Supply chain digitalization: value creation or value destruction? A systematic literature review

Abstract

Supply chain digitalization is often portrayed as an almost automatic source of value creation. Recent reviews approach it through performance or platforms, without jointly articulating value creation, capture and destruction. To address this gap, we examine under which conditions supply chain digitalization creates, redistributes or destroys value. Drawing on the PRISMA 2020 guidelines, the main search, run in ScienceDirect over the 2015-2026 period, identified 104 records; 53 articles were retained and complemented by 7 articles from complementary exploratory searches with partial traceability, giving a corpus of 60 English-language articles published between 2018 and 2026. Value orientation was coded using an explicit codebook, from abstracts for 53 articles and from full texts for the other 7. In the corpus, 65% of the articles consider value creation only, 28% report ambivalent effects and 7% focus on negative effects; this imbalance partly depends on the search string and on abstract-based coding. The thematic analysis identifies four value-creating mechanisms (integration and visibility, co-creation within platforms, sustainable value, resilience) and four mechanisms of value destruction or redistribution (power asymmetries, non-linear effects, disruption of incumbents, social costs), whose empirical support is uneven. The article proposes a typology crossing levels of analysis and types of effects, a conceptual model, testable propositions and a research agenda for emerging economies, particularly in the Maghreb.

Classification JEL : M11, M15, O33, L91.

Paper type: Theoretical research (systematic literature review).