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Understanding the What, How and 
Why of Big Data in Supply Chain 
Relationships: 
A Structure, Process, and 
Performance Study 
University of Alabama 
Robert “Glenn” Richey, Ph.D. 
Tyler R. Morgan, Ph.D. Candidate 
Mississippi State University 
Frank G. Adams, Ph.D.
Defining Big Data 
• The world seems abuzz with the discussion of the 
importance of “Big Data.” 
• Big Data is defined according to the three aspects that 
differentiate it from other analytics: the volume of 
information produced, the velocity at which it is created and 
the variety of forms it takes (McAfee and Brynjolfsson 2012). 
• Confusion exists over other potential dimensions - Variability 
or Complexity or Veracity or …. 
• Big data has been suggested to be useful in targeting 
customer needs, eliminating service created waste, 
improving forecasting, economizing reverse logistics, 
improving partnering, etc. (McAfee and Brynjolfsson 2012). 
There is no common definition! 
1 of 20
Research Questions 
• What the “state of the art” is in Supply Chain Big Data? 
– Where managers should look for specific types of data? 
– What data sources & technologies support specific types of 
performance? 
• How are Big Data relationships governed? 
– What level of safeguarding/transparency is being used and is 
suggested for Big Data laden relationships. 
– How do partnerships perform “better” through Big Data; can a Big 
Data culture be created? 
– How do global needs and implications of Big Data partnering differ 
across different parts of the world. 
2 of 20
Method 
• Processes-oriented approach: We have a substantial basis 
on what Big Data is, but avoided forced definitions. 
• A qualitative multiple case study approach with +8 (31) 
cases (Eisenhardt, 1989; Eisenhardt & Graebner, 2007; Yin, 
2009) 
• Purposeful selection - CSCMP Organizations and 
Nominations 
• Validity from multiple sources: multiple levels of company, 
multiple industries, and documentation audit trail 
• Emergent and iterative 4 person coding and categorizing, 
refining constructs from the literature, to identify patterns, 
but sensitive to context of the firms (Welch et al, 2011) 
3 of 20
Going Native: A Qualitative Approach
Sample: n=31/ N=6 
Country Sample Size SC Classification 
China 3 Manufacturing 
Germany 6 3PL/4PL/Consulting 
Supplier/Distributor 
Manufacturing 
Transportation 
India 3 Manufacturing 
South Korea 3 3PL/4PL/Consulting 
Retailing 
Turkey 3 Manufacturing 
Retailing 
USA 11 Manufacturing 
Retailing 
Brazil 1 Manufacturing 
South Africa 1 3PL/4PL/Consulting 
5 of 20
Results: Worldwide 
Quote of the Country (QoC): 
“So how do you define big data?” 
Opportunities: 
– More effective forecasting 
– More effective production planning 
– Cost reduction (logistics) 
Obstacles 
– Finding Meaningful Data 
– Finding People (Scientists) 
– Fear of Risk and Regulation 
– Finding Storage 
– Partner Transparency 
– National Culture 
6 of 20
Results: USA (n = 11) 
QoC: “so, I don't see this going away in the next 5 to 10 years. 
I actually see it growing, and I see people who have the skill 
set and have that knowledge, and who can bring some of 
these answers to the table, I see that as a competitive 
advantage for a company who can figure that out" 
Opportunity 
– Searching for competitive advantage 
– Sharing of data for improvement 
Obstacles 
“If each party uses a different 
system to collect and 
process the Big Data, it will 
be redundant and wasteful.” 
– Resistance to new technology 
– Protecting information 
– Finding central and sizable storage 
– Effective presentation and communication 
– Cross functional inflexibility 
– Not forward looking/Speed to irrelevance 
7 of 20
Results: Germany (n=6) 
QoC“Big data does not create innovation, that comes from little 
data” 
Opportunity 
– Little data improvements 
– Measurement precision 
– Expat facilitation 
– Customer focus 
Obstacles 
– National culture and communication 
– Time and time zones 
– Ease of access/safeguarding 
– One version of the truth 
– System integration 
– Competitive risk of sharing data 
“Is there one version of the 
truth? I think there is no big 
end to this story. So, I think 
the challenge is to make 
sure that we limit the 
number of systems in our 
landscape to be sure that 
we have quality of 
information.” 
8 of 20
Results: Turkey (n=3) 
QoC: “Don’t even think about sharing consumer data with 
anyone, that’s crazy!” 
Opportunities 
– Technology based decision making (less guessing) 
– Process improvement 
• Delivery, reverse logistics, barcode use 
– In company system integration 
Obstacles 
– Partner fit, Trust and disclosure 
– Sharing with outsourced SBU 
– No road map 
– Top management understanding 
“Having Big Data and 
revealing hidden patterns 
is so important if you want 
to offer customized, 
personalized service and 
this creates an edge over 
the competitors." 
9 of 20
Results: China (n=3) 
QoC:“Market data yes, but Big Data, why???” 
Opportunities 
– Single systems 
– Retail level forecasting 
– Incremental innovation 
– Logistics cost reduction 
Obstacles 
" I think with the Big Data, we will have the 
opportunity to create something innovative, 
not necessarily new generation in 
technology, you know, but in better ways to 
forecasting, to physically distribute our 
products, to redesign the working terms of 
distribution. Things like that will also be 
possible.” 
– Labor costs trump technological investment 
– Weak collaboration 
– National culture issue: risk and boundaries 
• (we won’t tell you what we don’t share) 
10 of 20
Results: India (n=3) 
QoC: “The sources can be anything that comes in, your 
customer touch points, your business touch points, how your 
industry data has a factor in your older customer [data], your 
older business [data], your software.” 
Opportunity 
– Procurement forecasting 
– New product/service development 
– Trend management 
Obstacles 
– How to pull and use flexibly 
– Level of understanding across firm(s) 
– Fine grained vs. usefulness 
– Long-term data management 
“Obstacle, the prime 
obstacle that we face 
is the level of 
understanding of the 
various people who are 
capturing the data.” 
11 of 20
Results: S. Korea (n=3) 
QoC: “…using the quantitative data that have objective validity 
will help partners make a more informed decision” 
Opportunities 
– Risk reduction 
– Informed decision making 
– Data refinement 
– Overstock reduction 
Obstacles 
– Dirty data 
– Lack of data scientists 
– What is the ROI? 
– Privacy laws 
– HR and Systems 
"With Big Data, we will 
be able to clarify 
consumers’ every need 
and their attribute and 
eventually make them 
spend more money.” 
12 of 20
Results: Single Respondents 
South Africa 
Opportunities 
– Quicker upstream data into assessment 
– Responsiveness 
Obstacles 
– Big Bully 
– Misaligned readiness 
“Big Data is the data that gets generated by those systems that are 
implemented, that I just described. Really, it's more about running those 
systems, like the modern ERP or warehousing system or distribution 
systems. So, as you generate data, it happens merely by existing and 
running the operations that way....It's a by-product of what you normally 
do.” 
13 of 20
Results: Single Respondents 
Brazil 
Opportunities 
– Reduced cost of design 
– Inspiration 
Obstacles 
– Creative laziness 
– Strategic blindness 
“Using a lot of Big Data, as a matter of design, can create a little 
bit of blindness on being creative and follow the trend or creating 
something that it's not, like from scratch. On the other hand, the 
use of Big Data for production skills or machinery is amazing...” 
14 of 20
Takeaways 
A practical definition and understanding of big data does not 
exist internationally (period). 
– “I would say that it is a large amount of data that has to be analyzed. 
The sources can be anything that comes in…” USA, Engineering 
– “Data that contain a wide variety. … Everyone needs their own 
definition of big data in order to use big data in a productive way.” 
South Korea, Automotive Research Institute 
– “…the material compared to the limits. …These are the information 
that we should get together and talk about.” Germany, Industrial 
Consulting 
15 of 20
Takeaways 
Sharing of data exists somewhere between operational 
minimums and not at all. This is dependent upon the company, 
relationship, and country. 
– “…what we see is that the big bully keeps all or most of 
the benefits for himself…” South Africa, Industrial 
Consulting 
– “… financial information is not available for everybody in 
the organization, for example…there are different levels 
of authorization.” Germany, Retail Distribution 
– “For our company, we do not share Big Data with our 
customer.” China, Electronics 
16 of 20
Takeaways 
Opportunities currently seem focused on process improvement 
and logistical cost reduction with a future hope of finding a 
strategic use. 
– “Who is not only making the most money, but is sticking to their 
contractual obligations?” USA, Healthcare 
– “…we do go and look at history and pull that out and try to determine 
what to anticipate and where the future is going to come from. 
Especially, in things like what things are costing.” South Africa, 
Logistics Consulting 
– “…number 1, for each of the systems and to make sure that we have 
the right capabilities to make the individual system work more 
efficiently. Number 2 is truly to integrate all the systems to the others 
that we have, so we can make better use of the data available…” 
China, Manufacutring 
17 of 20
Takeaways 
Tremendous obstacles exist within companies, countries and 
across countries. Companies need help! 
– “Before we can start using some of the elements of [Big Data], you 
need to have other things in your own company in place first.” 
Germany, Consumer Packaged Goods 
– “… we need a combination of all of the information ... so it's stressed 
getting all that data. It is a challenge to get all of it, … By far, the trust 
in getting the data is the biggest thing.” USA, Agricultural Products 
– “we send the data as it is in English from here to Korea … the 
translated data is sometimes not perfectly understood by Korean 
readers. Also, the time difference in these countries is an obstacle.” 
USA, Automotive Manufacturing 
19 of 20
Future Work 
What do you need to know? 
– Relationship Governance: type, trust, commitment, and 
opportunism 
– Knowledge/information sharing and safeguarding 
– Risk, Privacy and Law 
– HR and TMTs 
– Transparency 
– National Differences/Cultural Differences 
– Performance: Logistics, ROI, Market, Partner/SCM 
19 of 20
Thanks for Your Time 
Big Data in supply chain management should be 
characterized as relationship-based information that is 
unique to business because of its volume, velocity, 
variety, and variability/veracity. 
Questions? 
Future Information: 
Glenn Richey 
richeyglenn@gmail.com 
+001 205 310 5973 
20 of 20

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CSCMP 2014 :exploring scm big data cscmp

  • 1. Understanding the What, How and Why of Big Data in Supply Chain Relationships: A Structure, Process, and Performance Study University of Alabama Robert “Glenn” Richey, Ph.D. Tyler R. Morgan, Ph.D. Candidate Mississippi State University Frank G. Adams, Ph.D.
  • 2. Defining Big Data • The world seems abuzz with the discussion of the importance of “Big Data.” • Big Data is defined according to the three aspects that differentiate it from other analytics: the volume of information produced, the velocity at which it is created and the variety of forms it takes (McAfee and Brynjolfsson 2012). • Confusion exists over other potential dimensions - Variability or Complexity or Veracity or …. • Big data has been suggested to be useful in targeting customer needs, eliminating service created waste, improving forecasting, economizing reverse logistics, improving partnering, etc. (McAfee and Brynjolfsson 2012). There is no common definition! 1 of 20
  • 3. Research Questions • What the “state of the art” is in Supply Chain Big Data? – Where managers should look for specific types of data? – What data sources & technologies support specific types of performance? • How are Big Data relationships governed? – What level of safeguarding/transparency is being used and is suggested for Big Data laden relationships. – How do partnerships perform “better” through Big Data; can a Big Data culture be created? – How do global needs and implications of Big Data partnering differ across different parts of the world. 2 of 20
  • 4. Method • Processes-oriented approach: We have a substantial basis on what Big Data is, but avoided forced definitions. • A qualitative multiple case study approach with +8 (31) cases (Eisenhardt, 1989; Eisenhardt & Graebner, 2007; Yin, 2009) • Purposeful selection - CSCMP Organizations and Nominations • Validity from multiple sources: multiple levels of company, multiple industries, and documentation audit trail • Emergent and iterative 4 person coding and categorizing, refining constructs from the literature, to identify patterns, but sensitive to context of the firms (Welch et al, 2011) 3 of 20
  • 5. Going Native: A Qualitative Approach
  • 6. Sample: n=31/ N=6 Country Sample Size SC Classification China 3 Manufacturing Germany 6 3PL/4PL/Consulting Supplier/Distributor Manufacturing Transportation India 3 Manufacturing South Korea 3 3PL/4PL/Consulting Retailing Turkey 3 Manufacturing Retailing USA 11 Manufacturing Retailing Brazil 1 Manufacturing South Africa 1 3PL/4PL/Consulting 5 of 20
  • 7. Results: Worldwide Quote of the Country (QoC): “So how do you define big data?” Opportunities: – More effective forecasting – More effective production planning – Cost reduction (logistics) Obstacles – Finding Meaningful Data – Finding People (Scientists) – Fear of Risk and Regulation – Finding Storage – Partner Transparency – National Culture 6 of 20
  • 8. Results: USA (n = 11) QoC: “so, I don't see this going away in the next 5 to 10 years. I actually see it growing, and I see people who have the skill set and have that knowledge, and who can bring some of these answers to the table, I see that as a competitive advantage for a company who can figure that out" Opportunity – Searching for competitive advantage – Sharing of data for improvement Obstacles “If each party uses a different system to collect and process the Big Data, it will be redundant and wasteful.” – Resistance to new technology – Protecting information – Finding central and sizable storage – Effective presentation and communication – Cross functional inflexibility – Not forward looking/Speed to irrelevance 7 of 20
  • 9. Results: Germany (n=6) QoC“Big data does not create innovation, that comes from little data” Opportunity – Little data improvements – Measurement precision – Expat facilitation – Customer focus Obstacles – National culture and communication – Time and time zones – Ease of access/safeguarding – One version of the truth – System integration – Competitive risk of sharing data “Is there one version of the truth? I think there is no big end to this story. So, I think the challenge is to make sure that we limit the number of systems in our landscape to be sure that we have quality of information.” 8 of 20
  • 10. Results: Turkey (n=3) QoC: “Don’t even think about sharing consumer data with anyone, that’s crazy!” Opportunities – Technology based decision making (less guessing) – Process improvement • Delivery, reverse logistics, barcode use – In company system integration Obstacles – Partner fit, Trust and disclosure – Sharing with outsourced SBU – No road map – Top management understanding “Having Big Data and revealing hidden patterns is so important if you want to offer customized, personalized service and this creates an edge over the competitors." 9 of 20
  • 11. Results: China (n=3) QoC:“Market data yes, but Big Data, why???” Opportunities – Single systems – Retail level forecasting – Incremental innovation – Logistics cost reduction Obstacles " I think with the Big Data, we will have the opportunity to create something innovative, not necessarily new generation in technology, you know, but in better ways to forecasting, to physically distribute our products, to redesign the working terms of distribution. Things like that will also be possible.” – Labor costs trump technological investment – Weak collaboration – National culture issue: risk and boundaries • (we won’t tell you what we don’t share) 10 of 20
  • 12. Results: India (n=3) QoC: “The sources can be anything that comes in, your customer touch points, your business touch points, how your industry data has a factor in your older customer [data], your older business [data], your software.” Opportunity – Procurement forecasting – New product/service development – Trend management Obstacles – How to pull and use flexibly – Level of understanding across firm(s) – Fine grained vs. usefulness – Long-term data management “Obstacle, the prime obstacle that we face is the level of understanding of the various people who are capturing the data.” 11 of 20
  • 13. Results: S. Korea (n=3) QoC: “…using the quantitative data that have objective validity will help partners make a more informed decision” Opportunities – Risk reduction – Informed decision making – Data refinement – Overstock reduction Obstacles – Dirty data – Lack of data scientists – What is the ROI? – Privacy laws – HR and Systems "With Big Data, we will be able to clarify consumers’ every need and their attribute and eventually make them spend more money.” 12 of 20
  • 14. Results: Single Respondents South Africa Opportunities – Quicker upstream data into assessment – Responsiveness Obstacles – Big Bully – Misaligned readiness “Big Data is the data that gets generated by those systems that are implemented, that I just described. Really, it's more about running those systems, like the modern ERP or warehousing system or distribution systems. So, as you generate data, it happens merely by existing and running the operations that way....It's a by-product of what you normally do.” 13 of 20
  • 15. Results: Single Respondents Brazil Opportunities – Reduced cost of design – Inspiration Obstacles – Creative laziness – Strategic blindness “Using a lot of Big Data, as a matter of design, can create a little bit of blindness on being creative and follow the trend or creating something that it's not, like from scratch. On the other hand, the use of Big Data for production skills or machinery is amazing...” 14 of 20
  • 16. Takeaways A practical definition and understanding of big data does not exist internationally (period). – “I would say that it is a large amount of data that has to be analyzed. The sources can be anything that comes in…” USA, Engineering – “Data that contain a wide variety. … Everyone needs their own definition of big data in order to use big data in a productive way.” South Korea, Automotive Research Institute – “…the material compared to the limits. …These are the information that we should get together and talk about.” Germany, Industrial Consulting 15 of 20
  • 17. Takeaways Sharing of data exists somewhere between operational minimums and not at all. This is dependent upon the company, relationship, and country. – “…what we see is that the big bully keeps all or most of the benefits for himself…” South Africa, Industrial Consulting – “… financial information is not available for everybody in the organization, for example…there are different levels of authorization.” Germany, Retail Distribution – “For our company, we do not share Big Data with our customer.” China, Electronics 16 of 20
  • 18. Takeaways Opportunities currently seem focused on process improvement and logistical cost reduction with a future hope of finding a strategic use. – “Who is not only making the most money, but is sticking to their contractual obligations?” USA, Healthcare – “…we do go and look at history and pull that out and try to determine what to anticipate and where the future is going to come from. Especially, in things like what things are costing.” South Africa, Logistics Consulting – “…number 1, for each of the systems and to make sure that we have the right capabilities to make the individual system work more efficiently. Number 2 is truly to integrate all the systems to the others that we have, so we can make better use of the data available…” China, Manufacutring 17 of 20
  • 19. Takeaways Tremendous obstacles exist within companies, countries and across countries. Companies need help! – “Before we can start using some of the elements of [Big Data], you need to have other things in your own company in place first.” Germany, Consumer Packaged Goods – “… we need a combination of all of the information ... so it's stressed getting all that data. It is a challenge to get all of it, … By far, the trust in getting the data is the biggest thing.” USA, Agricultural Products – “we send the data as it is in English from here to Korea … the translated data is sometimes not perfectly understood by Korean readers. Also, the time difference in these countries is an obstacle.” USA, Automotive Manufacturing 19 of 20
  • 20. Future Work What do you need to know? – Relationship Governance: type, trust, commitment, and opportunism – Knowledge/information sharing and safeguarding – Risk, Privacy and Law – HR and TMTs – Transparency – National Differences/Cultural Differences – Performance: Logistics, ROI, Market, Partner/SCM 19 of 20
  • 21. Thanks for Your Time Big Data in supply chain management should be characterized as relationship-based information that is unique to business because of its volume, velocity, variety, and variability/veracity. Questions? Future Information: Glenn Richey richeyglenn@gmail.com +001 205 310 5973 20 of 20