Birsen Karpak

Purpose: The pandemic, disruptions to transportation networks, geopolitical conflicts and trade restrictions over the past five years have intensified attention to supply chain resilience (SCRes) from both academia and industry. At the same time, rapid digitalisation is transforming traditional supply chains. Although numerous studies have examined digital technologies or SCRes independently, limited attention has been given to the reciprocal interrelationships among digital technologies and SCRes dimensions. Given the interconnected nature of digital technologies and the multidimensional characteristics of SCRes, examining these reciprocal interrelationships is essential for capturing their collective influence. Therefore, this study aims to identify the digital technologies that influence SCRes and examine their interrelationships with the dimensions of SCRes, thereby clarifying the relative roles and influence of both digital technologies and SCRes dimensions in strengthening more resilient and sustainable supply chains. Design/methodology/approach: We conducted a structured literature review (SLR) and consulted a hybrid panel of seven academic and industry experts to identify the key dimensions of SCRes and the digital technologies influencing them. We then worked with experts to prioritise these factors using the analytic network process (ANP), an extension of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) that is well-suited to modelling the strong interdependencies and feedback relationships among digital technologies and SCRes dimensions. Data were collected in both 2023 and 2025 from the same experts to capture the changes in expert judgements over time. Findings: We found that collaboration and Internet-of-Things (IoT) have exerted the strongest relative influence on SCRes. In particular, collaboration becomes the highest priority factor overall, whereas IoT is the highest priority digital technology within the proposed decision framework. Visibility and velocity follow as the next most influential resilience dimensions, while AI and blockchain, although lower ranked, exhibit increasing relative influence across the two assessment periods. We also argue that no single digital technology on its own is sufficient to achieve supply chain resilience. Successful adoption and implementation require an understanding of how these technologies mutually interact with SCRes dimensions. By explicitly accounting for these interdependencies, the proposed decision framework prioritises both digital technologies and SCRes dimensions according to their relative influence on supply chain resilience, providing practical guidance for organisations seeking to strengthen resilience. Originality/value: This study advances the SCRes literature by proposing an integrated ANP-based framework that models the interdependencies and feedback relationships between digital technologies and SCRes dimensions. Unlike prior studies that examine technologies in isolation or treat resilience dimensions as independent constructs, the present study evaluates both the combined and individual influence of digital technologies within a multidimensional resilience framework. The study further contributes by organising the literature around digital technologies and SCRes dimensions, revealing their interplay through expert judgement and providing a temporal comparison of evolving priorities between 2023 and 2025. The findings further demonstrate that SCRes emerges through reciprocal interdependencies between digital technologies and multiple resilience dimensions rather than through isolated technological effects.

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the intersection of supply chain management (SCM) and big data analytics (BDA) through a multidimensional approach that incorporates bibliometric and network analysis (BNA) and a systematic literature review (SLR). Design/methodology/approach: BNA and SLR are academic research methods, each with distinct purposes and limitations. BNA manages large datasets, while SLR focuses on smaller ones for in-depth review. As of January 2023, we analysed 851 articles retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) core collection via BNA. To mitigate against BNA's limitations, we performed an SLR of 194 articles in 2023–2024, unveiling new themes in the “BDA in SCM” domain that were not apparent through BNA alone. Findings: The findings demonstrate global collaboration patterns, highlighting China's lead in publications but lower international engagement than the USA's. BDA and the emerging discipline of supply chain resilience are closely interlinked; Industry 4.0 intertwines with sustainability and circular economy (CE) themes, and both are contributions that have been underexplored in previous reviews. Future studies will explore how BDA and other digital technologies enhance Supply Chain Ambidexterity by improving information processing in uncertain environments. Healthcare 4.0 technologies – specifically BDA, AI and Blockchain – boost efficiency, innovation, and risk management. However, the full potential of an intelligent Food Supply Chain (IFSC) lies in the integration of AI-driven systems, BDA and advanced analytics – a step that is still in its early stages. Originality/value: Big data analytics in supply chain management is a rapidly evolving research domain without a review paper since 2020 and with more than 500 papers published in 2021–2022. Our novel methodology of supplementing BNA with an SLR allows us to capture newer or niche contributions in the domain of big data analytics in supply chain management. This approach sets the study apart, ensuring insights into the field's current state and future directions. Integrating quantitative (BNA) and qualitative (SLR) approaches provides a well-rounded perspective on the field.

There are three upcoming conferences that would be beneficial for the AHP/ANP community. The first conference is “The 23rd Conference of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies”, IFORS2023 STGO to be held in Santiago, Chile, July 10-14, 2023. Second, the INFORMS Annual Conference will be held in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, October 15-18, 2023. Phoenix is a popular location with INFORMS members. We are expecting some AHP/ANP and extensions scholars to participate in this conference. I am planning to invite our AHP/ANP colleagues from all over the world. In the scientific program, there is a cluster for Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis, in which there will be at least one AHP/ANP invited session: AHP/ANP and extensions (Organized by Birsen Karpak, Ilker Topcu) Last, but not least, is the MCDM 2024 conference. The Tunisian Decision Aid Society is organizing this international conference on Multiple Criteria Decision Making which will be held in Hammamet, Tunisia, June 2-7, 2024.

There were five finalists for the 2022 MCDM Junior Researcher Best Paper Award of the MCDM section of INFORMS. Finalists were Sune Lauth Gadegaard, Aarhus University, Denmark;  Eleftherios Siskos, Paul Scherrer Institut Switzerland;  Merve Bodur, University of Toronto, Canada; and  Mohammad Ghaderi,  Pompeu Fabra University,  Spain (the winner).  Jiapeng Liu, Xi’an Jiaotong University, China could not attend the meeting. Roman Słowiński was the 2022 Jury Chair, Poznań University of Technology All 5 finalists received a diploma at the business meeting of the MCDM Section of INFORMS on October 16, 2022. The winner selected by the Jury was Mohammad Ghaderi. This was a great success for the MCDM/A community to receive ten nominations and to have five finalists for this award!

It is great pleasure for us to share with the MCDM/A community that Dr. Banu Lokman was the 2022 recipient of prestigious Bernard Roy (BR) award. Dr. Banu Lokman is a Reader in Operational Research at the School of Organisations, Systems and People, University of Portsmouth, UK. We have known Dr. Lokman as an excellent member of the MCDM community for over 10 years and have always thought that she deserves an award. We are very pleased that she was recognized by the EURO Working Group on Multiple Criteria Decision Aiding (EWG MCDA). The award was given during the EWG MCDA business meeting in Agios Nicolaos, Crete last September by Yannis Siskos, the 2022 Jury Chair. Congratulations Dr. Lokman, we are proud of you!

ISAHP 2022 was an excellent meeting! We secured quite a few special issues for conference participants. Yet, these reflections are confined to the Journal of Enterprise Information Management (JEIM) and the Journal of Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (JMCDA). JEIM will be guest edited by Birsen Karpak, Emel Aktas and Ilker Topcu; we are pleased with this international cooperation among the USA, the UK, and Turkey. The guest editors for JMCDA will be Birsen Karpak and Enrique Mu. Even though we are reflecting upon submissions for the two journals (JEIM and JMCDA), quite a few of the following suggestions are useful for any special issue of IJAHP.

Research in Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) and its subfields (multi-attribute utility theory or Decision Analysis, AHP, Goal Programming, MCDA, multi-objective mathematical programming, EMO) is very active. However, our general feeling is that bright, young people do not focus their energies sufficiently on solving important problems despite many very important problems that deserve attention. Some of the problems are critical to the well-being of the world. The purpose of our essay is to identify these very important problems (or mega trends, as they are sometimes called) and briefly discuss how the research community could help solve or at least alleviate such problems. The reader could interpret our essay as suggestions for a research agenda or program. It does not matter whether we are AHP scholars, multi-objective optimizers, or decision analysts, everyone’s contribution is needed.

In this study, we examined the effect of digital technologies during COVID-19 pandemic. 104 supply chain managers responded to our survey. Based on their responses we were able to conclude that those firms who invested more in their digital technologies performed better in reducing the severity of COVID-19 pandemic related challenges, felt better prepared in general for the pandemic compared to the competitors, and considers their digital technology investments helped them during COVID-19 on their success which led them to invest further in Technology. We believe our findings will help businesses to consider investing in their digital technologies for better management of uncertainties in their supply chains.

We had a wonderful welcome from the conference organizers Alessio Ishizaka (Chair), Banu Lokman (Co-chair), Dylan Jones (Program Chair), Ashraf Labib, Salvatore Greco, Negar Akbari, Maria Barbati and Salem Chakhar of the 26^th International Conference on Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM2022) which was held at the University of Portsmouth, UK from June 26 - July 1, 2022. The purpose of the MCDM conference is to bring together the MCDM community every two years. This year however, there had been a gap of three years since our last meeting because of Covid. Conference organizers did not want us to miss the opportunity to experience face-to-face interaction with students and colleagues in Portsmouth, UK, so they rescheduled MCDM 2021 to 2022. I am sure most of the participants benefited from the discussions after the talks, and enjoyed the social program that brings our community closer together and inspires future collaboration.