Special Issue for the European Operations Management Association Conference
The theme of the EurOMA 2006 Conference in Glasgow was ‘Moving up the Value Chain’. Over 250 papers were presented from over 350 conference submissions. This Special Issue of the International Journal of Logistics: Research and Applications provides a selection of the almost 60 papers presented in the Logistics and Physical Distribution, and Supply and Value Chain Management tracks.
The notion of featuring papers from what is usually regarded as an ‘operations management’ or ‘manufacturing’ conference might bother some logistics ‘purists.’ However, I and my fellow Conference Co-Chairs: Prof. Umit Bitici, University of Strathclyde, Prof. Douglas Macbeth, University of Southampton, and my colleague at Heriot-Watt University, Prof. Alan McKinnon believe that logistics and supply chain management activities are truly interdisciplinary and cut across many functions and processes in a firm and its inbound and outbound supply chain; very much akin to Michael Porter's original value chain.
Further, as we wrote in the Foreword to the Conference Proceedings:
“In the rapidly changing global economy we live in today, organisations of all shapes and sizes, operating in a variety of sectors, are looking for ways of moving up the value chain in order to sustain their performance. … In short, wherever we are, be it manufacturing, service or the public sector, the pursuit for moving up the value chain remains critical to future sustainability of our society.”
The four papers in this Special Issue address ways that firms can use different methodologies and techniques to move up the value chain.
The first paper by García, Chang, Abarca and Oh discusses using a multi-agent system (MAS) to control inventory in one of Spain's e-commerce retailers. A MAS comprises a number of software units and in this study was enhanced by radio frequency identification (RFID) to improve visibility. The adoption of this solution decreased the retailer's order picking errors, which in turn positively affected customer service, the retailer's image, and thus its value to customers.
The second paper by Matopoulos, Vlachopoulou and Manthou investigated factors of e-business adoption by food supply chain companies in Greece. Their six case studies revealed that supply chain and sectoral factors were the most important to create value as opposed to intra-company factors that have been dominant in previous literature and empirical studies.
The third paper by Large considers the influence of customer adaptations on the performance of their relationships with third-party logistics service providers. The resultant four-level structural model proposes that service complexity, customer assets and desired levels of monitoring affect the level of logistics service provider and customer investments, that in turn affect relationship performance, which ultimately influences customer satisfaction and value.
Finally, the fourth paper by Binder and Clegg examined enterprise collaboration among firms in the German automotive industry. Their study is interesting as they argue a single ‘enterprise’ can be formed from discrete modules or parts of several different firms, contrary to usual strategic theory. Their resultant framework, derived using grounded theory, could add value to all firms that make up this radical new form of enterprise.
How did we select these four papers for this Special Issue from all those presented at the Conference? Initially, the track chairs and Conference Committee identified eight papers to invite for review and publication consideration. These papers underwent a rigorous double-blind review process, which yielded the resultant four papers. That does not mean the other invited papers are not interesting or do not make a contribution; rather they could not meet reviewers concerns in the time that was available.
This process required the cooperation of both authors and reviewers and I thank all of them for their efforts and diligence; they all made my role as Special Issue Editor easy and enjoyable. Readers will know who the authors are from the papers, however reviewers usually go unnoticed and unheralded, despite their very important contribution to the academic publishing process. Thus, I want to especially thank the reviewers for this Special Issue, who gave up their time and had to endure my constant e-mail pursuit, and recognise them by listing their names and affiliations below in alphabetical order.
Reviewers for the Special Issue EurOMA 2006
-
Dr. Jesper Aastrup, Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark
-
Dr. Hakan Aronsson, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
-
Prof. Colin Bamford, University of Huddersfield, Huddersfield, UK
-
Dr. Michael Bourlakis, Brunel University, London, UK
-
Prof. Michael Browne, University of Westminster, London, UK
-
Dr. Helena Forslund, Växjö University, Växjö, Sweden
-
Dr. Britta Gammelgaard, Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen, Denmark
-
Dr. Árni Halldórsson, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
-
Prof. Jari Juga, Oulu University, Oulu, Finland
-
Prof. Danuta Kisperska-Moroń, Karol Adamiecki University of Economics, Katowice, Poland
-
Dr. Gyöngyi Kovács, Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration (HANKEN), Helsinki, Finland
-
Prof. Stefan Minner, Mannheim Business School, Mannheim, Germany
-
Dr. Dag Näslund, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, Florida