Operationalizing transparency in supply chains using a systematic literature review and graph theoretic approach

Purpose This study has two major objectives. First, comprehensively review the literature on transparency in supply chain management. Second, based on a critical analysis of literature, identify the attributes and sub-attributes of supply chain transparency and develop a numerical measure to quantify transparency in supply chains. Design/methodology/approach A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted using the PRISMA approach. Utilizing SCOPUS database past eighteen-year papers search resulted in 249 papers to understand major developments in the domain of supply chain transparency. Subsequently, graph theoretic approach is applied to quantify transparency in supply chain and the proposed index is evaluated for case supply chains from pharma and dairy sectors. Findings It can be concluded from SLR that supply chain transparency research has evolved from merely tracking and tracing of the product towards sustainable development of the whole value chain. The research identifies four major attributes and their sub-attributes that influence transparency in supply chains, which are used to develop transparency index. The proposed index for two sectors helps to understand areas that need immediate attention to improve transparency in the case supply chains. Originality/value This paper attempts to understand the development of transparency research in supply chain using the PRISMA approach for SLR. In addition, development of mathematical model to quantify supply chain transparency is a novel attempt that would help benchmark best practices in the industry. Further, transparency index would help to understand specific areas that need attention to improve transparency in supply chains.