Trends and Strategies in Logistics and Supply Chain Management
I am excited to announce that our new study titled Trends and Strategies in Logistics and Supply Chain Management (pdf) has now been published on behalf of BVL International. It is co-authored by Robert Handfield, Frank Straube, Hans-Christian Pfohl and me. The general observation taken from 62 interviews and 1757 international survey responses is that logistics complexity in the form of fragmented channels, increased product variations, and consumer demands for customized solutions has increased. Several trends demonstrate that a number of major challenges lie ahead, as the world becomes a more complex place. We found that the major trends that will increasingly impact organizations in 5 years are network forces such as (1) customer expectations, (2) networked economy and (3) cost pressure, and external forces such as (4) globalization, (5) talent shortfalls and (6) volatility.
Handfield, R., Straube, F., Pfohl, H.-Chr. & Wieland, A. (2013). Trends and Strategies in Logistics and Supply Chain Management – Embracing Global Logistics Complexity to Drive Market Advantage. ISBN 9783871544811
Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2013
Every year, Emerald invites journal editors “to nominate what they believe has been that title’s Outstanding Paper and up to three Highly Commended Papers from the previous year”. These papers have now been announced as part of the Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2013. Papers by da Mota Pedrosa et al. on case study research, Olander and Norrman on contracts, Wieland and Wallenburg on supply chain risks, and Kaufmann et al. on debiasing efforts were nominated by IJPDLM. Papers by Kunz and Reiner, who conducted a meta-analysis, and Cozzolino et al., who conducted a case study, were nominated by JHLSCM. Papers by Seuring and Gold on content analysis, Walker and Jones on sustainable SCM, Ellinger et al. on SCM competency, and Oosterhuis et al. on goals were nominated by SCM:IJ. Papers from other journals can be found in the Outstanding Paper Awards list. Awarded papers are available on a free access until July 13th.
EurOMA Conference Anniversary
This year turns out to be the anniversary year of two of the major SCM-related conferences in Europe. First, as summarized by Gyöngyi in her blog, the NOFOMA was held for the 25th time. Second, the European Operations Management Association (EurOMA) just celebrated its 20th International Annual Conference in Dublin, Ireland this week. I very much liked Mark Pagell’s keynote address. Herein, Mark compared the North American and European systems of training Ph.D. candidates: Both systems have great strengths (i.e., more methodological training in the U.S.; more involvement of faculty members into everyday life in Europe) and great weaknesses (i.e., Ph.D. candidates in the U.S. are students rather than real faculty members; professors in Europe are employer and supervisor at the same time). As part of the conference, several seminars, workshops, special sessions were held (e.g., publishing workshop). I enjoyed the conference and will definitely join the 21st EurOMA Conference in Palermo, Italy in 2014.
A Vision for the Competitive Supply Chain
I have discovered an interview with Mark Green, a supply chain executive at PVH, about his vision for global supply chains. PVH is the owner of brands such as Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger. The interview contains several interesting thoughts. Green observes: “We’re going from a [purchase orders]-focused and very transactional model to the evolution of a supply chain concept, and this idea of working more collaboratively with our vendors”. He adds: “From there we’re starting to see the emergence of a value chain, and a value chain involves a much more integrated relationship with the vendor base.” Green underlines the importance of visibility: “And the only way we can do this is by having a far greater degree of transparency with our core vendors, so that we allow them to plan, to work with us in terms of forecasting, in terms of smoothing production.” Read the full interview at just-style.com.
