Change within purchasing and supply management organisations – Assessing the claims from maturity models

It is a wide-held assumption that professional development and change within purchasing and supply management (PSM) organisations can be explained and guided by a maturity model. In this paper the guidance which the maturity model concept offers to understand a PSM organisation's performance is assessed. The methodology is based on the outcomes of a literature review of PSM maturity models, development of an organisational change framework and the learning from three qualitative case studies. An alternative understanding of the development of the PSM organisation is offered through an organisational change framework, composing 1) movement transitions, 2) scalability of change, 3) acceptability of change, and 4) the substantive element of change. The research found that extant PSM maturity models are too rigid for PSM managers to apply, and although maturity models are commonly accepted in PSM literature, in practice, they may produce the opposite effect of what is promised. The PSM maturity models suggest that their application will lead to increased status and influence of PSM within the organisation; expectations that may not be met. PSM organisations’ change processes are subjected to a range of situational and contextual power relations which must be considered in order to advance the specific PSM organisation roles and responsibilities.     

Improving retrospective life course data by combining modularized self-reports and event history calendars: experiences from a large scale survey

Event history calendars (EHC) have proven to be a powerful tool for collecting retrospective autobiographical life course data. One problem is that they are only standardized to a limited extent. This restricts their applicability in large-scale surveys. However, in such surveys, a modularized retrospective CATI design can be combined with an EHC. This data revision module is directly integrated into the interview and used as a data revision module, allowing insights from cognitive psychology to be applied. The data revision module stimulates the respondent’s memory retrieval by detecting both temporal inconsistencies, such as gaps, and overlapping or parallel events. This approach was implemented in the IAB-ALWA study (Working and Learning in a Changing World), a large-scale representative telephone survey involving 10,000 respondents. By comparing the uncorrected data with the final data after revision, we can investigate to what extent the application of this data revision module improves data quality or, more precisely, time consistency and dating accuracy of individual reports.     

LOGISTICS SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES FOR SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Despite the growing interest in supply chain management (SCM), there is little literature on the abilities practicing logisticians need to work in a SCM world. This paper studies these SCM abilities using two complementary methods: survey research and qualitative research interviews (case studies). The surveys yielded importance ratings of 45 SCM skill areas and a three‐factor skill model (interpersonal/managerial, quantitative/technological, and SCM core). Teamwork emerged as the skill area rated most important for SCM. Moreover, the case studies discovered additional critical skill areas for SCM such as gathering and sharing information. The interviews also enabled deeper understanding of skills within organizational contexts.     

Virtual travel agencies

NETNOMICS: Economic Research and Electronic Networking -     

Efficient replenishment im handel — probleme und lösungsansätze aus sicht der agency-theorie

In den letzten Jahren hat Efficient Consumer Response vermehrt in der Konsumgüterindustrie Einzug gehalten. In der Praxis wird die lieferseitige Kooperation von Herstellern und H?ndlern im Efficient Replenishment jedoch durch verschiedene Probleme erschwert. Diese lassen sich aus Sicht der Prinzipal-Agenten-Theorie interpretieren. So lassen sich theorie-basierte L?sungsans?tze, sogenannte Kooperationsdesigns, erarbeiten, die diese Probleme mindern und dadurch die Stabilit?t und Effizienz der Kooperation steigern k?nnten.     

LOGISTICS INNOVATION: A CUSTOMER VALUE‐ORIENTED SOCIAL PROCESS

This paper reports on a qualitative, grounded theory research project conducted in the United States, Sweden, and The United Kingdom designed to explore logistics innovation as perceived by leaders of logistics service provider firms and logistics business functions within product focused firms. Analysis of 33 depth interviews conducted within seven organizations revealed activities that reflect multiple aspects of being innovative, including: (1) setting a stage for innovation; (2) identifying clues to shifts in what customers value; (3) negotiating, clarifying, and reflecting upon insights; and (4) managing inter‐organizational learning.     

The past as staged-real environment: communism revisited in The Crazy Guides Communism Tours,Krakow, Poland

Through an analysis of a tourism design in Krakow Poland, The Crazy Guides Communism Tours, I wish to present one possible way of promoting a district through dealing with an unwanted past, an undesirable heritage. In this instance, it is Nowa Huta, a part of city from the unwanted past, that is revalorized partly through the construction of staged environments in real places. Such designs realize the communication potential of the situation and can change socially constructed knowledge into social (inter-) action. The Crazy Guides Communism Tours require a high level of bodily and emotional investment both from the tourists and from the guides themselves. The paper investigates the designs on a representational and an experiential level and uses field analysis to try and answer the questions if, for whom and why these tourism designs change anything.     

DM-Nostalgie: Ökonomischer Irrsinn oder Ausweg aus der Euro-Krise?

Viele Menschen in Deutschland wünschen sich die D-Mark zurück. Dieser Beitrag analysiert die ?konomischen Vor- und Nachteile eines deutschen Euro-Austritts. Gemessen an einem Vergleich der Infl ationsraten und des Wachstumspotentials schneidet der Euro besser als die D-Mark ab. Zudem w?re eine erneute W?hrungsumstellung teuer und würde die weltweiten Finanzm?rkte destabilisieren. Selbst die im Rahmen der Transferunion zu erwartenden hohen deutschen Leistungen würden einen Austritt aus der Europ?ischen W?hrungsunion nicht rechtfertigen.