Supply Management Research

Technological change, as well as global disruptions such as pandemics, natural disasters, or trade wars, are causing increasing challenges to companies, policymakers, and society and impact the flow and management of goods in todayʹs global value networks. This dissertation investigates these challenges and risks due to the disruptive change through Industry 4.0, its management as well as economic, environmental, and social implications on supply chain management. The examination of supply chain risk management and the impact of the adoption of the Internet of Things, its influence on transparency, risk strategies and competitive advantage provides further value‐added. The application of systematic literature reviews, theory‐based case study research, and machine learning supported bibliometric and network analyses create a holistic review of existing literature, the identification of core aspects and research gaps. Furthermore, the results support decision‐makers in coping with uncertainties and enable the development of strategic and operational as well as technical and social capabilities to ensure superior performance.

The general quest for supply chain transparency is increasing. Companies need extensive information on the organizations that might influence their market position and on the relationships between them. However, high visibility requires a significant investment of time and resources, so that many companies still only have limited supply chain visibility today. In order to create the desired visibility on their supply chains, they started to develop appropriate tools like supply chain mapping. We transfer the insights from Supply Chain Mapping literature to network level to conceptualize a new holistic Supply Network Map Structure Model. Secondly, this paper proposes a generalized draft of the mapping procedure. Furthermore, we present two use cases for the application of Supply Network Mapping: cost and innovation leaders. Finally, the findings provide evidence that supply network transparency and Supply Network Mapping indeed lead to purchasing success.

While electric cars have several benefits during their use phase, they are associated with various environmental impacts and social risks in their supply chain, especially due to the batteries. The sustainability assessment of such products with global supply chains is complicated due to regional differences of technology, environment, markets, and society. Therefore, concepts and methods for a spatially differentiated sustainability assessment have been developed in the author’s dissertation. This article provides an overview of the methodological contributions and summarizes selected results from an illustrative application to lithium‐ion batteries. The environmental and social impact scores of a battery system differ considerably across the three investigated supply chain configurations, which also influence the geographic distribution of economic value added. These results open promising research opportunities to advance the design of sustainable supply chains for electric mobility.

As a result of the ever‐growing availability of new technologies and decreasing cost of computing power, there are constant fresh starting points for creating value in companies and especially in procurement. There are, however, still comparatively few studies that reflect the current state of digitization in purchasing in the German‐speaking countries. Further, there are mostly theoretical approaches, which are relatively unexplored in practice. Therefore, a survey with purchasers in German‐speaking countries (180 useable responses; approx. 12% response rate) was performed. This survey was based on an extensive analysis of the available literature. The focus was placed on the current state of digitization as well as on challenges and possible methods for simplified implementation. The majority of companies is still at the beginning of the penetration of new digitization concepts in the procurement process. When implementing new software and digital tools, the support of (top) management is crucial. The intensive and early involvement of employees is similarly essential for the success of digital transformations in procurement. The hypotheses introduced do not represent a complete set of solutions for a successful implementation. However, the results should be taken into account by other companies when it comes to developing their own strategies. Based on these findings, the measures and methods of digitization in procurement that are critical for success should be analyzed in more detail through further (case) studies.

Models are just images of the reality. They are reduced to the essentials and neglect unnecessary factors. Business process models in turn depict the processes in companies. They are used to show the target state when introducing new application systems or illustrate the actual state in order to identify problems as well as waste in the processes. There are constant changes in companies that are driven by new strategies such as digitalization and automation. These changes must also be reflected in the business process models. Numerous areas in science and in practice come back on established business and process models to map the interfaces between departments, the IT architecture, role distribution, process flows and access rights. Procurement processes, often perceived as a back‐office function, rarely come into focus. This paper summarizes existing process and reference model approaches with a reference to the procurement function and discusses these approaches. The aim of the critical discussion is to check whether the existing models from the literature meet the requirements of digitized procurement. At the same time, requirements have to be formulated to a modern process map, which can illustrate the current developments (digitization, automation, RPA, etc.).

The digital transformation offers a variety of opportunities to increase efficiency in buyer‐supplier relationships as well as whole supply chains and networks. The novel blockchain technology can increase transparency for all partners involved, ensure product provenance, and enable efficient automation of purchasing and supply chain management processes using smart contracts. Blockchain essentially provides a trustless system as the technology itself verifies trust in the network with unalterable transaction records. Concurrently, a higher degree of decentralization can be achieved and a change in decision‐making structures is promoted. A major challenge in managing these new networks is the design and implementation of efficient governance structures. Potential configurations range from hierarchically controlled systems to decentralized autonomous organizations. Which approaches are currently used in real implementations and for what reason has hardly been investigated so far. We use an empirical, qualitative study to analyze blockchain technologyʹs influence on governance structures in industrial consortia and highlight critical steps for selecting a suitable governance configuration for future collaboration efforts.

The future is inexorably coming, but the traces of the past are still to be found. A similar “back to the future” scenario is to be expected in relation to future competencies required for purchasing and supply chain management (PSCM) professionals. Whereas skills in the areas of digitization and sustainability are undisputedly growing in terms of importance, traditional competencies in relation to internal or external communication and interface management will remain to be a key to success. Through means of an extensive literature review, we identify current and future competencies which, subsequently, serve as a basis for exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. As a result, we develop consolidated professional competence fields (e.g., methods, systems and tools) which allow a further break‐down of the required skills and knowledge for specific role profiles (e.g., knowledge in data analytics and digital tools to collect, process and analyze large amounts of data). The concretization is indispensable for the HR department in light of a targeted recruitment or selection as well as individualized training and development of specialist profiles in the field of PSCM.

Process Mining stellt einen der jüngeren Ansätze im Geschäftsprozessmanagement dar und dient der Visualisierung und Optimierung von Prozessen. Mithilfe von Event Logs sollen Abweichungen vom Ist‐Prozessmodell erkannt und im Zuge von Verbesserungsmaßnahmen eliminiert werden. In der wissenschaftlichen Literatur findet Process Mining in unterschiedlichsten Bereichen Anwendung, jedoch kaum in industriell geprägten Supply‐Chain‐Prozessen. Ziel dieses Beitrags ist es daher, Process Mining pilothaft im Purchase‐to‐Pay‐Prozess für Rohmaterial in einem chinesischen Werk von Bosch Power Tools (PT) anzuwenden. Hierzu werden zwei Kennzahlen (Automation Rate und Non‐Change Rate) definiert, um auf dieser Basis eine Prozessbewertung vorzunehmen und die Effekte von Process Mining zu bewerten. Es werden alle drei Formen (Process Discovery, Conformance Checking und Process Enhancement) angewendet und anschließend einer kritischen Würdigung im Hinblick auf Vorgehensweise und Ergebnisse unterzogen. Eine Verallgemeinerung der Erkenntnisse gewährleistet den Transfer auf weitere Untersuchungsbereiche wie andere Supply‐Chain‐Prozesse oder andere Branchen.

Increasingly complex and dynamic supply chains require flexible and autonomously operating supply systems, especially for time‐critical components in space‐sensitive production environments. Transport drones, using the third dimension for material supply, may contribute to logistics efficiency in production facilities with limited space for logistics activities. However, practical use has so far been limited to pilot trials. By means of an exploratory study, the reasons for the low application are investigated. It is questionable what argues for and against the use of drones in production logistics, what challenges are associated with their utilization and, of course, where application potentials lie. By means of semi‐structured interviews with experts from industries, these aspects are examined and brought together. The results indicate that the use of transport drones is limited to a few material flows and will be used alongside other transport systems. The implementation in practice depends especially on economic and safety considerations, as well as on a fast and comfortable ramp‐up phase. The findings can be used as a basis for further research in the field of the production logistics use of transport drones. This can be achieved by methods such as quantitative simulation models, theoretical frameworks or first design approaches in practice.

Within the context of Industry 4.0, firms increasingly focus on their core competences and use digital technologies for integrating value‐added partners. This process brings about the challenge of choosing a suitable way of integration for each supplier. Although digital supplier integration promises crucial benefits, it is currently not realized in most companies. It lacks a practical guideline that supports firms to integrate suppliers within the best balance between, costs, capabilities, and benefits depending on their supplier strategy. We close this gap by proposing the new concept of Transaction 4.0 capabilities for measuring the degree of implementation of Industry 4.0 regarding the exchange of products and information between a buyer and a supplier. Within a multiple case study, we provide an in‐depth analysis of Transaction 4.0 capabilities and supply chain performance impact in four different buyer‐supplier relationships and provide insights into different Industry 4.0 approaches at the buyer‐supplier interface. The principal‐agent theory offers an explanation why the chosen Transaction 4.0 approaches are typical of the respective buyer‐supplier relationships. As procurement managers might identify comparable sourcing situations within their supplier portfolio, this article provides practical suggestions for digitization measures at the buyer‐supplier interface.

In the so‐called ecosystem economy, new platform‐based business models evolve rapidly based on the prospects of digital technology. Thus far, little research has been conducted on the supply side of digital platforms which also explains the lack of empirical evidence. We develop a framework, categorize complementors, and analyze the main factors of influence for the evaluation and selection of complementors. For our analysis, we consider both industrial IoT platforms and financial services platforms. In addition, we use an explorative research design and conduct semi‐structured interviews to contribute to this research field. Top‐level managers of digital platforms in both industries were interviewed as experts. In addition, the study also considered secondary data to increase the overall reliability and validity in terms of triangulation. As a result, our study reveals both a number of similarities and differences with regard to complementor management for industrial IoT‐ and financial services platforms.

This empirical paper represents a research regarding sustainability that was investigated in the form of a master thesis. Since nowadays it is no longer enough to only focus on financial achievements, companies and their business units need to make a positive contribution to their stakeholders, society and the environment (KPMG International, 2020, p. 1). Corporate procurement in particular, has a significant role with regard to sustainability. Due to a cooperation of the CBS International Business School and a European energy company, there was a concrete research demand regarding sustainable procurement. In the following, suggestions of (further) integrations of sustainability practices for the procurement department of the concrete company case and its strategic suppliers have been developed. Sustainable procurement controlling processes are particularly in the spotlight of the research.

Unternehmen der Bekleidungsindustrie werden immer häufiger aufgrund der Verletzung ökologischer und sozialer Mindeststandards in ihren Wertschöpfungsnetzwerken kritisiert. Im Fokus der Kritik stehen dabei die Unternehmen, unter deren Marken die Bekleidung an den Endkunden verkauft wird. Die mangelnde Nachhaltigkeitsumsetzung findet jedoch hauptsächlich bei Lieferanten und Sub‐Lieferanten statt. Um sich vor Reputationsschäden aufgrund fehlender Nachhaltigkeit zu schützen und auch nachhaltig orientierte Kunden ansprechen zu können, steigt das Interesse von fokalen Unternehmen, Nachhaltigkeitsstandards im kompletten Wertschöpfungsnetzwerk umzusetzen. Die Koordinierung und Steuerung der (Sub‐)Lieferanten erfolgt dabei mithilfe von Governance‐Mechanismen. Anhand der qualitativen Analyse von 40 Nachhaltigkeitsberichten von zehn Unternehmen der Bekleidungsindustrie werden in diesem Beitrag Governance‐Mechanismen zur Förderung der Nachhaltigkeit sowie die angestrebten Nachhaltigkeitsziele in der Bekleidungsindustrie identifiziert, analysiert und im anwendungsbezogenen Zusammenhang des Lieferantenmanagements diskutiert. Der Beitrag zeigt Wissenschaftlern und Praktikern, welche Governance‐Mechanismen derzeit in der Bekleidungsindustrie zur gezielten Erfüllung bestimmter Nachhaltigkeitsziele eingesetzt werden.