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Rigour versus relevance for purchasing trends and processes : An analysis of how research trends and business needs are in line
Journal of Supply Chain Management, Logistics and Procurement,
3
(3),
294-306
(2021)
Abstract
The purchasing function is driven by recent trends such as sustainability, supplier integration, digital technologies, trade wars, etc., which result in continuous process optimisation efforts and fluctuating requirements to secure supply and save cost. At least, this is what the scientific discussion suggests through its broad coverage of diverse topics in leading scientific journals in the operations management context. The question arises, however, whether these comprehensively discussed topics in literature, ie rigour, have a direct impact on the concerns and topics discussed by the purchasing practice, ie relevance. This paper is based on a previous study conducted by the authors that consolidates current scientific discussions on purchasing trends and provides a first indication on how they support current problem sets of the purchasing practice. The topics identified include traditionally established ones, such as new product involvement of suppliers and green supply management, as well as initial publications on customer-centricity and creative methods. By integrating in this paper the perspective of purchasing practitioners from the financial services industry through a survey and workshop feedback, a first gap between rigour and relevance becomes evident.
Keywords: purchasing; financial service industry; relevance; rigour; process optimisation
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Erich Groher studied mechanical engineering with a diploma in engineering at the Technical University of Munich, followed by a postgraduate degree in industrial engineering. After completing his doctorate on the topic of ‘Integration of Suppliers in the Product Development Process’, he worked as a divisional director for the consulting firm TCW with optimisation projects in logistics and purchasing, as project manager for integration modules and the Mini at the BMW Group and as head of international purchasing of WestLB. Since 2009, Erich has been the director of the Finance and Controlling division of Deutsche Apotheker- und Ärztebank responsible for cost management and purchasing. Since October 2017 he has taught supply chain management and corporate management at the ISM Munich.
Anna Quitt received her Diploma in Business Administration at the EBS Business School in Oestrich-Winkel. She subsequently joined the EBS Supply Chain Management Institute as a research assistant and was also a visiting research fellow at Cranfield University. After receiving her doctoral degree, Anna worked as research director at the Strascheg Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at EBS. Before continuing her academic career, Anna worked as senior manager in advisory at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Munich and Boston and was head of corporate development at the CHIRON Group. She is currently Professor for International Management with focus on supply chain management at the International School of Management (ISM) in Frankfurt, as well as head of campus, programme director for the MSc in international logistics and SCM and director of the Institute SCM@ISM.
Matthias Lederer holds a master’s degree in international information systems from the Universities of Erlangen-Nuremberg and Linz. During his PhD studies in strategic and IT-based process management, Matthias worked as a consultant in strategic development at the industrial company REHAU and as an external IT consultant in the Bavarian Ministry of Justice. As a university lecturer, Matthias has been working and researching at the ISM International School of Management Munich since 2017 in the field of business informatics in addition to his work as chief process officer in the IT Service Centre of the Bavarian Ministry of Justice. Matthias is the author of approximately 60 peer-reviewed scientific publications.
Citation
Groher, Erich, Quitt, Anna and Lederer, Matthias (2021, March 1). Rigour versus relevance for purchasing trends and processes : An analysis of how research trends and business needs are in line. In the Journal of Supply Chain Management, Logistics and Procurement, Volume 3, Issue 3. https://doi.org/10.69554/EKVJ7564.
© Henry Stewart
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Publications LLP