Strategizing sustainability in e-commerce channels for additive manufacturing using value-focused thinking and fuzzy cognitive maps
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-03-2017-0122 |
| Pages | 390-411 |
| Published date | 12 March 2018 |
| Date | 12 March 2018 |
| Author | Shekhar Shukla,B.K. Mohanty,Ashwani Kumar |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information systems,Data management systems,Knowledge management,Knowledge sharing,Management science & operations,Supply chain management,Supply chain information systems,Logistics,Quality management/systems |
Strategizing sustainability in
e-commerce channels for
additive manufacturing using
value-focused thinking and
fuzzy cognitive maps
Shekhar Shukla and B.K. Mohanty
Decision Sciences Area, Indian Institute of Management Lucknow,
Lucknow, India, and
Ashwani Kumar
Information Technology and Systems Area,
Indian Institute of Management Lucknow, Lucknow, India
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to highlight an innovative approach to explore and evaluate the
sustainability perspectives in e-commerce channels for additive manufacturing (AM). This approach helps
the stakeholders to perform strategic planning dependent on a scenario-based analysis.
Design/methodology/approach –The paper structures the problem of understanding the sustainability
perspectives of e-commerce channels for AM using value-focused thinking to identify the related fundamental
objectives. These objectives assist in creating dynamic scenarios based on fuzzy cognitive maps of different
e-commerce channels for AM.
Findings –To evaluate the proposed research methodology, four scenarios were developed for each
e-commerce channel for AM. The exploration and evaluation of one of these scenarios assisted in explaining
the whereabouts of the process to aid in strategizing decision situations and understanding these channels
better from the sustainability perspective.
Practical implications –The approach presented in this paper can be used by the practitioners to perform
strategic planning for prioritizing sustainability in e-commerce channels for AM; considering the
consequences and trade-offs wrt the other factors. Moreover, the scenario-based analysis can be performed
depending on the problem requirements of the stakeholder.
Originality/value –The paper addresses the gap of understanding the theoretical aspect of the
sustainability perspective in e-commerce channels for AM and the practical aspect of exploring and
evaluating them. A scenario-based analysis for each e-commerce channel based on the fundamental objectives
of sustainability provides insights for implementation and directions for future research.
Keywords Sustainability, Fuzzy cognitive maps, Strategic planning, Additive manufacturing,
E-commerce, Value-focused thinking
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Additive manufacturing (AM) is an alternative name for various other terminologies like 3D
printing, digital manufacturing, rapid prototyping, rapid tooling and rapid manufacturing.
AASTM International (2012) defines AM as “process of joining materials to make objects
from 3D model data, usually layer upon layer, as opposed to subtractive manufacturing
methodologies, such as traditional machining.”AM overcomes the intermediate needs of
Industrial Management & Data
Systems
Vol. 118 No. 2, 2018
pp. 390-411
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0263-5577
DOI 10.1108/IMDS-03-2017-0122
Received 31 March 2017
Revised 14 July 2017
Accepted 25 July 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0263-5577.htm
The authors acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions
which improved the quality of the paper. The authors also thank the team of www.mentalmodeler.org
for making the mental modeler software freely available (the software has been used for executing the
FCM in the paper).
390
IMDS
118,2
tooling to manufacture a product as it can directly fabricate a product from its 3D design
using the 3D printers. Different technologies have evolved over time in AM. Some of the
prominent ones are fused depositional modeling, 3D printing and stereolithography (STL),
etc. which have both commonalities and differences between them (Kulkarni et al., 2000).
AM is also identified as a source of competitive and strategic advantage for firms as it
provides a platform for the collaborative designing and production of items between
stakeholders and organizations (Berger et al., 2005; Chen and Tseng, 2007). Outsourcing
(Lan et al., 2005) to overcome ownership charges of 3D printers and optimizing the
transportation cost with geographical distribution (Bateman and Cheng, 2002) are other
benefits that can be attained through AM for organizations. AM is also envisioned to
stimulate the knowledge-based economy by translating “data into things”and “things into
data”(Gershenfeld, 2012).
E-commerce is one such business that has the humungous potential of growth through
the incorporation of the AM techniques. Some past research studies suggest that the
integration of e-commerce with AM (achieved through information transfer of design files)
help in product realizations and thus facilitates customization based on the collaboration of
stakeholders and e-commerce organizations (Lan, 2009; Tay et al., 2001). For the different
situations of decision making ranging from procurement, supply chain, supplier selection,
customization, distribution and pricing, information systems, etc., e-commerce plays an
impactful role (Swaminathan and Tayur, 2003). E-commerce channels of business seemingly
offer smooth transactions between the buyers and sellers overcoming cost burdens of
co-ordination but the extent of the effect of this situation on the supply chain is questionable
(Wigand, 1997; Wind, 2001). AM coming into picture further prompts one to question these
e-commerce channels wrt their impact on organizations. Eyers and Potter (2015) performed
an in-depth literature review to develop and propose four e-commerce channels for AM
which were analyzed using a case study approach. They identified the impacts of these
channels on the supply chain, cost reduction and efficiency of production to suggest the
effects concerning these channels.
AM is expected to have a global market size of 230-550 billion US dollars with the main
markets in consumer products, healthcare products, tools, molds and transportation
(McKinsey Global Institute, 2013). However, the research also presents a strong stimulus of
AM for sustainability at global levels. A comprehensive model for qualitative assessment of
AM-driven sustainability parameters and a quantitative assessment of energy-, cost- and
emission-based analysis by 2025 presented by Gebler et al. (2014) confirms the importance of
the role that AM might play for sustainability at the global level. This model’s assessment is
based on three dimensions of sustainability, namely: social, economic and environmental
given by Butlin (1989) and results show a positive flavor for AM in global sustainability
with certain constraints and conditions.
The AM-based past research work covers its expected role in flourishing organizations
and providing sustainability at the global level. However, the sustainability perspectives in
e-commerce channels for AM is a relatively unexplored arena, with the presence of some
theoretical works surrounding it as discussed above. Thus, the strategic planning for these
e-commerce channels using a scenario-based analysis to understand the sustainability
perspectives has been explored in this paper.
It is very important to address the issue of structuring the problem well before we dive
into the analysis, results and conclusions of the process. We use the value-focused thinking
(VFT) for structuring the problem (Keeney and McDaniels, 1992) for exploring and
evaluating the sustainability perspectives in e-commerce for AM. We identify the
fundamental objectives of sustainability using VFT by a clear structure of the means-end
objectives. These fundamental objectives lead us to strategic objectives and strategic goals.
In this case, the prioritization of sustainability perspectives in e-commerce channels for AM
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VFT and FCM
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