations of the study rely on patent data, suggesting future research incorporate additional data sources for a more holistic view of technological convergence. The findings underscore the potential of integrating text mining and data mining techniques in technology assessment, contributing to the understanding of technological evolution and convergence dynamics.","PeriodicalId":55009,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management","volume":"72 ","pages":"1699-1713"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143913391","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Zhiping Hou;Yue Zhang;Yongheng Meng;Dashuo Li;Benyue Liu
{"title":"Green Supply Chain Network Embeddedness, Resource Orchestration Capability, and Enterprise Sustainability Performance","authors":"Zhiping Hou;Yue Zhang;Yongheng Meng;Dashuo Li;Benyue Liu","doi":"10.1109/TEM.2025.3556825","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2025.3556825","url":null,"abstract":"With increasingly stringent environmental regulations and the growing demand for green consumption, firms have become progressively aware of the critical importance of green supply chain management (GSCM). Although existing studies have partially explored the relationship between GSCM and enterprise sustainability performance, empirical research from the perspectives of network embeddedness and resource orchestration remains relatively limited. To address this gap, grounded in network embeddedness theory and resource orchestration theory, this article selects Chinese A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen that implemented GSCM from 2012 to 2022 as the sample to empirically examine the relationships among green supply chain network embeddedness, resource orchestration capability, and sustainability performance. The findings reveal that structural embeddedness (SE) of green supply chain networks exhibits an inverted U-shaped relationship with sustainability performance, whereas relational embeddedness (RE) exerts a positive impact. Additionally, green resource absorption capacity and green resource allocation capability mediate the relationship between green supply chain network embeddedness and sustainability performance. The influence of SE on sustainability performance is particularly pronounced in heavily polluting industries and large enterprises, while the positive effects of RE are more evident in nonpolluting industries and small enterprises. This article broadens the theoretical perspectives in the fields of supply chain management and sustainability, offering theoretical support for firms to optimize GSCM practices and achieve sustainable development.","PeriodicalId":55009,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management","volume":"72 ","pages":"1622-1638"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143896248","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Radical or Incremental? The Effects of Green Innovation on the Supply Base Stability of Logistics Service Providers","authors":"Chang Wu;Jinan Shao;Kee-Hung Lai;Yongyi Shou","doi":"10.1109/TEM.2025.3558756","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2025.3558756","url":null,"abstract":"Logistics service providers (LSPs) are increasingly adopting green innovation to mitigate their environmental impacts. However, little is known about how such innovation influences their supply base stability (SBS), even though supplier inputs are essential for LSPs to meet the requirements of their stakeholders. To narrow this gap, in this article, we draw on recombinant search theory to examine whether LSPs’ incremental green innovation (IGI) and radical green innovation (RGI) exert differential effects on their SBS. By analyzing data from 88 publicly listed Chinese LSPs over the period 2011–2019, this study reveals a positive relationship between IGI and SBS but a negative relationship between RGI and SBS. Furthermore, our findings indicate that top management teams play a critical role in shaping these relationships. In particular, executive environmental attention weakens the positive IGI–SBS association, while executive environmental expertise attenuates the negative RGI–SBS association. Our study extends the operations and technology management literature by uncovering the differential effects of IGI and RGI on LSPs’ SBS and the boundary conditions that alter these effects. LSPs are advised to strategically navigate various types of green innovation to better maintain the stability of their supply bases.","PeriodicalId":55009,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management","volume":"72 ","pages":"1440-1453"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143860941","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Overcoming the Digital Dilemmas: How Do Enterprises Develop Digital Transformative Capability?","authors":"Yingjie Gao;Hongyu Zhang;Lunjun Ding;Shuning Zhang;Can Zeng","doi":"10.1109/TEM.2025.3558022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TEM.2025.3558022","url":null,"abstract":"In the context of enterprises actively pursuing digital transformation to seek new value creation activities, they inevitably confront intricate digital dilemmas stemming from sophisticated transformation requirements. However, the existing literature offers limited insights into the specifics of these dilemmas and the vital capabilities for managing them, failing to guide enterprises to navigate digital transformation effectively. This study conducts a qualitative study to investigate the specific digital dilemmas and how enterprises develop the necessary capabilities to address digital dilemmas. A novel framework outlining the pathways of developing the digital transformative capability to cope with digital dilemmas is proposed based on the interview data from 70 elites of 3 enterprises. Drawing on the proposed framework, we argue that four digital transformative capabilities, including organizational change, strategic orchestration, data governance, and business innovation, help enterprises cope with organizational inertia, develop digital structure dynamically, support data-driven operations, and reinvent business logic. By adopting the digital transformative capability lens, this research enriches the digital transformation literature by offering a nuanced understanding of the specific digital dilemmas and the underlying mechanisms that enable enterprises to break organizational barriers and embrace digital disruption. The findings are highly relevant for enterprises pursuing digital transformation, aiding them in overcoming digital dilemmas and advancing transformative endeavors.","PeriodicalId":55009,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management","volume":"72 ","pages":"1653-1667"},"PeriodicalIF":4.6,"publicationDate":"2025-04-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143896296","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}