The Interface between Sustainable Supply Chain Management (SSCM) and Smart City

Dear Colleagues,

A smart city is an application of big data analytics (BDA) and Internet of things (IoT) that is designed for optimum usage of space and resources and better distribution of benefits. Smart cities are “seeking to address public issues via information and communication technology (ICT) based solutions on the basis of a multi-stakeholder, municipally based partnership” (Manville et al., 2014, p 9).  A smart city has three core components, which are institutions, people and technology (Nam and Pardo, 2011, Xie et al., 2019). Considering that sustainability is an important characteristic of a smart city (Silva et al., 2018), common objectives between smart cities and sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) become more prominent. There are studies highlighting smart city constraints and opportunities for supply chain management. Despite the fact that the success of any initiatives on sustainable SCM depends on how effectively and closely the supply chain managers work with city managers (Mehmood et al., 2017), the dynamics between sustainable SCM and smart cities have not been fully explored. This Special Issue aims to broaden the discussion on the interrelationships between sustainable supply chain management and smart cities and invites articles on the following areas:

-    The reciprocal relationships between SSCM and smart cities;

-    Sustainable SCM opportunities in smart cities;

-    Overlapping strategies applicable in SSCM opportunities in smart cities;

-    Literature review on the linkages between SSCM and any components of smart cities;

-    Any other topics that link smart city to the domain of sustainable supply chain management.

All research methods are accepted as long as it is able to address the aforementioned research areas

Suggested references

Öberg, Christina, and Gary Graham. "How smart cities will change supply chain management: a technical viewpoint." Production Planning & Control 27.6 (2016): 529-538.

Ahvenniemi, H., Huovila, A., Pinto-Seppä, I. and Airaksinen, M., (2017). What are the differences between sustainable and smart cities? Cities, 60 234-245

Ahmad, N. and Mehmood, R., (2015). Enterprise systems: are we ready for future sustainable cities. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal,

Graham, Gary, et al. "How “smart cities” will change supply chain management." Supply Chain Management: An International Journal (2015).

Manville, C., Cochrane, G., Cave, J., Millard, J., Pederson, J. K., Thaarup, R. K., Liebe, A., Wissner, M., Massink, R. & Kotterink, B., 2014. Mapping smart cities in the EU.

Mehmood, R., Meriton, R., Graham, G., Hennelly, P. & Kumar, M., 2017. Exploring the influence of big data on city transport operations: a Markovian approach. International Journal of Operations & Production Management.

Nam, T. & Pardo, T. A. Conceptualizing smart city with dimensions of technology, people, and institutions.  Proceedings of the 12th annual international digital government research conference: digital government innovation in challenging times, 2011. 282-291.

Silva, B. N., Khan, M. & Han, K., 2018. Towards sustainable smart cities: A review of trends, architectures, components, and open challenges in smart cities. Sustainable Cities and Society 38, 697-713.

Xie, J., Tang, H., Huang, T., Yu, F. R., Xie, R., Liu, J. & Liu, Y., 2019. A survey of blockchain technology applied to smart cities: Research issues and challenges. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials 21, 2794-2830.

Dr. Ahmad Abareshi
Guest Editor

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• Sustainable Supply Chain Management
• smart city
• Big Data Analytics
• Internet of Things (IoTs)