Big Data Analytics Powered by AI for Enhancing Supply Chain Agility and Customer Relationship Performance

In today’s volatile and complex international organization conditions, B2B manufacturing firms face increasing challenges in managing supply chains that are efficient, responsive and aligned with dynamic customer demands. The rapid changes in the market due to trade wars, pandemics and political instability add more problems to the customer-centric supply chain. This paper examines the function of big data analytics powered by artificial intelligence as a vital facilitator of supply chain agility and customer relationship efficacy in Chinese B2B manufacturing firms. Using the Dynamic Capabilities View, the study presents and experimentally evaluates a model that investigates the impact of big data analytics augmented to artificial intelligence on supply chain agility, both directly and indirectly, through supply chain alignment and Adaptability, while also accounting for market turbulence as a moderating factor between agility and customer outcomes. Data were collected from 434 B2B Chinese manufacturing firms involved in export and import activities through structured questionnaires. Expending Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling, the conclusions confirm that big data analytics and artificial intelligence significantly enhance supply chain agility, supply chain adaptability and supply chain alignment, which in turn positively impact customer relationship performance. The moderating validity of market turbulence signifies that the impact of supply chain agility on customer relationships is particularly significant in conditions of high market volatility. The findings also highlight how critical big data analytics and artificial intelligence has become an essential dynamic capability that converts data into valuable actionable insights and as such, can enable firms align and redesign their supply chain business to achieve higher levels of customer performance. This research also helps digital supply chain literature by connecting advances in technology with the changes in the supply chain and being customer-focused, offering useful information for both theory and practical application in difficult industrial circumstances.