An Exploratory Survey on the State of Supply Chain Visibility in Portugal

Supply Chain (SC) visibility is becoming increasingly critical for supply chains to evolve, given the growing amount of disruptions and increase in SC complexity. In this study, we aim to understand what is the state of SC visibility in Portuguese companies, and what are the reasons for this state. We have conducted a survey that was answered by 57 Portuguese companies. We then conducted a quantitative analysis on the results. The results indicate that 65% to 80% of companies have some degree of visibility, but that, in most cases, this is not done in an autonomous way. Investment has been made on data collection and storage infrastructure, but not in its analysis. The reasons for this state are more technical in nature, such as low digitalization maturity. Companies would like SC visibility to allow for better planning and client relationships. However, little attention is paid to the potential of SC visibility for dealing with disruptions in the SC.