2023, Vol.37, No.

2, 55-70

Revue Française de Gestion Industrielle

article en open accès sur www.rfgi.fr
ISSN: 0242-9780
eISSN:2804-9284
https://doi.org/10.53102/2023.37.02.953

Digitalization and industry 4.0 within the supply chain: a review of contributions
and barriers
Célestin Elock Son……1, Jean Noel Breka2
1
IUT Moselle-Est, CEREFIGE-Université de Lorraine, France, celestin.elock-son@univ-lorraine.fr
2
IUT Moselle-Est, CEREFIGE-Université de Lorraine, France, jean.breka@univ-lorraine.fr

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze the contributions and barriers of digitalization
and industry 4.0 within supply chain (SC). The paper performs a systematic literature review through the
management research data bases published between the period of 2012 and January 2021. The paper shows
that digitalization and Industry 4.0 improve firm information system, enhance management processes and
insure competitiveness. However, it also found that the stigmas left by previous technologies, the lack of
industry specific guidelines, lack of digital skills and talents, or lack of top management commitment prevent
the adoption of these technologies in the SC. The choice made by limiting analysis on the HCERES journals
restricts the scope and future analysis should enlarge the area.
Keywords : Digitization ; Industry 4.0 ; Supply chain ; Barriers ; Contribution

Digitalisation et industrie 4.0 au sein de la supply chain: contributions et freins

Résumé : L'objectif de cet article est d'identifier et d'analyser les contributions et les obstacles de la
digitalisation et de l'industrie 4.0 au sein de la supply chain (SC). L'article effectue une revue systématique de
la littérature à travers les bases de données de recherche en gestion publiées entre la période de 2012 et
janvier 2021. L'article montre que la digitalisation et l'industrie 4.0 améliorent le système d'information des
entreprises, améliorent les processus de gestion et assurent la compétitivité. Cependant, il a également
constaté que les stigmates laissés par les technologies précédentes, le manque de directives spécifiques à
l'industrie, le manque de compétences et de talents numériques ou le manque d'engagement de la direction
empêchent l'adoption de ces technologies dans la SC. Le choix fait de limiter l'analyse aux revues du HCERES
enrestreint le périmètre et les analyses futures devraient élargir le champ.
Mots clés : Numérisation, Digitalisation ; Industrie 4.0 ; Supply chain ; Obstacles ; Contribution

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Citation: Elock Son C., Breka J.N. (2023). Digitization and industry 4.0 within the supply chain: a review of contributions and
barriers.Revue Française de Gestion Industrielle, 37(2), 55-70. https://doi.org/10.53102/2023.37.02.953
Historique : reçu le 13/01/2022, accepté le 21/09/2023, en ligne le 30/09/2023
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), permitting all non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the
original work is properly cited.
 Digitalization and industry 4.0 within the supply chain: a review of contributions and barriers

There are numerous objectives for digital

1. INTRODUCTION transformation (Kraus et al., 2022). The primary
The Fourth Industrial Revolution, i.e. digitalization aim is to solve challenges concerning efficiency and
(Parviainen et al., 2017) strengthened the firm's effectiveness (Heavin and Power, 2018). Hess et al.
organizational capacities by improving their (2016) state therefore that companies that do not
information systems. This new challenge rapidly develop and implement DT strategies are
reorganizes entire production methods and also unlikely to keep pace and compete in the new
affects supply chain activities (Wu et al., 2016, digital reality. Digitalization transformed the entire
Vetois and Raimbault, 2017). According to industry sector, from small to wide range
Gartner’s glossary, digitalization is the use of digital enterprise. If this is clear for large scale enterprises,
technologies to change a business model and it remains less obvious for SMEs even if many
provide new revenue and value producing authors prove the evidence of their importance.
opportunities. It is the process of moving to a Analyzing how digital technologies facilitate
digital business (Bloomberg, 2018). It is distinct business model innovations in the creative
from digitization which is considered as the industries, Li (2020b) found that its have facilitated
conversion of analogue data into digital form pervasive changes in business models. Kirtley and
(Parviainen et al., 2017). While digitalization is O’Mahony (2020) found that digitalization helps
more about business operations, digital improve SMEs’ performance. While Müller et al.
transformation (DT) initiatives, will typically include (2021) found that digital transformation is changing
several digitalization projects and social SMEs’ traditional business model and customers’
interactions or business models. But the present value creation process, Skare et al. (2023)
research treats digitalization and digital highlighted that digital transformation strengthens
transformation indifferently, as did Parviainen et al. SMEs’ ability and flexibility to address main
(2017). These authors admitted that digital business issues. Previously, Khin and Ho (2019)
transformation affects organisations in four levels: highlighted that, SMEs use digital technologies to
process, organization, business domain, society. produce new digital products and services, expand
The study does not analyse the society level. the consumer base, and improve business
performance. They also take the opportunities of
Digitalization is found to be a prerequisite for easy access of network to connect with suppliers
Industry 4.0. For Couzineau-Zegwaard (2020), the that meet their requirements in rapidly changing
introduction of Industry 4.0 within the markets and supply chains (Kergroach, 2021).
manufacturing has several impacts on the entire
Supply chain (SC). Before this author, Fel et al. The objective of this paper is to analyze, through a
(2019), already highlighted this through their study systematic review of the literature, the
among a panel of SC practitioners. They found that, contributions and reluctance of digitalization in
three quarters of the experts investigated, in their supply chains. It aims globally to define what
study predicted that the firm's SC will be radically Industry 4.0 is, but also analyses different
transformed as a result of the hybridization technologies it abounds. Moreover, it analyses the
between industry and services induced by 4.0 industrial fields in which they are deployed, their
technologies. Hence, even maintenance, contributions for the improvement of industrial
specification or update services will have to fit into and SC practices. Therefore, a systematic review is
the same chain. For Parviainen et al. (2017), with realized on the main databases in management
digitalization, costs can be cut by up to 90 percent science.
and turnaround times improved by several orders The next section presents the methodology of the
of magnitude. Going paperless also improves data literature review. Then, a state of art on
collection and helps manage performance or shed digitalization within industries is presented in
light to cost and risk drivers. section three, as well as the contributions of
digitalization to SC. This section also presents the

56 ©2023, Revue Française de Gestion Industrielle, Vol. 37, N°2

 Elock Son C., Breka J.N.

barriers to the Industry 4.0 implementation within In the fourth step, the authors restricted the search
the SC. The section four suggests some to HCERES papers ranking published both in English
implications. The final section concludes the paper. and French. The final set is covered 207 articles
that appeared appropriate for structuring the
2. METHODOLOGY research on digitalization in the fields of business
and management. The mayor criterion was to be a
This paper is built up on a systematic literature paper that treats the impact of digitalization or the
review from 2012 and 2021. It follows methods use former technologies on the SC.
by several authors in management science and
suitable for our objectives because it is based on The papers considered are those published
two stages: a systematic literature review followed between 2012 and January 2021 as presented in
by a bibliometric analysis. This approach is called the table 2. As the digitalization of industrial
"Systematic Literature Network Analysis (SLNA)" by practices is not a new phenomenon, several
Ben-Daya et al. (2019) or Colicchia and Strozzi publications date from before 2010. In this review,
(2012). The authors found that this method is more the publications prior to this date were ignored
objective and suitable for studying emerging fields because the concept of Industry 4.0 came into
and their trends. being in 2011 (Lasi et al., 2014).
Table 2 : papers per year
The first stage searched for publication titles and
Year Numbre of articles
abstracts for the initial downloading of published 2012 2
research literature between 2012 and 2021. This 2013 0
was made around keywords such as "supply chain 2014 1
digitization", "Supply chain digitalization" "Industry 2015 9
2016 2
4.0", "Block Chain", "Internet of Things", "Cloud 2017 9
computing", "Big data", "Cyberphysical system", "IT 2018 14
in business" in english and french. The initial query 2019 58
2020 103
provided 1704 research papers. In the second step,
2021 9
we restricted the selection to articles published in
the area of business and management as done
Kraus et al. (2022). Then, we selected 778 research The number of published papers around Industry
papers. We screened the titles, keywords, and 4.0 increases year after year. 2020 has the largest
abstracts of the remaining papers to exclude those number of publications. This can be explained by
that were not relevant for achieving the aim of the the growing interest of researchers to the subject.
paper in step three. This step focuses only on For the year 2021, only the published papers of
papers around digitalization within SC by January were included.
associating terms such as "SC performance", "firm
Most of journals considered have significant impact
results", "SC practices", "firm efficiency". Table 1
factor (from 4,8 to 28,8 see table 3 below). After
present overall database analyzed in this paper.
identifying the articles, we profiling them by using
Table 1: number of articles extracted per database database index.
Data base Numbre of articles extracted
Emerald 95 Web of Science and Scopus data bases generate
Science Direct 140 files that contain all information necessary to
Francis & Taylor online 133
automatically conduct the research profiling by
Scorpus 304
Others 11 simply inserting these files into the software. As
the other bases do not provide such information,
All database share 80,42% of their papers with we performed that task manually (de Oliveira et al.,
Scopus database. After removing duplicates, it 2018).
remained 378 papers.

©2023, Revue Française de Gestion Industrielle, Vol. 37, N°2 57

 Digitalization and industry 4.0 within the supply chain: a review of contributions and barriers

Authors then analyzed the abstracts and production Research (23) that’s one of the most
implications of selected papers. Then the entire cited (92%) journal in management with an impact
paper. Likewise, if the main subject, the objectives, factor of 14,6. The Supply chain Management
the methodology but not the main results were not journal is on the third place with 12 papers. Even if
clearly identified, a rigorous analysis of the whole its impact factor (13,4) is high than that of the most
document should be carried out. represented journal in this study. More than 66%
of papers are published in the journals that impact
According to table 3, Production Planning &
factor is equal or high than 10.
Control is the most representative journal of our
review (50 papers) and its impact factor is high The resulting analysis allow the following review.
(11,1). It is followed by International Journal of

Table 3 :impact factor

Review

Number of
SiteScore

2018-21
Citation

% Cited

Papers
International Journal of Information Management 28,8 18463 94 5
Journal of Cleaner Production 15,8 284941 90 5
Jounal of anufacturing systems 15 8211 86 3
International Journal of production Research 14,6 22896 92 23
International Journal of Production Economics 14,3 17448 87 3
Technological Forecasting and Social Change 13,7 25242 85 8
Supply chain Management 13,4 2342 85 12
Journal of Manufacturing and Technology
12,2 3386 89 7
Management
International Journal of Physical Distribution
11,4 1973 87 5
&Logistics Management
Journal of Business Research 11,2 30303 85 7
International Journal of Operations & Production
11,1 3442 88 4
Management
Production Planning & Control 11,1 3856 91 50
Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management 10,4 1441 94 2
The International Journal of Logistics Management 10,1 1989 88 4
Journal of Enterprise Information Management 8,2 1954 91 9
Management Decision 7,9 4740 88 2
International Journal of Logistics Research and
7,7 986 91 2
Applications
Industrial Management & Data Systems 7,2 3018 84 9
Total Quality Management & Business Excellence 7,2 2796 89 3
Business Process Management Journal 6,2 2138 83 7
Technology Analysis & Strategic Management 5,1 2064 82 2
Economics of Innovation and New Technology 4,8 812 84 2
Logistique& Management NA NA NA 5
Supply Chain Forum: An International Journal 4,3 1142 NA 8
Others (only one paper identified/journal) NA NA NA 20
transformation and different methods used by
3. SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW authors within digitalization research.
This section will present the context of research,
3.1 Research context
the research area, barriers for the digital

58 ©2023, Revue Française de Gestion Industrielle, Vol. 37, N°2

 Elock Son C., Breka J.N.

There are numerous objectives for digital 3.2 The area of digitalization
transformation within firms (Kraus et al., 2022).
Digitalization tools are important for managing the
Digital transformation affects organisations in four
SCs and enhancing their performance in this
levels: process, organization, business domain,
dynamic environment (Jabbour et al., 2020; Gupa
society (Parviainen et al., 2017). For these authors,
et al., 2020). The digitalization of SC aims to
with digitalization, costs can be reduced. The
facilitate exchanges between stakeholders. The
introduction of Industry 4.0 within the
review identified 59 articles addressed that (see
manufacturing has several impacts on the entire
figure 2 for illustration).
Supply chain (Couzineau-Zegwaard, 2020). Digital
transformation facilitates business model The researches presented in the figure show that
innovations in industries (Li, 2020b). With its set of digitalization aims to increase productivity,
technologies available, digitalization improves enhance the operations management, increase the
collaboration between supply chain members. The resilience of the SC, facilitate exchanges but also
most relevant technologies within the selected lighten the management of relationships between
customers and suppliers. It participates in the
improvement of quality management practices and
sustainable SC. This observation is also that of Ben-
Daya et al. (2019) who find that the areas covered
by digitalization include visibility of production
units, production planning, production scheduling,
quality inside and beyond the manufacturer unit,
maintenance and connectivity of supply chains. It is
thus implemented in industries as well as in the
agriculture, in the health sectors or in the public
administrations. According to Verhoef et al. (2021),
digital transformation follows three distinct phases:
papers are presented in the figure 1.
digitization, digitalization, and digital
Figure 1 : technologies available transformation.

Papers on Industry 4.0 are the most representative For Daxböck et al. (2019), organizations have
in a set of papers analyzed. Its followed by already started adopting digitalization tools for
digitalization. Big data, Blockchain and IoT apear as revolutionizing their SCs. For these authors, in near
important technologies within SC. It is however future, organizations will not be able to function
difficult to realize a clear split between the above without digital tools. The available applications can
technologies. Individually, the concepts of achieve the strategic objectives decided by the
digitalization and Industry 4.0 are the most managers, and then, based on real-time
developed. If we consider that Industry 4.0 brings information from several Internet sources, can
together Blockchain technologies, the Internet of propose a solution to a problem that may arise
Things (IoT), Cloud, Big Data and Cyber-Physical (Swanson, 2017).
System (CPS), we will have a much higher number
Couzineau-Zegwaard (2020) found that digital
of published papers on the technology. Their
solutions cover a fairly broad spectrum of solutions
number would be higher than that of publications
that improve the company's capabilities. This in
related to IT (digitization) and digitalization which
different ways: predict demand, model and
are prerequisites for the implementation of
simulate its various processes, collaborate within
Industry 4.0. With these available technologies
the company, but also with service providers,
within the industry, it found remain difficult to
suppliers, partners and customers, more, automate
easily identifying their real contributions. The next
industrial and logistical processing as well as
section would help to clarify this issue.

©2023, Revue Française de Gestion Industrielle, Vol. 37, N°2 59

 Digitalization and industry 4.0 within the supply chain: a review of contributions and barriers

processing related to the transmission of provide SMEs the opportunity to reach interesting
marketplaces while expanding their customer
portfolio (Benzidia, 2012). Thus, digital
transformation of SMEs can improves business
results and increases the productivity and output
of the workforce (Hai, 2021).

The line between digitalization and Industry 4.0 is

very thin, but the difference between the two
concepts lies in the fact that digitalization, which
itself preceded by digitization, is a prerequisite for
the adoption of Industry 4.0. Therefore, what will
be the contribution of Industry 4.0. to supply
chain?

Papers published on Industry 4.0 mainly present

administrative or operational information.
the performance resulting from its
Figure 2 : themes addressed within digitalization implementation. Authors demonstrate the ease of
researches operations within the supply chain bringing out by
the technology. They also present some success
The study conducted by Forrester Research (2008)
models within the supply chain. The researchers
on the implementation of digitalization concludes
also identifying the expectations of managers vis-à-
that American industries are reaping the benefits
vis this revolution. The fields of investigation are as
of digitalization, in particular through the reduction
varied as the number of topics covered. Industry,
of cycle time, timely delivery of products to the
health, defence, SMEs, retails, energy or even
customers, achieving higher efficiency and
services, agriculture.
improvement in SC agility (Hennelly et al., 2020,
Gupa et al., 2020). With adoption of digitalization It emerges from the literature that Industry 4.0 is
and IT in supply chain management (SCM), firms defined through several concepts such as Industrial
can improve their performance by developing and Internet, Smart Manufacturing, Smart factory,
storing data regarding customers, suppliers and Factory of the future/Factories of the future,
others stakeholders in the organization (Gupa et Advanced Manufacturing, Intelligent
al., 2020). By virtue of their use potential, Manufacturing, Industry of the future / High value
digitalization tools shorten the distances between manufacturing, Smart Industry/SmartIndustry,
business partners and strengthen the links Manufacturing 4.0, Integrated industry, Digital
between the firms and its customers. Factory, Manufacturing Renaissance, Make in India
(Kagermann et al., 2013; Falet et al. , 2019).
However, this reality still seems misunderstood by
many companies. This is the case of SMEs, for According to Blanchet (2016), Industry 4.0 is not a
example. Taiminen and Karjaluoto (2015) question fad per se. It is a concept that represents the
the understanding of the digitalization challenges adoption by industry of techniques and processes
within SMEs. They wonder if SMEs have enabled by digitalization, cloud computing, the
understood the fundamental change in the nature Internet of Things and big data to gain competitive
of communication brought about by digitalization. advantages in national and worldwide markets
Because according to them, SMEs do not seem to (Reinhardt et al., 2020). Each of these technologies
use the full potential of new digital tools and has numerous advantages which the potential is
therefore do not yet take advantage of their gradually revealed in the literature.
opportunities. However, these technologies

60 ©2023, Revue Française de Gestion Industrielle, Vol. 37, N°2

 Elock Son C., Breka J.N.

Figure 3 : topics developed within Industry 4.0 papers

The Internet of Things is one of the major enablers in improving SC. i.e. improving information
of SC cohesion. Ben-Daya et al. (2017) defined it as transparency, strengthening the integration of
a network of physical objects that are digitally management information systems and improving
connected to sense, monitor and interact within a large data processing abilities.
company and between the company and its supply
chain enabling agility, visibility, tracking and
information sharing to facilitate timely planning,
control and coordination of the supply chain
processes. Some authors like Tu (2018) argues for
the transparency that IoT brings to SCM due to the
global network of physical objects. Mainly devoted
to the SC delivery processes, transformation or
even food SCs, IoT could help manage SC remotely,
provide more precise information and ensure
better coordination between different entities for
effective decisions taken.

IoT improve previous technologies in SC. As

showed Tu et al., its outperforms current barcode-
based system regarding labor cost, efficiency, and
operational adaptiveness. Their potential favour
Figure 4 : topics developed in IoT papers
exchanges between SC members. Thus, Haddud et
The nine articles selected on IoT develop different
al. (2017) confirm the significance impact of IoT
topics: productivity, SC sustainability and
potential benefits to individual organizations and
innovation or servitization. But, by considering that
their entire supply chains. Its contribute to build
some technologies like RFID or more widely IT in
critical success factors for successful SCM. Cui et al.
business, are initial stage of IoT, 27 others papers
(2022) provide most important measures of the IoT

©2023, Revue Française de Gestion Industrielle, Vol. 37, N°2 61

 Digitalization and industry 4.0 within the supply chain: a review of contributions and barriers

must be considered. The figure 4 provides details timely and more efficient business relationships. It
for IoT specific papers. mitigates risks and reduces transaction costs. It
overcomes currency fluctuations and speculation
Analysing the impact of IoT in retail sector, De Vass
between shipper and importers as well as other
et al. (2021) reveal that multiple IoT forms provide
stakeholders. It verifies the origin of a product by
additional capabilities in data auto-capture,
providing information on time, place and
visibility, intelligence, and information sharing for
manufacturers, and offers information on its
greater integration of retail supply chains. That, in
journey from suppliers to consumers (Lesueur-Cazé
turn, enhances supply chain performance in cost,
et al., 2022; Benhayoun et Saikouk, 2022).
quality, delivery, and flexibility dimensions to
Decentralization bringing out by Blockchains
improve firm financial, social, and environmental
promotes security as it makes less likely to crash,
sustainability. From purchasing side, IoT help to
be corrupted or hacked (Benhayoun and Saikouk,
work with dynamic and complex markets. Its also
2022; Tian, 2016). The double spending and
supports the development of a more capable and
double-booking problems can also be easily solved
efficient Purchasing and Supply Management
by the blockchain as there will only be one
organisation (Legenvre et al., 2021).
transaction related to the previous and ongoing
Internet of Things takes supply chain block in the chain that can be approved.
communications to another level: the possibility of
There are other technologies such as Direct Digital
human to things communication and autonomous
Manufacturing (DDM), Cloud, Big Data or Cyber-
coordination among ‘things’ while being stored in a
physical systems and they contribute to improve
facility or being transported between different
products or improve their ability to meet customer
supply chain entities (Ben-Daya et al., 2017). This
demand. For example, in food industry, Ali et al.
technology will allow the reduction in the time
(2021) noted that the main drivers for the adoption
between data capture and decision-making that
of Industry 4.0 technologies are cost optimization,
enables supply chains to react to changes in real
food safety concern, facilitation of regulatory
time allowing levels of agility and responsiveness
compliance and the ability to better match supply
never experienced before (Ben-Daya et al., 2017,
and demand.
Ellis et al., 2015). With these possibilities, IoT
provides more capabilities to react when risks The above figure 5 present topics addressed by
arise. Blockchain technology.

Prim et al. (2021), present the IoT and Big Data as Most of papers deal with BT adoption, its
tools for real-time monitoring of supply chain importance in SC efficiency or SC sustainability in
processes, supporting proactive decision-making, developed and emerging economies. Economies in
reducing operational costs and improving product which there are differences in the variables that
quality. They also claim that a collaborative determine the BTs as well as their stage of diffusion
partnership would reduce the learning curve and (Wamba and Queiroz, 2022).
barriers to adoption, and increase the likelihood of
successful implementation. Blockchain bring more
security to the above collaborative partnership.

Blockchain is considered as a distributed database

of common public/private records or ledgers of all
digital transactions that have been executed and
shared between agents participating in the chain
(Benhayoun et Saikouk, 2022 ;Saberi et al., 2019).
Though Blockchain Technology (BT)–SCM
integration is still in its infancy (Queiroz et al.,
2020), from Swan (2015) perspective, its enables Figure 5 : topics developed in blockchain papers

62 ©2023, Revue Française de Gestion Industrielle, Vol. 37, N°2

 Elock Son C., Breka J.N.

Foremost, while Queiroz et al. (2021) pointed out quality and enhance the overall efficiency of the
that, the most critical constructs that directly affect system. Blockchain improves the efficiency of the
BT adoption in emerging economy are facilitating process: it reduces the number of operations,
conditions, trust, social influence, and effort reduces the average time of orders in the system,
expectancy, Kamble et al. (2019) found that the reduces workload, shows traceability of orders and
technology readiness index constructs-Insecurity improves visibility to various supply chain
and discomfort have an insignificant effect on the participants (Rogerson et Parry, 2020; Martinez et
perceived ease of use and usefulness. For these al., 2019, Wang et al., 2019). Blockchain technology
authors, perceived usefulness, attitude, and (BT) increases the operational transparency of the
perceived behavioural control affect the Supply Chain and the trust that is built between
behavioural intention. They found that, subjective members of the Supply Chain, which improves
norm has a negligible impact on behavioural coordination (Dubey et al., 2020). BT largely
intention. Finally, Wong et al. (2020) revealed that contributes to the improvement of demand
facilitating condition, technology readiness and forecasting in SCs (Benhayoun et Saikouk, 2022).
technology affinity have a positive influence on
For Azzi et al. (2019), the BT is introduced to
intention to use BT in SC and regulatory support
achieve the supply chain’s objectives, by reducing
moderates the effect of Facilitating Condition.
the risk emerging from the tracking system and
While most of papers on BT seek to understand its data management. More, competitive performance
importance in SC, others provide insight for its is directly improved through blockchain adoption
implementation within SC operations as well as in and also indirectly through blockchain-enabled
SC sustainability. For Wang et al. (2019), the value process and relational innovation (Fosso Wamba
of such technologies for supply chain management and Guthrie, 2020). Kayikci et al. (2022) admitted
lies in four areas: extended visibility and that BT resolving major challenges, such as
traceability, supply chain digitalization and traceability, trust, and accountability in the food
disintermediation, improved data security and industry.
smart contracts.
The second group is focus on circular economy.
Widely, blockchain could transform practice, Though BT adoption to boost circular economy has
including enhancing product safety and security, been mostly at the demonstration and piloting
improving quality management, reducing illegal stage (Kouhizadeh et al., 2020; Wang et al., 2019),
counterfeiting, improving sustainable supply chain Nandi et al. (2021) show significant patterns on
management, advancing inventory management adoption levels of the BT-enabled circular economy
and replenishment, reducing the need for system (BCES) and localization, agility and
intermediaries, impacting new product design and digitization (L-A-D) capability development. For
development, and reducing the cost of supply these authors, the greater the BCES adoption
chain transactions (Cole et al., 2019). The above capabilities, the greater the L-A-D capabilities.
efforts are more-oriented toward improving
For example, even Blockchain promotes
operational-level capabilities (information sharing
cooperation between the main players in the
and coordination capabilities) than strategic-level
aviation industry and the air traffic controllers to
capabilities (integration and collaboration
reduce fragmentation, inefficiency, and
capabilities) within SC (Nandi et al., 2020).
uncoordinated operations, or allows information
According to the first group of authors, and data sharing, Di Vaio and Varriale (2020) show
implementing Blockchain helps to fulfilling SC goals that Blockchain it is still not possible to observe a
of performance. Therefore, dealing with high level of sustainable performance.
inefficiency within SC operations Xue et al. (2021)
Authors use different methods to address the
find that blockchain is a helpful tool to realize the
impact of digitalization on SC as presented in the
goal of SC management to reduce cost, improve
section below.

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 Digitalization and industry 4.0 within the supply chain: a review of contributions and barriers

3.3 Methods developed in papers on Chain 4.0 applications, especially when there are
digitilization several stakeholders sharing and processing
sensitive data. Lesueur-Cazé et al. (2022) pointed
These researches are developed within several
out the governance issues as the mayor difficulty in
sectors. The most representative is manufacturing
Blockchain adoption within SC.
industry (fashion, agribusiness, automotive,
energy, …), service industry (transport, logistic, For some authors, the non-adoption of Industry 4.0
tourism retailing, …), Healthcare… isofar attributed to the reluctance of some
stakeholders, or due to the lack of standard
Quantitative methods are the most representative
architecture, to Internet access difficulties,
in research on digitalization over the period studied
contractual problems, confidentiality and security
(36,36%) followed by Qualitative methods
issues and the underdevelopment issue (Chauhan
(35,40%). Conceptual researches represent about
et al., 2021; Kamble et al., 2019). For example, in
24%. This result may explain the maturation path
the electronic marketplace, Benzidia (2014) found
followed by research on digitalization. The table
that, the mayor challenge remains the security and
below provides details of methods used by authors
technological reliability issue for succeed in reverse
in this review.
auction. But there is also the matter of
Table 4 : Methods developed organizational culture, process re-engineering and
Methods Method details Number staff resistance to change that can hinder the
Conceptual Review/conceptual 50 implementation of technology (Derrouiche, 2022).
framework
More, it can be the matter of organizational inertia,
Qualitative Case study 34
methods Delphi 8 financial constraints or lack of resources sharing
Semi structured interview 32 within the food supply chain (Ali et al., 2021).
Quantitative SEM Methods 23
methods Mathematical/simulation 29 For others, factors such as : "no sense of urgency",
Others (Multivariate 24 lack of industry specific guidelines, lack of digital
analysis, regression, …)
skills and talents (Nguyen et al., 2015), lack of an
Mixed methods Interview-survey 9
Total 209 overall digitalization strategy and competing
priorities (Kane et al., 2015), lack of understanding
and lack of top management commitment; lack of
Even if the importance of technology is highlighted support and absence of government policies; and
in the SC, the remain many reasons that prevent poor level of research and development, high
managers to adopt it. Section 3.4 presents some of implementation and running costs; fear of failure;
them. compatibility issues are the main obstacles to the
adoption of Industry 4.0 (Agrawal et al., 2019;
3.4 Barriers to the implementation of
Majumdar et al., 2020). In the SMEs sector,
digitalization
Stentoft et al. (2020) found that it is the lack of
There are numerous barriers on the adoption of managers perception of Industry 4.0, and not their
digitalization and Industry 4.0. This can overall be perception of the high barriers of Industry 4.0, that
attributed to the stigmas left by previous hinders the SME development readiness for
technologies (ERP for example), ignorance or fear technology. Finally, for Haddud et al. (2017), IoT
of the unknown among some managers and their challenges are still perceived as major obstacles to
perceived adoption costs (Papathanasiou et al., their adoption.
2020).
From the above developments, many implications
Lack of transparency in information is one of most can be drawn. Section 4 highlights some.
important barrier. As pointed out Derrouiche
(2022), information integrity, transparency, and
security are necessary requirements for Supply

64 ©2023, Revue Française de Gestion Industrielle, Vol. 37, N°2

 Elock Son C., Breka J.N.

4. IMPLICATIONS ownership of these technologies to improve their

services.
According to Papathanasiou et al. (2020), ERP
transformations have left organisations fatigued
and disinclined towards further systems 5. CONCLUSION
development and resistant to subsequent change. This research aimed to analyze the papers dealing
Yet they are well aware of the positive with the impacts of digitalization and mainly of
contributions of technologies such as blockchain on Industry 4.0, Blockchain and IoT on the supply
business practices. This therefore implies for chain. It emerges that it is a new subject which is
managers to first and foremost carry out a check- arousing more and more the researchers’ interest
up of the company's current technology state in observing the ever-increasing number of
before embarking on a new one that would overlap publications. The impacts observed are numerous
the existing without, however, providing any real and cover a wide spectrum of themes specific to
perceived value. various types of industries and environments.
For Chauhan et al. (2021), intrinsic barriers (vs Some barriers are presented, but also some
extrinsic) are more important and relevant for the implications aimed at drawing attention both to
adoption of Industry 4.0. This assume that if we fail vigilance in choice of technology, but also to the
in specifying the objectives of digitalization and in unavoidable nature of this new industrial
the clarifying process of its potential benefits and revolution for the supply chain.
costs, it will be difficult to remove reluctances and The attempt to splitting the themes or technologies
take advantage of its prowess. Like these authors, analyzed, which is certainly interesting for
and with the accordance of the resource-based understanding the research directions, remains
view theory, we urge managers to take into poorly realistic. For example, it is difficult to be
account the availability of both material and able to clearly distinguish between articles dealing
human resources. They will better do this by with digitalization from those dealing with
preparing the different stakeholders both through Industry 4.0. Future researches must consider this.
training and communication. The choice made on the HCERES journals
In addition, industries in developing economies are repository restricts the scope of the literature
still struggling to embrace Industry 4.0. The actors review analysis initiated. We plan to expand this
are specifically interested in technologies that field in our future research.
allow them to strengthen their productivity in
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 Digitalization and industry 4.0 within the supply chain: a review of contributions and barriers

Journal of Logistics Management, 27(2), 395-417. Jean Noel BREKA is a researcher at CEREFIGE. He is
https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLM-02-2014-0035 a senior lecturer in Management Sciences at the
University of Lorraine at the
7. BIOGRAPHIE Transport and Logistics
Management department of
Célestin ELOCK SON is a
IUT de Moselle-Est. He holds
researcher at CEREFIGE. He
a PhD from the University of
is a senior lecturer in
Paris 1 - Panthéon
Management Sciences at the
Sorbonne. He specializes in
University of Lorraine at the
Operations Management
Transport and Logistics
and Supply Chain. His research focuses on industry
Management department of
4.0, green logistics, CSR, functional economy and
IUT de Moselle-Est. Holder
circular economy
of a PhD from the Université d'Artois, his research
1
focuses on retail logistics. In particular, it analyzes Célestin Elock Son, CERFIGE, Université de Lorraine,
retailers and consumers behaviors, study the risks Celestin.Elock-Son@univ-lorraine.fr,
associated with the distribution of food product. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8147-3509
He is also interested in new distribution methods
2
brought about by the digitization of the supply Jean Noel Breka, Université de Lorraine,
chain. jean.breka@univ-lorraine.fr

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