Supply chain management 1982-2015: a review

Organizations need to better design, manage and improve their supply chains as these become global and more complex. To do this, they need to learn from other organizations and sectors, preempt problems before they occur, and understand the future challenges they may face. Although over 40,000 articles and books have been published on supply chain management since the term was coined in 1982, a clear understanding of the emerging trends, current knowledge gaps and potential areas for future development is only now emerging. Our bibliometric analysis of the existing literature suggests we still need to better understand how to manage security, insourcing, sustainability, competition, risk and disruption, and human behaviour within supply chains. Equally, there is still a lack of research within healthcare, disaster and humanitarian supply chains, as well as within small and medium enterprises.