Impacts of Emerging Information Technologies on Supply Chains:
A Systematic Literature Review
Xueping Gong1, Zhaojun Yang1, *, Jun Sun2, Mengdi Wu1
1
School of Economics and Management, Xidian University, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China
2
College of Business & Entrepreneurship, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, USA
(zhaojunyang@xidian.edu.cn)
Abstract - With the development of Industry 4.0 strategy,
emerging information technologies exert tremendous
influence on supply chains. Whereas more and more
scholars pay attention to this phenomenon, it remains a
question that which emerging information technologies
impact supply chains the most. Using the bibliometrics
method, this study identifies the influencing information
technologies and analyzes the opportunities and challenges
of applying them in supply chains.
Keywords - Big Data Analysis (BDA), Blockchain (BC),
Cloud Computing (CC), Emerging Information
Technologies (EITs), Internet of Tings (IoT), Supply Chain
I. INTRODUCTION
With the development of globalization, competition
among enterprises has become a contest in supply chain
effectiveness [1]. The contribution of the Industry 4.0
strategy has enabled the continuous development and
application of emerging information technologies (EITs)
and has shown a tremendous influence in supply chains.
The appropriate EITs application contributes to supply
chain operations and processes [1], to improve supply
chain performance and sustainability. A large number of
scholars begin to pay close attention to the application of
EITs in supply chains, involving supply chain integration
[2, 3], supply chain process [4], supply chain inventory,
costs [5, 6], and supply chain performance [7, 8]. The
research body mainly examines the practical impacts of
emerging technologies on the supply chain through case
studies (e.g., Garrido et al. [5], Gottge et al. [9], Yuan et
al. [10], Bose et al. [11], Martinez et al. [4], Khatoon et al.
[12], and Protopop et al. [13]), as well as questionnaire
surveys and face-to-face interviews (e.g., Shafique et al.
[2], Kim et al. [14], Shee et al. [3], Bruque-Camara et al.
[7], and Gawankar et al. [8]), among other methods like
system design. However, most scholars focus on specific
technology impacts on supply chains, and there is a lack
of systematic research on which EITs have major impacts
on supply chains and on how these technologies have
impacts. To fill this research gap, this study proposes the
following two research questions:
1) Which emerging information technologies (EITs)
have significant impacts on supply chains?
2) How do these EITs affect supply chains?
First, this study finds out the EITs widely used in
supply chains through the bibliometrics method, including
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the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain (BC), cloud
computing (CC), and big data analysis (BDA). Second, it
analyzes opportunities and challenges of applying these
EITs on supply chains, as well as the tremendous impact
of technology integration through a literature review.
II. METHODOLOGY
Bibliometrics methods have been widely used, aiming
to provide meaningful insights. This study uses the
bibliometrics method and the literature review to study
the interdisciplinary field of EITs and supply chains, to
answer which EITs and how they affect supply chains.
The Web of Science database contains many authoritative
and high-impact journals, covering social sciences,
natural sciences, engineering technology, etc. Therefore,
this study selects the Web of Science database as the
source of review literature.
Literature search keywords involve two fields of
supply chain and EITs; Supply chains have been maturely
applied as a keyword, so this study selects supply chains
and supply networks as keywords. For EITs, the study
proposes a more comprehensive keyword set (see Table
I), covering emerging information technologies,
communication technologies, digital technologies, next-
generation information technologies, industry 4.0
technologies. The period is from 2010 to April 2020, and
909 articles were retrieved.
TABLE I
SEARCH KEYWORDS
Field Keywords
Supply 1. Supply chain$
chain 2. Supply network$
1. Emerging information technolog*
2. Information and communication$ technolog*,
Information communication$ technolog*,
Information and communication$ technolog*,
Emerging Ict$
information 3. Digit* technolog*
technologies 4. Ne* generation of information technolog*,
(EITs) Ne* generation information technolog*,
Ne* information technolog*
5. New technolog*, novel* technolog*
6. Industry 4.0 technolog*
“*”: stands for any letters; “$”: stands for one or zero letter
e.g., “technolog*” stands for “technology” or “technologies”
“chain$” stands for “chain” or “chains”
To ensure the literature quality, the study excludes
proceedings papers, editorial comments, and corrections.
The final number of selected publications is 520. Then, by
776
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reading the keywords, abstracts, and full text
successively, the study not including both EITs and
supply chain are eliminated, and a total of 122 valid
papers are obtained.
III. STATISTIC AND ANALYSIS
A. VOSviewer keyword co-occurrence analysis
VOSviewer is a widely used bibliometrics software
[15], which can effectively perform co-citation and co-
occurrence analysis. Each circle represents a term, the
size of the circle represents the number of occurrences,
and the line represents the co-occurrence relationship in
the result map. The keywords co-occurrence map is
shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. EITs and supply chain keywords co-occurrences.
Fig. 1 shows that the EITs related to supply chains
mainly cover the IoT, BDA, BC, CC, radio frequency
identification (RFID), additive manufacturing (AM), 3D
printing, etc. In supply chains, it covers supply chain
coordination, supply chain integration, supply chain
performance, etc. Meanwhile, it is observed that
keywords such as identification, risk, and sustainability
exist in supply chains and EITs fields.
From the co-occurrence analysis, it indicated that
there is a certain relationship between EITs and supply
chain effectiveness in terms of integration, performance,
and so on. But it is necessary to further explore specific
aspects and mechanisms of influence.
B. Publication trend analysis
Fig. 2 shows that the research on EITs and supply
chain intersection has a small number of papers each year
from 2010 to 2016. Since 2016, it has shown a substantial
increase, and the number of publications reached 46 in
2019 and 19 in the first 4 months of 2020. It shows that
the research on EITs in supply chains is at an infant stage
and scholars begin to pay attention to it.
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Fig. 2. Publication trend.
Note: The last year’s downward trend is because only the publications of
the first four months of 2020 were counted.
C. Distribution of journals
This study counts the number of publications by each
of 78 journals. Fig. 3 shows the top 10 journals with the
largest number of publications.
Fig.3. Number of publications by journals.
Note: Only top 10 journals are shown.
Major top journals such as Supply Chain
Management-an International Journal, International
Journal of Production Research, Production Planning &
Control, and Computers in Industry published the most
papers. This indicates that the importance of EITs in
supply chains is well recognized.
D. Distribution of EITs
The study makes statistics on related technologies
used in the literature (Fig. 4), among which industry 4.0
(I4.0), information communication technology (ICT), and
digital technology (DT), information technology (IT)
represent a collection of EITs, such as the IoT, BC,
sensors, CC, and AM. The technologies combination (TC)
represents the research focus on more than one
technology, for example, exploring the impact of BDA
and IoT on the manufacturing procurement process [13].
Fig. 4. Distribution of EITs
As shown in Fig. 4, there are more publications on
specific emerging information technologies such as BC,
RFID, IoT, BDA, CC, and the studies on TC and Industry
4.0 technologies covering multiple technologies exceed
those on a single technology.
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E. Distribution of research methods
The research methods statistics results show in Fig. 5.
Among them, the method combination (MC) means that
more than one research method is used.
Fig. 5 reports that literature reviews and case studies
are more than other research methods. In empirical
research, case studies and questionnaires are the main
research methods, and the number is more than other
empirical research methods. It is observed that in recent
years, scholars have begun to pay attention to the actual
impact of technology in supply chains, and these studies
will lay the foundation for the study of the specific impact
of EITs on the supply chain.
Fig. 5. Distribution of research methods
Based on the above results, BC, RFID, IoT, BDA,
and CC have a relatively high frequency in supply chains.
Among the research methods, the proportion of empirical
research (mainly case studies and questionnaires) is the
largest. Next, this study focuses on analyzing the impact
of these technologies on the supply chain.
IV. EMERGING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES
IMPACTS ON SUPPLY CHAINS
A. Internet of things (IoT)
IoT is a network composed of a large number of
interconnected "things" [16], which performs real-time
data sharing[2]; RFID, a key part of IoT, is an automatic
identification and tracking technology [10], composing of
tags, readers and antennas [17].
IoT improves data collection capabilities. Various
sensors can capture information that cannot be detected
manually [18], reduce data search costs [9], and improve
the scope and quality of data acquisition in the supply
chain. Based on several cases, Bose et al. [11] pointed out
that RFID not only enhances environmental sustainability
but also helps reduce costs and increase revenue.
Meanwhile, it is helpful for the integration of the main
parties in the supply chain to realize real-time data sharing,
such as real-time feedback on the needs, production, and
inventory information [2]. Shafique et al. [2] empirically
verified that the IoT capability is conducive to integration
with suppliers and customers, thereby contributing to the
performance of the green supply chain. IoT related
technologies provide good real-time monitoring, tracking,
and control capabilities [16, 19], which helps the orderly
and smooth operation and achieves traceability and
reliability of the entire supply chain process [17], to save
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energy, time, and other organizational resources and to
improve operating efficiency [2].
IoT also brings challenges. IoT-related technologies
generate and collect volume data all the time, and the
storage and processing of these data are a major challenge
for supply chains [19]. The privacy infringement of the
main parties of supply chains is also a problem for the
successful IoT application [16, 19]. Technologies design
vulnerabilities will pose a threat to data security and
quality [17, 19].
B. Blockchain (BC)
BC uses distributed ledgers to store transactions or
events without centralized storage and management [12],
and the data cannot be deleted or modified [15]. BC has
four characteristics: security, decentralization, auditability,
and intelligent execution.
BC data cannot be modified and deleted, which
greatly guarantees data security in the supply chain [20].
In the blockchain, the data is shared among all parties,
improving the entire supply chain transparency [15], and
the transaction can be automatically executed by the smart
contract [14]. Through case studies, Khatoon et al. [12]
pointed out that blockchain technology ensures the
transparency and safety of the energy efficiency market.
By analyzing the case of blockchain in order management,
Martinez et al. [4] pointed out that the technology reduced
the number of manual operations and processing, and
improved the supply chain process. With survey
observations, Kim et al. [14] verified that the
characteristics of the supply chain impact the supply chain
partnership, thereby affecting corporate performance.
Meanwhile, intelligent execution and the decentralization
of all processes have effectively strengthened trust among
organizations[20]. The real-time, accurate, and
unmodified information of the BC can improve the
inventory management of the supply chain and reduce
related costs [6, 21].
BC guarantees the accuracy and complete
transparency of the data, but the biggest obstacle to the
application in the supply chain is the willingness to share
among the various parties in the supply chain [20] since
they are often reluctant to share valuable information.
C. Cloud computing (CC)
Based on the virtualization of resources and services,
CC is a model of on-demand-use and pay-per-use [22].
CC provides remote facilities, software, and other
services, without the need for organizations to invest in
their construction, reducing the initial capital costs [22].
CC's on-demand usage model provides sufficient
computing resources and storage services [16, 23]. CC
avoids frequent equipment maintenance and update work
and simplifies traditional IT tasks and corresponding
costs, to improves organizations’ productivity [18].
Through questionnaire surveys, Shee et al. and Bruque-
 Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE IEEM
Cámara et al. [3, 7] pointed out that cloud computing
contributes to the integration and sustainability of the
supply chain.
However, the trust problem related to third-party data
storage is a challenge, and at the same time, third-party
data security is also a major challenge [7].
D. Big data analysis (BDA)
Big data is difficult to process using traditional data
processing methods [9], consisting of three dimensions:
volume, variety, and velocity [8]. BDA can process,
analyze, and visualize big data.
BDA can discover knowledge from big data [8] and
obtain meaningful insights through data-sets processing
and analysis to support decision-making [24]. Through
the real-time analysis results of big data, it is applied to
traditional business processes to improve business
processes in the supply chain to cope with changing
business models [25].
However, big data has unstructured and
heterogeneous characteristics, causing data collection and
integration complexity, which is one of the challenges of
applying BDA to the supply chain [25]. Also, data
analysis is inseparable from the interaction of data experts.
The lack of experts in BDA is another challenge [24].
E. Technology integration for supply chains
The emerging information technologies such as the
IoT, CC, BC, and BDA have complementariness. They
work together in the supply chain, and the integration of
different information technologies [26] to reduce costs
and information processing time [27] and to improve
supply chain performance and sustainability [1].
IoT provides various data collection devices, for
example, RFID realizes automatic identification and
tracking [16] and collects real-time and volume data in the
supply chain [25] to realize the real-time data sharing,
improving the operation efficiency and supply chain
performance [2].
The integration of BC and IoT use to create a
permanent and sharable record, and intelligent execution
and decentralization, helping to establish trust between
the various parties in the supply chain [20]. More, BC
effectively protects the security of the IoT data
transmission process through encryption technologies [16].
The IoT and BC ensure the real-time collection of
accurate data, but they need the support of scalable
computing resources [23]. CC provides unlimited storage
space and computing abilities by on-demand and paid for
IoT data [16], which makes up for the lack of IoT storage
and computing capabilities, and provides a good data
gathering place for BDA [13].
Supply chains face with redundant and volume data,
including text, numbers, sounds, images, and other forms.
With unstructured and heterogeneous [25], it is far beyond
the traditional analysis capabilities, and BDA provides
efficient analysis and processing methods [16], Through
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the analysis and mining of data collected by IoT, to
extract helpful information [24]. Real-time monitoring
and analysis are useful for response [9]. Based on a case
study of the automobile manufacturing industry, Simon et
al. [9] pointed out that big data and IoT platforms can
help reduce costs.
However, there are differences in data standards
between different technologies, making effective
integration difficult [11]. Also, privacy issues related to
Intra - and Inter-organizational are also a major obstacle
to the application of technology integration [11].
Technology integration promotes information exchange,
making the amount of information carried in the network
larger, and network security should be improved [28].
Technology integration will inevitably impose higher
requirements on management and technical experts. It is a
huge challenge without experts [24, 28].
V. CONCLUSION
Through bibliometrics methods, this study identifies
the emerging information technologies that have a
significant impact on supply chains. They include the
Internet of Things, blockchain, cloud computing, and big
data analysis. And in specific research, the primary
research method is empirical research based on case
studies and questionnaires. Meanwhile, this review points
out the opportunities and challenges when applying
emerging information technologies in supply chains, as
well as the impact of technology integration.
1) Academic implications: This study contributes to
the literature by revealing that in the past three years,
emerging information technologies, especially the Internet
of Things, blockchain, big data analysis, and cloud
computing, has been widely assessed with empirical
research methods (mainly case studies and questionnaire
surveys). The findings highlight the significant impacts of
different emerging information technologies and
technology integration on supply chains. It points out a
new direction for the academic research of emerging
information technologies and supply chains.
2) Practical implications: This study points out the
key emerging information technologies that have positive
impacts on supply chains in terms of supply chain
information collection, storage, sharing, processing,
supply process optimization, and cost control. The
evidence provides support for practitioners to apply
emerging information technologies in supply chains.
Practitioners should focus on the integration between
different emerging technologies, make up for the
shortcomings of a single technology, optimize supply
chain information and process processing, and control
supply chain costs.
3) Limitations: This study only selects Web of
Science as the source of literature selection, and some
important papers may have been excluded. In the future,
we will also pay attention to databases such as Elsevier,
IEEE Explorer, and Scopus to improve the selection of
literature. Whereas this study points out that technology
 Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE IEEM
integration has a profound impact on the supply chain
from the theoretical perspective, this should be verified by
empirical research in the future.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by the Natural Science
Foundation of Shaanxi Province, China (No.2020JM-201).
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