Postponement: bibliometric analysis and systematic review of the literature

Abstract

Postponement, which refers to the delay of the final configuration and/or forward movement of goods until the consumer requests are received, is an important strategy to increase agility and flexibility of production and logistics systems. This study aims to carry out a bibliometric analysis and a systematic review of relevant literature on postponement strategy. Bibliometrics was applied as a quantitative technique using the Web of Science database and the CiteSpace software. As for the qualitative analysis, a systematic review of selected publications was carried out. In the first search in the Web of Science, 1,670 publications were identified, and after successive refinements, a dataset of 53 articles was selected. The bibliometric analysis allowed the selection of journals, authors, and prominent publications in the area, which enabled the construction of citation and co-citation maps. The systematic review allowed the identification of topics, main contributions, and methods used in the selected articles.