The digitalization of the Supply Chain

Abstract

Digital transformation is one of the most important and complex issues that company management is facing nowadays. It is considered as the fourth phase of a long and ongoing journey started in 1700 that has allowed the development of the current business environment. it is characterized by the deployment of brand new and advanced technologies, such as robotics, Additive Manufacturing, Cloud Computing, Internet of Things and Big Data into business processes. This thesis investigates how the phenomenon of digitalization has been applied to supply chains and how the introduction of 4.0 technologies have influenced both comapnies’ internal structures and processes and other economic actors, such as consumers and workers. Digital technologies in fact ensure the creation of strong collaborative relationships among all members of the supply chain, whose operations become always more and more integrated with each other. The effects that digitalization has are positive for companies, workers, consumers and global value chains in general, because they guarantee higher productivity and quality of products and services offered. This helps them to be able to better satisfy client’s expectations by outperforming competitors and therefore build solid loyal costumer realtionships. However as every kind of transformation it does not come without costs. Its disruptive pace is forcing companies to rapidly model and reprogramm their structures and processes in order to be able not to be left behind by competitors and taking the risk of being excluded by the market. Moreover this urgency may expose firms to the complex problem of cybersecurity, that has been emerging simoultaneously with the kick off of this digital transition. The great reliance on digital platforms has displayed companies to various risks related to the security of information shared and uploaded and the protection of sensitive data about employees, suppliers, clients and production processes and techniques. It is therefore important that companies create a safety net in which they are free to carry out their transformation toward a fully digitalized supply chain in order to ensure that benefits for all its members will outweigh challenges, guaranteeing better performances, higher profitability and market share.