Role of Big Data Analytic Capability on developing supply

chain risk resilience, robustness and competitive

advantage
Key Terms

BD-A =Big Data Analytics

SC = Supply Chain
SCM = Supply Chain Management
Introduction

1.1 Background
1.1.1 Risk
Supply chain (SC) operations have been remotely disrupted by a number of
unanticipated events over the past 20 years, including but not limited to war,
terrorism, diseases, tsunamis, earthquakes, hurricanes, cyclones or typhoons,
pandemic diseases (COVID-19, SARS, Avian/bird flu, Swine flu). Due to flooding
caused by severe rains in 2011, Pakistan's private sector and industries suffered losses
of 313 million dollars (Pakistan Economic survey). Every economic sector is being
directly impacted by all of these circumstances, especially in a developing country
like Pakistan. The global SC is the one most impacted by these developments, and the
new business environment is severely tormented by ever-expanding vulnerabilities
and related uncertainty (Ambulkar et al., 2015). The firm has numerous issues as a
result of these disruptions in SC activities caused by unanticipated events. Due to this
the SC are incredibly helpless against both internal and external disturbance which
includes monetary downturns, difficulties because of the insufficiency of significant
purchasers and innovation. These occurrences show that business disruption in
companies with global SC is becoming more common, despite the fact that risk
factors can harm a corporation at any level. Companies are increasingly working to
establish various strategic responses to reduce the impact of SC disruption.
Researchers are attempting to determine various risk mitigation measures and the
appropriate response to these SC disruptions brought on by such anticipated
occurrences most frequently (Dubey et al., 2019).

1.1.2 Importance of Risk Resilience

Several studies concluded that cost, quality, dependability, differentiation, and time to
market are some of the skills that a firm can concentrate on to get a competitive
advantage (Singh and Hong, 2017). The development of these capabilities by the
organisation can take place in a variety of ways. A higher level of Supply Chain
Management (SCM) practise (strategic supplier partnerships, customer relationships,
level of information sharing, quality of information sharing, and postponement) can lead
to an increased competitive advantage (Li et al., 2006). Consequently, building a solid
and efficient SC organisation allows for the development of competitive competencies
 that result in a firm's competitive advantage (Rosenzweig and Easton, 2010; Koufteros et
al., 2014). These discussions emphasised how important SC planning is to the overall
business strategy and how it gives the company the necessary competitive edge in this
highly unpredictable and fast-moving environment.
In the SC strategy, managing SC risk is crucial. As a result, there are various schools of
thought regarding how businesses might develop the necessary capabilities to reduce
various SC risks (Punniyamoorthy et al., 2013; Zsidisin et al., 2016). However, due to
new risk variables (quality, safety, product, leadership, labour, and environmental), which
make it harder for businesses to develop effective risk management strategies (Marucheck
et al., 2011).

1.1.3 Emerging Role of Big Data Analytics (BD-A)

The availability of raw data has opened up many new possibilities for organisations in
the realm of data and IT, but this raw data is useless if it cannot be transformed into
usable information, which is why the idea of BD-A has recently gained popularity.
According to many academics, BD-A is the ability to gather a significant amount of
structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data from current and former customers
in order to obtain useful information that supports decision-making, aids in predicting
customer behaviour, and helps in customer retention through prompt actions (Simon,
2013; Y. Wang, et al., 2015). It has been a major topic of discussion among
multinational companies how to fully utilise such raw data to gain competitive
advantage. The concept of BD-A could be revolutionary because it alters the
dynamics of the world, and businesses that are able to use Big Data in an
informational capacity found themselves ahead of their competition. The BD-A
concept is new, but academics are very interested in it and are doing several studies to
determine its true impact.

1.2 Problem Statement

Many firms use data analytics as one of the primary risk management tools since it has been
proven to be an effective method of reducing risk. Due to the availability of large data and
escalating uncertainty, the concept of BD-A has become a major topic of discussion by
researchers for the validation of existing theories as well as for improved decision making for
firms (Muhtaroglu et al., 2013), especially in SCM (Wang et al., 2016). With better planning,
investments, coordination, and management, BD-A enables the business to have a wider
perspective of current and upcoming events. Effective SCM is made possible by BD-A, but
its relationship to SC resilience requires research (Mandal, 2018). Although numerous
components of SC resilience have been studied by researchers (Cheng and Lu, 2017; Liu et
al., 2018) study on the role of BD-A in establishing major aspects of SC resilience is still in
progress (Mandal 2018). The benefits of BD-A skills have already been explored, and have a
big impact on operations management (Choi et al., 2017), however there isn't much literature
that measures the actual effects of BD-A on SC sustainability (Shokouhyar et al., 2020).
Better decision-making, accountability, visibility, and innovation in the SC are made possible
through improved SC resilience and an abundance of information, which improves
organisation performance (Brinch, 2018) and aids in creating a competitive advantage. But
scholars haven't really looked into this important effect empirically that much (Gunasekaran
et al., 2017).

1.3 Research Objective

In order to increase an organization's SC risk resilience and SC robustness, this research tries
to determine how to enhance BD-A capabilities and its role. This study looks at how the BD-
A capabilities help the company gain an advantage over rivals.

1.4 Research Questions

The research questions are as follows in regard to the aforementioned research objective:

 What are the factors that support an organization's BD-A capability development?
 How can BD-A assist businesses gain a competitive edge, solid SC, and risk
resilience?

1.5 Significance of Study

This study presents a brief overview of BD-A in SCM and its impact on SC risk resilience
and robustness, as well as competitive performance. Along with this research, it also
examines the aforementioned association in several Pakistani industries. This research
constructs and reflects some of the most important outcomes for the stakeholders by
examining this relationship. Additionally, it has been recognised and determined that the
research's concept has never been investigated in Pakistan; as a result, this study fills a
specific gap in the literature on sustainability. In this manner, the research creates the
unparalleled knowledge that will unquestionably help the relevant entities in the field of
management sciences. The SC consultants, researchers, and authorities in the service sector
will all profit from the knowledge generated by this study.
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