Logistics and service operations under disruptions : recent development under the DT taxonomy

Abstract

In the past five years, the logistics and service sectors struggled for disruptions in multiple dimensions, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic. Lockdown, travel restriction, geopolitical tension, extreme weather, and the trade war imposed critical challenges to operations. The resulting disruptions impacted both the upstream (e.g., production and supply) and the downstream (e.g., final-mile delivery and customer service) throughout the industries negatively. It is thus meaningful to identify critical operational problems arising from these disruptions and to derive insights on how to hedge against their adverse impacts. This article provides a focused review of the latest literature on logistics and service operations under disruptions. We identify the primary sources of recent disruptions and classify their effects on operational uncertainties. Then, we demonstrate how classic operational problems (e.g., vehicle routing and inventory management) are developed to adapt to disruptions, as well as some emerging issues (e.g., network design under tariff uncertainty). According to application contexts, we review several representative methodologies (e.g., stochastic programming, robust optimization, game theory, and machine learning), which are widely applied in modeling and solving these problems. Last, we conclude this review by summarizing our findings and proposing a three-fold research agenda to inspire future studies on this vital topic.