Distribution Characteristics and Influencing Factors of Supply Chain Innovation Firms: A Case Study of Zhejiang Province
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Review of: Distribution characteristics and influencing factors of supply 2 chain innovation firms: A case study of ZheJiang Province
Overview: this paper studies the factors related to the distribution of supply chain innovation enterprises. The present study was based on the pilot list of the first and second batch of supply chain innovation enterprises in Zhejiang Province. Numerical results are presented to show the distribution characteristics and influencing factors of supply chain innovation enterprises in Zhejiang Province.
Recommendation: My suggestion is << Major amendments required >>. Indeed, there are some points to consider:
- The abstract should mainly introduce your works and conclusions about this manuscript. The research status should briefly introduce in the abstract.
- The paper contribution seems not clear and strong. Please explain the paper contribution by explaining, “How the proposed contribution can fill the gap in the literature?”
- Please put the introduction in a section (before the literature review): 1-introduction and then, 2- literature review
- In the literature review or the introduction, the supply chain issue should be briefly presented and then gradually they tackle the supply chain innovation issue. To justify these issues; literature review should be improved by searching latest works such as:
Aloui, A., Hamani, N., & Delahoche, L. (2021). Designing a Resilient and Sustainable Logistics Network under Epidemic Disruptions and Demand Uncertainty. Sustainability, 13(24), 14053.
Turki, S., Sauvey, C., & Rezg, N. (2018). Modelling and optimization of a manufacturing/remanufacturing system with storage facility under carbon cap and trade policy. Journal of Cleaner Production.
- All variables should be mentioned in a table to the beginning of the section: Data sources and research methods
- The model should be explained with more details. Indeed, the model is quickly introduced without detailed explanation.
- The obtained results are interesting. However, the authors should be presenting the usefulness of these results in practice with the point of view of sustainability.
- Please make sure your conclusions' section underscore the scientific value added of your paper, and/or the applicability of your findings/results. Basically, you should enhance your findings, limitations, underscore the scientific value added of your paper, and/or the applicability of your contributions/shortages and future study in this session.
- English language and style are fine/minor spell check required.
Author Response
Point 1:The abstract should mainly introduce your works and conclusions about this manuscript.The research status should briefly introduce in the abstract.
Response 1:Thank you very much for your suggestion.
Authors have expanded the article content and the conclusion about this manuscript,briefly introduced the research background,and deleted the redundant about the text content.The modification has been marked in red in the artical, and the details are in the abstract.
Point 2:The paper contribution seems not clear and strong. Please explain the paper contribution by explaining, “How the proposed contribution can fill the gap in the literature?”
Response 2:Thank you very much for your suggestion.
The authors have highlighted the contribution of the article,it has been revised again.The paper’s contribution is visualizing the distribution of enterprises to obtain the distribution structure and mode characteristics of enterprises,so as to provide practical improvement policies and guidance for relevant departments.
The part on how to fill the blank field has marked in red in the article, and the position is at end of the introduction.
Point 3:Please put the introduction in a section (before the literature review): 1-introduction and then, 2- literature review
Response 3:Thank you very much for your suggestion.
Authors have listed the introduction part as a separate part(before the literature review).The specific modifications have been marked in red in the artical, and the position is under the keywords,before the literature review.
Point 4:In the literature review or the introduction, the supply chain issue should be briefly presented and then gradually they tackle the supply chain innovation issue. To justify these issues; literature review should be improved by searching latest works such as:
Aloui, A., Hamani, N., & Delahoche, L. (2021). Designing a Resilient and Sustainable Logistics Network under Epidemic Disruptions and Demand Uncertainty. Sustainability, 13(24), 14053.
Turki, S., Sauvey, C., & Rezg, N. (2018). Modelling and optimization of a manufacturing/remanufacturing system with storage facility under carbon cap and trade policy. Journal of Cleaner Production.
Response 4:Thank you very much for your suggestions.
Authors have made modifications to your suggestions.Authors have briefly introduced the issue of supply chain , listed the solutions also cited the documents you mentioned.Authors think these documents are very targeted and suitable for this article. A sustainable global supply chain is an essential requirement in the context of the epidemic.
The specific modification has been marked in red in the introduction, and the position is at the middle of the introduction.
Point 5:All variables should be mentioned in a table to the beginning of the section: Data sources and research methods
Response 5:Thank you very much for your suggestion.
All data variables and sources have been marked at the beginning of the chart,and the research methods have also been introduced.
The specific modification position is in table 1,the table variables in this article are based on table 1,the data sources are from the statistical yearbook of Zhejiang Province.
Point 6:The model should be explained with more details. Indeed, the model is quickly introduced without detailed explanation.
Response 6:Thank you very much for your suggestion.
Authors added more introduction to the details of the model.Moran index and nearest neighbor index are introduced in more detail, which enriches the content of formula and theory.
The specific modification position is in research methods,which are marked in red.
Point 7:The obtained results are interesting. However, Authors should be presenting the usefulness of these results in practice with the point of view of sustainability.
Response 7:Thank you very much for your suggestion.
Author have presented the usefulness of these results in practice with the point of view of sustainability.By visualizing the pattern distribution of supply chain innovation enterprises on the map and the relationship between relevant factors,it could be better for authors to explore the internal relationship and external influence relationship of enterprises.According to the analysis results and conclusions, this paper puts forward good countermeasures for the development of enterprises, realizes the sustainable development of supply chain innovation enterprises,helps enterprises improve their competitiveness in the market and integrate into the industry environment.
The modification position is in table 1.
Point 8:Please make sure your conclusions' section underscore the scientific value added of your paper, and/or the applicability of your findings/results. Basically, you should enhance your findings,limitations,underscore the scientific value added of your paper,and/or the applicability of your contributions/shortages and future study in this session.
Response 8:Thank you very much for your suggestion.
Authors have strengthened the contribution and limitations in the article.The limitations of the article are as follows.
Firstly,the enterprise data from 2017 to 2019 are adopted, and the time span is small,so there may be a problem of generalizing.
Secondly,relevant government departments have evaluated the first and second batch of pilot enterprises in Zhejiang Province and divided them into four levels,but the enterprise distribution pattern after division is not reflected in this study,which will affect the enterprise distribution pattern to a certain extent.
Thirdly,the scope of writing is limited to Zhejiang Province.
The specific modification position about contribution is at the end of the literature review,and the limitations is at the end of the conclusions,which are marked in red.
Point 9:English language and style are fine/minor spell check required.
Response 9:Thank you very much for your suggestion. Authors have revised all of them.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Autorzy podjęli się badań nad innowacjami w łańcuchu dostaw, integrując działania jego poszczególnych członków, tj. dostawców, producentów, detalistów i klientów. Przebadano 187 innowacyjnych firm łańcucha dostaw zlokalizowanych w prowincji Zhejiang. Analizy oparto na danych z lat 2017-2019. Wykorzystano ciekawe źródła danych i metody badawcze, takie jak system ArcMap, indeks Morana, indeks najbliższego sąsiada, estymację gęstości punktów oraz elipsy odchyleń standardowych. Nie mam uwag do metodologii badań, jest prawidłowa. Również przegląd literatury jest poprawny, ciekawy i pokazuje wiedzę autorów w zakresie problematyki.
W wyniku przeprowadzonych badań autorzy doszli do wniosku, że innowacyjne przedsiębiorstwa nie rozkładają się równomiernie w województwach (w przedziale dużych miast od 7 do 44 takich przedsiębiorstw). Stwierdzają, że wynika to z poziomu rozwoju gospodarczego, polityki regionalnej, struktury przemysłu, stanu infrastruktury drogowej itp. Wskazują, że w skali całego województwa innowacyjnych przedsiębiorstw w łańcuchach dostaw jest dość dużo. , gorzej wygląda na poziomie lokalnym. Autorzy zwracają uwagę, że w celu poprawy innowacyjności przedsiębiorstw łańcucha dostaw należy szukać wspólnej płaszczyzny, wzmacniać mocne i eliminować słabości, zwiększać specjalizację kluczowych przedsiębiorstw, poprawiać konkurencyjność rynkową przedsiębiorstw oraz wykorzystywać platformy internetowe i chmury.
Uwaga merytoryczna: proponuję wyraźniej podkreślić cel badań, obecnie nie jest to bardzo jasne, pojawia się raczej w informacji o tym, co będzie badane, niż jaki był cel konkretnego badania.
Ogólnie mogę powiedzieć, że badanie jest ciekawe, poprawne metodycznie i merytorycznie, z właściwymi wnioskami. Opowiadam się za zakwalifikowaniem go do publikacji w czasopiśmie Sustainability.
Author Response
Point 1:I propose to emphasize the purpose of the research more clearly, at present it is not very clear, it appears rather in the information about what will be tested than what was the purpose of a specific research.
Response 1:Thank you very much for your suggestion.
The purpose of the research is to visualize the pattern distribution of supply chain innovation enterprises on the map and the relationship between relevant factors,it could be better for the authors to explore the internal relationship and external influence relationship of enterprises. According to the analysis results and conclusions, this paper puts forward good countermeasures for the development of enterprises, realizes the sustainable development of supply chain innovation enterprises, helps enterprises improve their competitiveness in the market and integrate into the industry environment.
The authors have illustrated the research purpose at the latter part of the literature review,which makes it more clearly.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
The article Distribution characteristics and influencing factors of supply chain innovation firms: A case study of ZheJiang Province is an interesting one. The article covers a wide set of disciplines. The following comments will help improve the manuscript.
- The introduction section is reasonable, written well, but very narrowly focussed, therefore the authors must check to make it more relevant to the journal.
- The research question(s) are not clear, if the authors can add research objectives following research contributions, then it will increase readability.
- Research assumptions need more theoretical base. Author(s) should link the assumptions to existing literature.
- It would be nice to see some kind of conceptual framework for this research.
- I would suggest refining your research methodology. At the moment, rather limited discussion on research philosophy.
- Critically analyse different theoretical approaches to the research problem
- Justify the solution method selected in terms of the research objectives
- Strengthen the motivation and discussion parts substantially.
- Demonstrate adequately that your solution findings have been logically derived and that conclusions, solutions/recommendations are fully supported by evidence
- While supply chain innovation is still a budding topic, still one can find many research papers in other reputed journals as well. I'd suggest referring to the below academic papers in your manuscript:
- Jaeger et al. 2021. Identification of environmental supply chain bottlenecks: A case study of the Ethiopian Healthcare Supply Chain. Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal.
- White et al. A. 2018. Soft side of knowledge transfer partnership between universities and small to medium enterprises: Exploratory study to understand process improvement. Production Planning & Control: The Management of Operations
- Upadhyay et al. J. 2020. A review of challenges and opportunities of Blockchain adoption for operational excellence in the UK automotive industry. Journal of Global Operations and Strategic Sourcing.
- Agrawal et al.2021. 'Nexus of circular economy and sustainable performance in the era of digitalization'. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, pp. 1-27
- The authors must check all references carefully, there are some references are cited in the text and vice versa.
Author Response
Point 1:The introduction section is reasonable, written well, but very narrowly focussed, therefore Authorss must check to make it more relevant to the journal.
Response 1:Thank you very much for your suggestion.
Authors have modified the introduction to make it more relevant to the journal. It is helpful to realize the sustainable development of supply chain innovation enterprises.
The specific modification position is at the section of introduction.
Point 2:The research question(s) are not clear, if Authorss can add research objectives following research contributions, then it will increase readability.
Response 2:Thank you very much for your suggestions.
Authors made a more detailed introduction to the research problems.In the research contribution part,added the research objectives and enriched the content of the article.The reaearch question is visualizing the pattern distribution of supply chain innovation enterprises on the map and the relationship between relevant factors,it could be better for the authors to explore the internal relationship and external influence relationship of enterprises. According to the analysis results and conclusions, this paper puts forward good countermeasures for the development of enterprises, realizes the sustainable development of supply chain innovation enterprises,helps enterprises improve their competitiveness in the market and integrate into the industry environment.
The specific modification position starts is at the end of the literature review.
Point 3:Research assumptions need more theoretical base. Author(s) should link the assumptions to existing literature.
Response 3:Thank you very much for your suggestions.
In the research assumptions part,authors added more theoretical basis and combined the literature and hypothesis.Authors cited several new literatures on the concept and characteristics of POI points.
The specific modification positions are introduction and literature review.
Point 4:It would be nice to see some kind of conceptual framework for this research.
Response 4:Thank you very much for your suggestion.
Authors have made a theoretical framework diagram about the motivation of supply chain innovation enterprise development.The motivation is divided into two parts,industry environment and regional environment.Among them, the industry environment includes policy support,industry innovation and development,and market demand.Regional environment covers resource environment and consumer environment.
The specific modification position is figure 1,which is in the introduction.
Point 5:I would suggest refining your research methodology. At the moment, rather limited discussion on research philosophy.
Response 5:Thank you very much for your suggestion.
Authors have made some modifications to the research methods, enriching the process of the research methods.The spatial distribution of supply chain innovation enterprises has correlation,and its correlation degree can be expressed by Moran's I.It can be more intuitive by using geoda software.The nearest neighbor distance is a geographical index indicating the degree of mutual proximity of point things in geographical space.The nearest neighbor index can well reflect the spatial distribution characteristics of point elements.Density analysis can explore spatial compactness.
The specific modification position is research methods.
Point 6:Critially analyse different theoretical approaches to the research problem
Response 6:Thank you very much for your suggestion.
Authors have made a critical analysis on different research methods.According to the various journal articles consulted,it is found that there are still many problems in the existing research methods, which can be analyzed more comprehensively by using the method of this article.
The specific modification position is at the end of the literature review.
Point 7:Justify the solution method selected in terms of the research objectives
Response 7:Thank you very much for your suggestion.
Authors have demonstrated different solution methods.According to the literature survey,the influencing factors of enterprise distribution can best reflect the pattern of enterprises with Moran index,nearest neighbor index, point density,kernel density and standard deviation ellipse.Therefore,these methods are selected.
The specific modification position is research methods.
Point 8:Strengthen the motivation and discussion parts substantially.
Response 8:Thank you very much for your suggestions.
Authors have strengthed the motivation and discussion part substantially.The motivation of the article is through the visual map,observe more clearly.According to the analysis results and conclusions,this paper puts forward good countermeasures for the development of enterprises,which will help to realize the sustainable development of supply chain innovation enterprises,help enterprises improve their competitiveness in the market and integrate into the industry environment.It has certain theoretical significance and research value.
The specific position of the change is at the end of the literature review.
Point 9:Demonstrate adequately that your solution findings have been logically derived and that conclusions, solutions/recommendations are fully supported by evidence
Response 9:Thank you very much for your suggestion.
Authors have modified solution and conclusion.Authors have used more evidences and logistics to support the findings, conclusions and solutions.
Firstly,the distribution of supply chain innovation enterprises is visualized,then the influence of influencing factors is explored according to Moran index,nearest neighbor index and point density distribution, and finally suggestions are put forward.
The specific modification position is under the table7.
Point 10:While supply chain innovation is still a budding topic, still one can find many research papers in other reputed journals as well. I'd suggest referring to the below academic papers in your manuscript:
Jaeger et al. 2021. Identification of environmental supply chain bottlenecks: A case study of the Ethiopian Healthcare Supply Chain. Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal.
White et al. A. 2018. Soft side of knowledge transfer partnership between universities and small to medium enterprises: Exploratory study to understand process improvement. Production Planning & Control: The Management of Operations
Upadhyay et al. J. 2020. A review of challenges and opportunities of Blockchain adoption for operational excellence in the UK automotive industry. Journal of Global Operations and Strategic Sourcing.
Agrawal et al.2021. 'Nexus of circular economy and sustainable performance in the era of digitalization'. International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, pp. 1-27
Response 10:Thank you very much for your suggestion.
Authors have studied these academic papers and think they have merit.The authors have cited these documents,these documents are very suitable,and have theoretical basis.Corresponding changes have been made,which are marked in red.
The specific modification position is at the beginning of the references .
Point 11:Authorss must check all references carefully, there are some references are cited in the text and vice versa.
Response 11:Thank you very much for your suggestion.
Authors have modified the errors in the citation of references,the specific modification position about the references are at the end of the article.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 3 Report
Thanks for hard work
