A Proposal for Supply Chain Management Research That Matters: Sixteen High Priority Research Projects for the Future

On May 4th, 2016 in Milton, Ontario, the World Class Supply Chain 2016 Summit was held in partnership between CN Rail and Wilfrid Laurier University’s Lazaridis School of Business & Economics to realize an ambitious goal: raise knowledge of contemporary supply chain management (SCM) issues through genuine peer-­‐to-­‐peer dialogue among practitioners and scholars. A principal element of that knowledge is an answer to the question: to gain valid and reliable insights for attaining SCM excellence, what issues must be researched further? This White Paper—which is the second of the summit’s two White Papers—addresses the question by proposing a research agenda comprising 16 research projects. This research agenda covers the following: The current state of research knowledge on issues that are of the highest priority to today’s SCM professionals Important gaps in current research knowledge and, consequently, the major questions that should be answered in sixteen future research projects aimed at addressing those gaps Ways in which the research projects can be incorporated into student training and be supported by Canada’s major research funding agencies That content comes from using the summit’s deliberations to guide systematic reviews of both the SCM research literature and Canadian institutional mechanisms that are geared towards building knowledge through research. The major conclusions from those reviews can be summarized as follows: While the research literature to date has yielded useful insights to inform the pursuit of SCM excellence, several research questions of immense practical importance remain unanswered or, at best, inadequately answered The body of research required to answer those questions will have to focus on what the summit’s first White Paper presented as four highly impactful levers that SCM executives must expertly handle to attain excellence: collaboration; information; technology; and talent The proposed research agenda can be pursued in ways that achieve the two inter-­‐related goals of creating new actionable knowledge and building the capacity of today’s students to become tomorrow’s practitioners and contributors to ongoing knowledge growth in the SCM field This White Paper’s details underlying these conclusions build on the information presented in the summit’s first White Paper. That is, while the first White Paper (White Paper 1) identified general SCM themes for which the research needs are most urgent, this White Paper goes further along the path of industry-academia knowledge co-creation. It does so by examining and articulating those needs against the backdrop of available research findings, translating the needs into specific research projects that should be pursued, and providing guidelines for how those projects can be carried out

Sustainable supply chain management: Decision models for transformation and maturity

Academics and practitioners have realized that supply chains with their many interactions and impacts have to be investigated in order to meet corporate sustainability imperatives. Research has thus far offered only limited theoretical guidance while practical applications often lack a systematic approach. The realization of sustainability goals is impeded by disconnects between supply chain vision, strategy, and execution. This research bridges this gap and offers guidance through the identification and description of influential factors and decision models. An exploratory Delphi study involved supply chain and sustainability experts with the goal to explore and propose factors and decision processes for sustainable supply chain management. This study builds upon the insights offered by seminal models and leverages the Delphi mechanisms of exploration and controlled feedback in order to design, refine, and validate decision models through three consecutive rounds. This Delphi facilitated the identification and assessment of vital relationships and influential factors for sustainable supply chain management. The study culminates in the design and validation of models specifically targeted at the transformation and on-going maturity development of sustainable supply chains. The combination of research outcomes provides targeted decision support to supply chain managers which is desperately needed in order to drive sustainability development and implementation. The main contributions of the study thus are (1) the design of prescriptive artefacts that describe relationships in SSCM, (2) to offer targeted and evaluated decision support functionalities for sustainable supply chains, and (3) to provide fertile ground for future research enquiries

SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT CAPABILITY MATURITY: FRAMEWORK DEVELOPMENT AND INITIAL EVALUATION

Owing to global importance given to sustainability, commercial and government organizations alike are becoming aware about the need for them to implement sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) practices. These practices are mostly inter-organizational in nature, which introduce complexity du to the need for managing activities and information across the supply chain. However, currently there is still a lack of studies assessing the required organizational capability for implementing SSCM practices. Therefore, in this research-in-progress paper, we propose a SSCM capability maturity framework and provide an initial evaluation of the proposed framework through an in-depth case study with a large Australian city council. The framework together with the supportive empirical evidence represents a contribution to theory and practice. For practice, it helps organizations to understand their current SSCM maturity level and establish an appropriate strategy to progress in their maturity level. For theory, the study contributes to the on-going conceptual development related to SSCM and has clear implications for understanding the roles of IS/IT in building the required SSCM capability

Business Critical: Understanding a Company’s Current and Desired Stages of Corporate Responsibility Maturity

It’s been a while since the Corporate Responsibility profession took stock of its collective wisdom on where we have been, and where we are going on running businesses responsibly. Meanwhile hardly a week goes by without a helpful suggestion from the outside world on how an organisation should improve its economic value, social usefulness and environmental efficiency; and it is very easy to spot businesses that get their social, environmental and economic decisions out of balance: these organisations hit the headlines seemingly within nanoseconds. On the upside, businesses are increasingly taking an approach that builds an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) premium into the core economic valuation. This is achieved by those organisations which bring in a diverse set of views to inform risk and reputation management activities, and to build a research and development pipeline for the future. This is managing both the negative and the positive social, environmental and economic impacts

Methodology for Designing Decision Support Systems for Visualising and Mitigating Supply Chain Cyber Risk from IoT Technologies

This paper proposes a methodology for designing decision support systems for visualising and mitigating the Internet of Things cyber risks. Digital technologies present new cyber risk in the supply chain which are often not visible to companies participating in the supply chains. This study investigates how the Internet of Things cyber risks can be visualised and mitigated in the process of designing business and supply chain strategies. The emerging DSS methodology present new findings on how digital technologies affect business and supply chain systems. Through epistemological analysis, the article derives with a decision support system for visualising supply chain cyber risk from Internet of Things digital technologies. Such methods do not exist at present and this represents the first attempt to devise a decision support system that would enable practitioners to develop a step by step process for visualising, assessing and mitigating the emerging cyber risk from IoT technologies on shared infrastructure in legacy supply chain systems

Sustainable Procurement Maturity Model : Creation, Empirical Validation, and Utilization

Sustainable procurement is a growing concern in organizations across industries, as stakeholders are placing higher emphasis on organization’s and its suppliers’ sustainability performance. Organization and its suppliers are not seen as separate entities regarding sustainability, and organizations are often held responsible for sustainability failures of their suppliers. Procurement has an imperative role driving forward organization’s sustainability, as it is placed between external and internal stakeholders and majority of sustainability implications arise from supply chain. Sustainable procurement builds commonly around triple bottom line (TBL) which integrates three dimensions; environmental, social, and economic. This study adopts the TBL concept. Even though sustainable procurement has gained popularity, and common frameworks such as TBL exists, the field has remained fragmented. Sustainable procurement is also a difficult task to implement in practice. Fragmentation, lack of knowledge, and difficulties regarding implementation and development are factors which can be eased through maturity models. There is a clear research gap as no empirically validated maturity model for sustainable procurement exists. The study uses a constructive research approach and creates the first empirically validated scientific maturity model for sustainable procurement and utilizes it. The model is based on existing scientific literature on procurement and sustainability, and the creation process follows frameworks presented in literature. Validation of the model is done through a questionnaire and an expert interview. The created model includes 38 dimensions that are grouped to five categories addressing common procurement tasks and enablers of sustainability. The study creates five levels of maturity evolving from “non-existent” to “sustainability leader”.The maturity model is tested with a questionnaire with a single organization and participants consist of procurement professionals. The organization received an overall maturity level of 2.47 out of 5. This maturity indicates that the organization has adopted a large variety of sustainable procurement practices, but they are not yet well implemented throughout the organization. Thus, there is a high dependency on individuals. The results also indicate that maturity of sustainability drivers and enablers, and supplier management are the lowest. Organization is also able to utilize the model as basis for future development. The maturity model should be more widely adopted to gain information on sustainable procurement in practice and generate generalizable results. This would provide valuable aid for both practitioners and scientific community.Kestävän hankinnan merkitys organisaatioille on kasvussa sidosryhmien keskittyessä yhä enemmän organisaation sekä sen toimittajien kestävyyteen. Organisaatiota ja sen toimittajia ei enää nähdä erillisinä kokonaisuuksina, vaan organisaatiot joutuvat usein vastuuseen toimittajiensa vastuuttomasta toiminnasta. Hankinnalla on elintärkeä rooli organisaation kestävyyden kehittämisessä, sillä se sijaitsee ulkoisten ja sisäisten sidosryhmien välillä, ja suurin osa kestävyyteen vaikuttavista tekijöistä syntyy organisaation toimitusketjussa. Kestävä hankinta rakentuu yleisimmin kolmoistilinpäätöskäsitteen (TBL) ympärille, mikä koostuu kolmesta ulottuvuudesta; ympäristöllinen, sosiaalinen ja taloudellinen. Tämä tutkimus omaksuu TBL-käsitteen. Vaikka kestävä hankinta on kasvattanut suosiotaan ja yleisiä viitekehyksiä, kuten TBL, on olemassa, on aihealue edelleen hajanainen. Kestävän hankinnan toteuttaminen käytännössä on myös haastavaa. Hajanaisuus, tietotaidon puute, ja käytännön toteutuksen haasteet ovat asioita, joita voidaan parantaa maturiteettimallien avulla. Tämänhetkisessä tieteellisessä kirjallisuudessa on selkeä puute, sillä empiirisesti validoitua tieteellistä maturiteettimallia kestävälle hankinnalle ei ole kehitetty. Tämä tutkimus soveltaa konstruktiivista tutkimusotetta ja kehittää ensimmäisen empiirisesti validoidun tieteellisen maturiteettimallin kestävälle hankinnalle, sekä hyödyntää sitä käytännössä. Malli perustuu tieteelliseen kirjallisuuteen hankinnasta sekä kestävyydestä, ja sen kehitysprosessi seuraa kirjallisuudessa esitettyjä viitekehyksiä. Mallin validointi suoritetaan kyselyn ja asiantuntijahaastattelun avulla. Kehitetty malli sisältää 38 dimensiota, jotka luokitellaan viiteen hankinnan tehtäviä ja kestävyyden mahdollistajia kuvaavaan kategoriaan. Tutkimuksessa luodaan viisi maturiteettitasoa, jotka kehittyvät ”olemattomasta” ”kestävyysjohtajaan”. Mallia hyödynnetään kyselynä yhden organisaation kanssa, ja osallistujat ovat hankinnan ammattilaisia. Organisaatio sai tietoonsa yleisen maturiteettitason, joka oli 2.47 ylimmän tason ollessa 5. Tämä taso indikoi, että organisaatio on implementoinut suuren joukon kestävän hankinnan käytäntöjä, mutta ne eivät ole vielä samalla tasolla läpi organisaation. Toteutus on vielä hyvin paljon kiinni yksiöistä. Tuloksien mukaan heikoin maturiteettitaso on ryhmillä kestävän hankinnan ajurit ja mahdollistajat, sekä toimittajahallinta. Organisaatio käytti mallia myös tulevan kehityksen pohjana. Kehitettyä maturiteettimallia tulisi hyödyntää laaja-alaisemmin, jotta voitaisiin saada yleistettäviä tuloksia sekä paremmin ymmärtää kestävää hankintaa käytännön tasolla. Tämä hyödyttäisi sekä organisaatioita, että tieteellistä yhteisöä

Synchromodality as a prospective digitalization scheme for freight logistics : a pre-study report

The proliferation of digital technologies presents a potential avenue to transform the freight logistics industry by streamlining the information flow, increasing the flexibility of transportation routes, and creating a more effective and efficient freight logistics system. In an endeavor to gain a comprehensive understanding of the industry’s needs/challenges and to formulate a proficient policy framework to address them, a pre-study was undertaken at the World Maritime University (WMU). This scholarly exploration centered on the concept of synchromodality, which involves the harmonization of different freight logistics modalities. The study delineates a working definition of synchromodality within the context of freight logistics. Furthermore, it proffers a Synchromodality Maturity Model designed to evaluate the digitalization progress of stakeholders in the industry. This assessment is supported by case investigations into Roll-on/Roll-off logistics in Sweden. Working Definition: Synchromodality is an operational concept applicable to freight logistics for the purpose of adding value to customers by organizing and utilizing resources in an effective and efficient way, that can be achieved through facilitating integration amongst stakeholders along the logistics chain and enhancing their operational visibility and flexibility. The outcomes of this study carry noteworthy implications for both policy formulation and industrial implementation. The study advocates that policymakers allocate considerable resources to invest in digital infrastructure and establish standardized data protocols to foster collaborative partnerships. Moreover, logistics service providers are encouraged to pivot their strategies on generating customer value, nurturing collaborative ecosystems, and enhancing human capital in the context of data-centric methodologies. It is postulated that synchromodality could increase operational efficiency through optimal utilization of transportation resources, improve environmental sustainability, and enhance customer satisfaction. Exploring future studies in this area is required to achieve synchromodality in practice, such as: Towards enhancing digital infrastructure for greater freight logistics services Towards striving for seamless integration of all stakeholders in freight logistics chains Towards facilitating technology adoption in the freight logistics network This pre-study project was funded by Trafikverket and was supported by various logistics companies, shippers, and academic organizations.https://commons.wmu.se/lib_reports/1092/thumbnail.jp

Benchmarking Agri-Food Value Chain Performance Factors in South Mediterranean Countries

Fruits and vegetables (F&V) and olive oil are in South Mediterranean Countries (SMCs) two prominent agricultural activities in terms of contribution to national economy and exports. However, both are affected by inefficiencies and poor performance, in particular on the export market. In this paper we assess and compare performance factors between F&V and olive oil value chains (VCs) in Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt and Turkey, on the one side, and in Spain and Italy taken as benchmarks, on the other side. We propose an adapted Value Chain Maturity Model to benchmark performance factors in these VCs in SMCs. The proposed method could help to identifying poor performing areas in these VCs in order to suggest measures to improve their overall performance in general and export performance in particular. Findings confirm a robust association between VC maturity and performance. VC participants should learn from best practices and incorporate them for improvement, in particular in the areas of VC organization, responsiveness and technology adoption and implementation. In addition, more efficient agri-food exportation from SMCs needs more focus on trade facilitation issues including improvements in administrative procedures, infrastructure and technologies that reduce costs and time to export and facilitate investment. Further challenges outline the need for improvements in the areas of transparency, standards, certification, food safety, traceability and sustainability, taking into consideration that long-term partnerships are desired by international buyers to ensure product supply and quality. Public policies should be refocused towards these new challenges considering not only purely economic performance in these countries but also social development and environmental protection and resource preservation