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Research opportunities in supply chain management

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Abstract

Since its introduction as a concept in the 1980s, supply chain management (SCM) has undergone significant modification and expansion. A qualitative analysis of 166 unique definitions of SCM published in the literature identified three major themes associated with the supply chain and SCM: (1) activities; (2) benefits; and (3) constituents/components. Utilizing these themes, key research questions and issues within the supply chain and SCM are identified that could be examined by marketing scholars.

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Notes

  1. Larson and Rogers (1998) initially tabulated the number of SCM articles published from the 1980s to 1997. Their computations were updated in this research study through 2004. From 1999 through 2004, an average of more than 1,000 articles per year were published on various SCM topics.

  2. NVivo, a commonly used qualitative software package, was employed to analyze the SCM definitions collected from the ABI/INFORM database. The researchers utilized the Graneheim and Lundman (2004) methodology for conducting the content analysis of SCM definitions and developing the themes and nodes.

  3. Although the most widely cited definition of SCM is the one published by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP), it is by no means the only definition of the concept. As defined by CSCMP, the definition of SCM “encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing and procurement, conversion, and all logistics management activities. Importantly, it also includes coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, third party service providers, and customers. In essence, supply chain management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies” (CSCMP 2008).

  4. Overall, when examining the SCM definitions published, it was unusual to find definitions that included all six themes and/or sub-themes (free nodes). In fact, of the 166 unique definitions identified, only eight possessed all themes and sub-themes, and these appeared in sources published in 1990, 1995, 2000 (three times), 2001 (twice) and 2002 (see Stevens 1990; Stewart 1995; Groosse 2000; Poirier and Bauer 2000; Schonsleben 2000; Lummus et al. 2001; Towers and Ashford 2001; Elmuti 2002). Typically, most of these definitions were quite lengthy.

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  1. Department of Marketing, College of Business, University of South Florida, 4242 East Fowler Avenue, BSN 3403, Tampa, FL, 33620, USA

    James R. Stock

  2. Department of Marketing, College of Business, Bryant University, Smithfield, RI, USA

    Stefanie L. Boyer

  3. University of Dayton, Dayton, OH, USA

    Tracy Harmon

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Stock, J.R., Boyer, S.L. & Harmon, T. Research opportunities in supply chain management. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 38, 32–41 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-009-0136-2

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