Building Transparency in Supply Chains Using a Layered Approach

The research project is at the cutting edge of innovative supply chain research and data analytics and represents a novel and appealing approach to understanding how supply chain networks evolve over time. By developing the layered mappings, researchers can simultaneously gain insight into the financial, geographical and structural layers of supply chains and use the maps to identify weaknesses and strengths in the overall topology. This is of particular interest in a post COVID-19 world, when disruptions to the supply chain have resulted in noticeable collapse. The visual appeal is particularly compelling and when tied to quantitative metrics, this study is of broad interest to the research community.

Authors:  Penina Orenstein and Petar Mikevski, Seton Hall University

About the Authors

Dr. Penina Orenstein is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computing and Decision Sciences at Seton Hall’s Stillman School of Business, and the Academic Director for the Master’s Program in Business Analytics. Dr Orenstein teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses, Quantitative Methods for Business, Management Science and Supply Chain Management.

Dr. Orenstein has introduced an undergraduate certificate in Supply Chain Management and has been responsible for the creation and deployment of a new concentration in Supply Chain Management at the MBA level. Her research focus is on the topological structure of supply networks. Her research has appeared in the Journal of Networks and Spatial Economics and in the Journal of Information Systems and Operations Research (INFOR).

In 2016, Dr. Orenstein’s research idea on the topological structure of supply networks attracted international attention by winning the 2016 Best Paper Award at SCMA 2016. In 2018, she won the University Research Council award for her work on digital mapping of supply chain networks. In 2021 she was awarded the University’s Opportunity Meets Innovation Challenge Grant Award for a joint research project on the impact of COVID-19 on the financial performance of supply chain networks.

Petar Micevski, PhD Student at Seton Hall, is set to graduate in May of 2022. Currently working in tandem with a professor to help visualize the network of a supply chain to leverage his data visualization skills to locate key suppliers within the network. Micevski has joined multiple tables in providing financial, geographic, and structural metrics to the supply chain network.