Profile

Xiaotian joined Newcastle University Business School in August 2024 as a Lecturer in Operations and Supply Chain Management. His research primarily revolves around the digital transformation of supply chains, with a focus on how advanced digital technologies create new competitive advantages and dynamic capabilities for organisations. He is particularly interested in addressing the challenges of the current industrial revolution, with a specific emphasis on ethical, human-centric development of digital and industrial technologies, as well as preparing supply chains for the transition from Industry 4.0 to Industry 5.0.

A growing strand of Xiaotian’s work focuses on rare-earth supply chain resilience, an area of critical importance given the global reliance on rare-earth elements for clean energy technologies, advanced manufacturing, defence systems, and digital infrastructure. His research examines how digital technologies—such as blockchain, IoT, AI-driven forecasting, and cyber-physical systems—can enhance transparency, traceability, and risk responsiveness across globally dispersed and geopolitically sensitive rare-earth supply chains.

An active researcher, Dr Xiaotian Xie publishes in renowned journals such as Production Planning and Control and Technological Forecasting and Social Change. Before joining Newcastle University, he worked at the University of Surrey as a research fellow, where he was affiliated with the DECADE project, contributing to research on the impact of digital technologies on operations and supply chain management.

Roles and Responsibilities

• Lecturer in Operations and Supply Chain Management

Qualification

• 2023 PhD in International Logistics, Supply Chain and Shipping Management, University of Plymouth
• 2017 MSc in International Logistics and Supply Chain Management, University of Plymouth

Current Work

Xiaotian is currently focused on the challenges and facilitators associated with the adoption and governance of blockchain technology within supply chains, and on exploring rare-earth magnet supply chain vulnerabilities, traceability gaps, and circular-economy opportunities.

Research Interests

• Sustainability Supply Chain Management
• Digital supply chain management
• Supply chain risk and resilience
• Digital transformation
• Human-Centric Digital Transformation
• Critical Mineral supply chain

ISO2032 Service Operation Strategy and Management

ISO2034 Operation Management

ISO3018 Supply Chain Management

ISO8006 Supply Chain Resilience and Risk Management

NBS8341 Strategic Service Management

• Articles

  • Zhao G, Liu S, Wang Y, Lopez C, Zubairu N, Chen X, Xie X, Zhang J. Modelling enablers for building agri-food supply chain resilience: insights from a comparative analysis of Argentina and France. Production Planning & Control 2024, 35(3), 283-307.
  • Zhao G, Xie X, Wang Y, Liu S, Jones P, Lopez C. Barrier analysis to improve big data analytics capability of the maritime industry: A mixed-method approach. Technological Forecasting and Social Change 2024, 203, 123345.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

  • Zhao G, Chen X, Liu S, Xie X. The application of digital technologies in the agri-food supply chain of China: enablers identification and prioritization. In: 9th International Conference on Decision Support System Technology. 2023, Albi, France: Working Group on Decision Support Systems within EURO: the Association of the European Operational Research Societies.
  • Xie X, Parry G, Altrichter B. Factors influencing the implementation success of blockchain technology: A systematic literature review. In: International Conference on AI and the Digital Economy (CADE 2023). 2023, Venice, Italy; Hybrid: IET.