Purpose: This study presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of the interdisciplinary literature on drones in last-mile delivery (LMD) to extrapolate pertinent insights from and into the logistics management field. Design/methodology/approach: Rooting their analytical categories in the LMD literature, the authors performed a deductive, theory refinement SLR on 307 interdisciplinary journal articles published during 2015–2022 to integrate this emergent phenomenon into the field. Findings: The authors derived the potentials, challenges and solutions of drone deliveries in relation to 12 LMD criteria dispersed across four stakeholder groups: senders, receivers, regulators and societies. Relationships between these criteria were also identified. Research limitations/implications: This review contributes to logistics management by offering a current, nuanced and multifaceted discussion of drones' potential to improve the LMD process together with the challenges and solutions involved. Practical implications: The authors provide logistics managers with a holistic roadmap to help them make informed decisions about adopting drones in their delivery systems. Regulators and society members also gain insights into the prospects, requirements and repercussions of drone deliveries. Originality/value: This is one of the first SLRs on drone applications in LMD from a logistics management perspective.

Purpose: The circular economy (CE) approach has been acknowledged as key for manufacturing organizations wishing to overcome sustainability challenges. However, the transition has been slow. Stakeholder engagement is a driver of the transition, but there is limited knowledge on stakeholder engagement practices in a CE context. The purpose of this paper is thus to explore with whom, on what and how organizations engage with stakeholders to implement CE as part of sustainability efforts.Design/methodology/approach: This study is situated at the intersection of CE, stakeholder theory and supply chain literature. A case study with three Swedish manufacturing organizations was conducted to explore stakeholder engagement practices that facilitate the implementation of CE in organizational practice and the supply chain, considering conceptual differences between stakeholder engagement for sustainability and CE.Findings: This study provides empirical evidence on how manufacturing organizations engage stakeholders to implement CE as part of organizations' sustainability efforts. The study highlights that manufacturing organizations have to move not only from linear to circular resource flows, but also from linear to circular stakeholder engagement. Such engagement can be achieved by extending with whom, expanding on what and leveling up how stakeholders are engaged.Originality/value: This study provides an enhanced conceptual understanding of stakeholder engagement in the CE context and discusses differences regarding stakeholder engagement based on linear thinking. The study emphasizes the role of circular stakeholder engagement practices for the transition toward CE in manufacturing organizations.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate models and methods for managing supply chain risks and delays in construction projects. Design/methodology/approach: The study mainly employs quantitative analysis in order to identify disruptions in construction supply chains. It also uses paradigms of simulation modeling, which are suitable for risk assessment and management. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected through a literature review and details of specific construction projects, respectively. A dynamic modeling method was used, and the model was provided with an event-based simulation. Simulation modeling was used to measure the performance of the system. Findings: The study shows the benefits of applying the dynamic modeling method to a construction project. Using event-based simulation, it was found that construction delays influence both the magnitude and the probability of disruption. This method contributes to the existing theoretical foundations of risk management practices, since it also considers the time factor. This method supplements the Monte Carlo statistical simulation method, which has no time representation. Using empirical analysis, the study proposes increasing the safety stock of construction materials at the distribution center, so as to mitigate risks in the construction supply chain. Research limitations/implications: The research considers a single case of a hypothetical construction project. The simulation models represent a simple supply chain with only one supplier. The calculations are based on the current economic scenario, which will of course change over time. Practical implications: The outcomes of the study show that the introduction of a safety stock of construction materials at the distribution center can prevent supply chain disruption. Since the consideration of risks at all stages of construction supply chain is essential to investors, entrepreneurs and regulatory bodies, the adoption of new approaches for their management during strategic planning of the investment projects is essential. Originality/value: This dynamic modeling method is used in combination with the Monte Carlo simulation, thus, providing an explicit cause-and-effect dependency over time, as well as a distributed value of outcomes.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate critical success factors (CSFs) for the implementation of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system from a user perspective. Design/methodology/approach: The research was conducted in two successive steps. First, a literature review was conducted to derive CSFs for ERP system implementation. Second, a survey was conducted to evaluate the importance of these CSFs from a user perspective. Data were collected through a questionnaire that was distributed within a German manufacturer and was developed based on the CSFs found in the literature. Gray relational analysis (GRA) was used to rank the CSFs in order of importance from a user perspective. Findings: The findings reveal that users regard 11 of the 13 CSFs found in the literature as important for ERP system implementation. Seven of the CFSs were classified as the most important from a user perspective, namely, project team, technical possibilities, strategic decision-making, training and education, minimum customization, software testing and performance measurement. Users regarded 2 of the 13 CSFs as not important when implementing an ERP system, including organizational change management and top management involvement. Research limitations/implications: One limitation of this study is that the respondents originate from one organization, industry and country. The findings may differ in other contexts, and thus, future research should be expanded to include more organizations, industries and countries. Another limitation is that this study only evaluates existing CSFs from a user perspective rather than identifying new ones and/or the underlying reasons using more qualitative research. Practical implications: A better understanding of the user perspective toward CSFs for ERP system implementation promises to contribute to the design of more effective ERP systems, a more successful implementation and a more effective operation. When trying to successfully implement an ERP system, the project team may use the insights from the user perspective. Originality/value: Even though researchers highlight the important role users play during ERP system implementation, their perspective toward the widely discussed CSFs for ERP system implementation has not been investigated comprehensively. This study aims to fill this gap by evaluating CSFs derived from the literature from a user perspective.

Transportation disruptions can be damaging to a supply chain because goods may not arrive on time and this jeopardises the service level to the customers. While supply chain disruptions have gained significant attention from scholars, little has been done to explore these disruptions in the context of transportation. The study described in this paper aims to address disruptions occurring in the transportation of goods from a plant to a distribution centre. We modelled this real case to obtain insights on the effectiveness of different strategies to mitigate transportation disruptions. We evaluated four mitigation strategies and compared the outcomes in terms of service level and total costs: (1) the risk acceptance strategy, (2) the redundant stock strategy, (3) the flexible route strategy, and (4) the redundant-flexibility strategy. The results suggest that the best strategy differs depending on the budget that managers are willing to deploy to improve the service level. The simulation experiments and the use of the Incremental Cost Effectiveness Ratio (ICER) would be instrumental in helping decision makers in selecting the best disruption mitigation strategies where the best option would likely be different under varying circumstances.