Zuopeng (Justin) Zhang, Kangning Zheng, Luis Santamaria. (Sep, 2020) Enterprise Credit Information Sharing
with Blockchain Technology for Supply Chain Finance. Annals of Operations Research Manuscript ID: ANOR-D-20-01255

Credit data barriers, such as incomplete credit records, false credit information, and low security of credit data, exist in the supply chain financial credit system, making it challenging to support the closure of the whole financing chain’s credit system. Emerging blockchain technology can help improve credit reporting ability by taking advantage of its benefits including integrity, decentralization, transparency, security, and reliability. Aiming at addressing the problem of extensive credit investigation data and its privacy protection, this study proposes a blockchain-based model to realize access control and management of the shared data chain by storing transaction information on the chain, storing shared data on the cloud server, and sharing the cloud server’s data with the proxy re-encryption method. The model’s data structure design and workflow are described in detail to facilitate the specific application. The embedded blockchain technology helps build the open shared reference architecture and establish the entire life cycle of a monitoring mechanism to optimize the existing supply chain financial credit system and enhance the efficiency of supply chain financing.

Keywords; Blockchain; Supply chain finance; Credit system; Credit investigation system optimization

David Swanson, Luis Santamaria. (October, 2020) Pandemic Supply Chain Research: A Structured Literature
Review. Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Logistics Manuscript ID: logistics-1042232

In early 2020 COVID-19 infected people throughout the world and brought world commerce to a standstill. Many believe that governments and global businesses were not as prepared as they should have been. While academics have occasionally predicted the economic problems that could result from pandemics, leaders must focus on what is most likely to happen and spending too much time and money on “black swan” events has often been viewed as a waste of time. Thus, there is little research that addresses supply chain management issues during pandemics. Sixty-four percent of all pandemic supply chain research has been published in the first half of 2020. Since the world now finds itself operating supply chains in response to the pandemic, this literature needs to be summarized and articulated for future research. This literature review addresses that need by summarizing the research which has been generated since 1997 focusing primarily on the bulk of research that has been published since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Research tools are used to summarize the literature and the citations. The literature is coded along some important variables to further delineate its details. The findings are that pre-COVID-19 research on pandemic supply chains was primarily about influenza and the healthcare supply chain. Post-COVID-19 research concentrates also on food and agriculture and shows that academics are using a wider variety of research methods including simulation, modeling, and empirical methods. 

Keywords; pandemic; supply chain; literature review; COVID-19, coronavirus, influenza, epidemic

Luis Santamaria. (April, 2021). Multi-Method Assessment of a Firm’s Capabilities; Examining Artificial Intelligence as an Opportunity to Expand Presence in Latin America Manuscript ID: MSLMSCM#041521 Consultant Project – Master Thesis 

There are multiple components such as tools, processes, capabilities, and people supporting the business goals. Therefore, any events linked to that may motive business leaders to consider their strategy, thus its capabilities. However, determining and formulating a firm’s strategy is not a minor concern, nor identifying they have the right business capabilities. Some difficulties lie in understanding the ‘strategy’ concept itself and the business mechanisms to produce the desired outcome. Similarly, the business capabilities concept that often varies, leading to confusion. Through this research, I constructed a multi-method assessment of capabilities that considers a mix of people, processes, resources, technology, and accessibility of its core competencies. Therefore, evaluating such areas utilizing a mixed approach will support them, ensuring they are considered. However, a business also considering expansion into a particular region should examine the implications with the localization. This research evaluates the implications of leveraging artificial intelligence as part of business strategy.  

Keywords; artificial intelligence, business capabilities, multi-method, Latin America, business strategy