اثر کلان داده و قابلیت آنالیز پیش بینی در پایداری زنجیره تامین Impact of big data & predictive analytics capability on supply chain sustainability

1. Introduction In the recent years, big data analytics has been considered as the next big thing for organizations to gain competitive advantage (Wamba et al. 2015; Akter et al. 2016). With the increasing digitalization of every aspect of business and government, large datasets are available for analysis. Big data has been defined primarily with 5 Vs: volume, variety, velocity, veracity and value (Wamba et al. 2015). Big data analytics is a field which consists of big data, analytical tools and techniques to derive actionable insights from the big data for delivering sustainable value, improving business performance and providing competitive advantage (Wamba et al., 2017). Predictive analytics is defined as the process of discovering meaningful patterns of data using pattern recognition techniques, statistics, machine learning, artificial intelligence and data mining (Abbott, 2014). Big data and predictive analytics (BDPA) is an emerging field which uses various statistical techniques and computer algorithms to derive insights, patterns from large datasets. Analytics is considered as the next big frontier of innovation, competition, and productivity (Manyika et al., 2011, p.1). While next generation information technology techniques (such as smart phones, digital devices, scanning devices, cloud computing, internet of things etc.) help in improving productivity, these generate variety of large datasets which help in building analytics capabilities for the firms. Business firm’s primary goal is to make profits for long term economic sustainability. With globalization, improved communication and arrival of social media, firms are competing as never. Despite, the challenging business environment, going forward keeping profit alone as a goal may not be sustainable considering long term impact of commercial activities on environment and society. Thus, in addition to profit maximization, social and environmental sustainability goals are necessary for businesses as per (Elkington, 1994). Environmental Sustainability has gained significant attention in recent years due to growing concern for environment. Extreme weather, rising temperature, scarcity of natural resources – all these call for a different strategy towards environment (Winston, 2014). To preserve natural resources for future generations, sustainability needs to be considered in every aspect of business, supply chains and executive decision making.