Bisher sind die Planungsebenen des Supply Chain Management (SCM) konzeptionell, personell und softwaretechnologisch getrennt und oft hierarchisch organisiert. Geschäftsprozesse definieren die Übergänge von und Rückkopplung zwischen Ebenen grober, strategisch/ taktischer Planung und Ebenen feiner, operationaler Planung. Diese Trennung führt zu konzeptionellen, prozessualen und temporalen sowie zu systemtechnischen Defiziten im Supply Chain Planning (SCP). Kerngedanken des neuen Konzepts sind, alle heute üblichen Planungsebenen vollständig auf das operative Modell zu gründen die neuen Softwaresysteme vollständig im RAM zu verankern sowie mit neuen Nutzeroberflächen auszustatten, die den Aspekt der virtuellen Aggregation und Disaggregation der Daten zur Laufzeit befördern. Durch die Ergebnisse der Arbeit wird das den Stand der Technik darstellende Paradigma der sequenziellen, hierarchischen Planung verändert zu einem Konzept einer jederzeit ausführbaren (Anytime) Planung, welche Planungsergebnisse innerhalb sehr kurzer Antwortzeiten (Real-Time) liefert. Durch die schnellen Antworten können zudem ganz neue interaktive, simulationsbasierte Planungsprozesse anstelle bisheriger batchorientierter Prozesse eingeführt werden. Es werden Vorteile gegenüber dem alten Konzept und die praktische Machbarkeit anhand von Softwarefallstudien bewertet.

Essen, Universiẗat, Diss.--Duisburg, 2006.

Supplier development (SD) has been intensively and increasingly used in practice and studied in academia. Many studies find that SD can generate operational, capability-based, attitudinal, and financial performance measures for both the supplying firm (supplier) and the buying firm (buyer), but very few studies systematically explain why SD yields supplier’s performance improvements and, in turn, buyer’s performance improvements. Using a meta-analysis approach, this dissertation finds that SD does lead to positive outcomes, but SD is found to have very weak or even negative relationship with performance improvements in some cases. Such findings further support the importance of examining the main research question: why SD works. In order to answer the main research question, this dissertation adopts a multiphase triangulation approach: theoretical construction, conceptual examination, and empirical examination. Doing so, this dissertation constructs and validates a knowledge management (KM) view of SD. The purpose of theoretical construction (Chapter 3) is to develop a KM view of supplier development via a systematic view of previous studies. Presented in Chapter 4, conceptual examination reveals that all SD activities can be subsumed into KM activities, and further conceptually supports the feasibility of the KM view in SD. Empirical examination, including a survey of 39 SD scholars and a survey of 295 SD practitioners (156 complete responses), is presented in Chapters 5 and 6. Most hypotheses are strongly supported, demonstrating the importance of the knowledge-management view of SD. Overall, this dissertation has both theoretical contributions for KM and SD sides, and practical contributions for researchers, practitioners, and educators/students. First, it contributes by supporting the addition of KM variables to other theories when explaining why SD works, confirming the role of KM in SD, providing a complete KM view of SD, and revealing why SD works. Second, it contributes by implementing mixed research methods, integrating multiple disciplines, and exemplifying collecting data on LinkedIn. Third, it contributes by offering a catalog of SD activities and guidance for designing, implementation, and evaluation of SD initiatives. Fourth, it contributes by advancing a mental model to understand SD literature. Conclusions, limitations, and future research directions are also discussed.

Sustainable development is an eternal topic and the enterprise’ sustainability provides the answer. Furthermore, emerging market’s sustainable development is frequently mentioned recently due to the serious pollution and waste due to the blind pursuit of higher GDP (Colm, 2012). This paper aims to find out the drivers and barriers of green supply chain management (GSCM) implementation; and figure out how to strengthen the relationship between green purchasing (GP) and GSCM based on the single-case study of Guitang Group. Combining the qualitative and quantitative method, we try to explore and describe the influence on GSCM development caused by the specific background of China. Based on the suggestions of how to strengthen the relationships between GP and GSCM, it will be more efficient for us to find a suitable way for manufacturing industrial companies in China to achieve the path from green purchasing to green supply chain management.

This thesis addresses aspects of preparedness, by not-for-profit humanitarian relief organizations, for effectively responding to natural disasters. It asks how not-for-profit organizations, engaged in humanitarian supply chain management, develop capabilities and implement various elements of preparedness. The research methods consist of a combination of case-based research and grounded research in examining two very different organizations, one comparatively small and faith based and the other larger and secular. Data collection consisted of mostly open-ended interviews with representatives of the two organizations. The findings consist of a number of themes centred on the concept of a local focus on vulnerable communities. Associated themes include the importance of establishing a presence in the community, local capacity building, and early needs assessment. These themes are summarized as testable propositions. A summary framework is presented for the integration of international and local supply chains, in preparing to respond to natural disasters.

En ökad textilkonsumtion har lett fram till en problematik kring miljöpåverkan på grund av den ökade mängden använda textilier som ska hanteras efter produkternas död. För att ta till vara på de dyrbara resurser som har använts för att skapa textila produkter, har intresset för återvinning av textila fibrer ökat. Forskningen inom återvinning av bomullsfibrer har däremot inte kommit tillräckligt långt för att produktion av återvunna fibrer av hög kvalité ska kunna göras storskalig. Detta speciellt eftersom problem med exempelvis blandfibrer och separerbarhet försvårar arbetet. Det finns förändringar som kan göras av modeföretag i produktutvecklingsfasen redan idag, vilka kan underlätta återvinningsprocessen och syftar till att skapa ett slutet system i framtiden. Därför finns det ett behov av att identifiera vilka interna problem som kan hindra en produktutveckling av återvinningsbara plagg, samt vilka förändringar som kan behöva ske av ett modeföretags externa relationer för att kunna införa denna produktutveckling. Genom djupintervjuer som utfördes med sju anställda vid fallföretaget Lindexs design- och inköpsavdelning har det klargjorts hur företagets nuvarande arbetsprocesser ser ut, samt vilka hinder som finns och vilka förändringar som behövs inom produktutvecklingen för att underlätta återvinningen. Detta gjordes genom att olika produktgrupper studerades utifrån tre utvalda scenarion som alla skulle underlätta återvinningen av plaggen. Resultatet visade att det finns tillräckliga resurser för att många anpassningar skulle kunna ske redan idag, dock inte i någon större utsträckning på grund av begränsningar inom designen. Ett stort hinder är det bristfälliga kommunikationsflödet, internt inom fallföretaget och externt mellan huvudkontor och leverantörer. Viktiga resurser som har identifierats och som underlättar införandet av förändringar är däremot en drivkraftig leverantörsbas och de långsiktiga relationerna till leverantörerna. Ett begränsat synfält av företagets nätverk har dessutom identifierats hos design- och inköpsavdelningen vid fallföretaget. Slutsatsen är därför att detta skulle behöva vidgas för att implementera förändringar. Även kommunikationsflödet bör nyttjas fullt ut för att de anställda ska kunna arbeta mot uppsatta mål, vilket ställer krav på ledningen att arbeta fram riktlinjer för hur en produktutveckling för återvinningsbara plagg ska genomföras. För att vissa förändringar i riktning mot återvinningsbara plagg ska kunna genomföras, krävs dessutom att modeföretag samarbetar för att driva frågan.Trots att återvinningsbara plagg är möjliga att producera i dagsläget, krävs fortfarande vidare studier angående hur detta är tekniskt möjligt i storskalig produktion, samt hur kvalitetsproblemen förknippade med återvunna fibrer ska hanteras. / An increase in the consumption of textiles has created a greater environmental impact due to the increased amount of textiles that need to be processed when the product reaches end of life. To ensure the continued use of the precious resources used to create textiles the interest in fiber recycling has increased. The research in recycling cotton fibers is however limited and does not yet allow for production of high quality fibers in a large scale, especially due to the problem with separating material with more than one fiber type. There are changes that fashion companies can make today in the product development stage that will facilitate the recycling process and lead to the implementation of a closed loop system in the future. There is a need to identify the internal problems that can prevent development of recyclable clothing, as well as the changes necessary in a fashion company's external relationships to implement this type of product development. In depth interviews were conducted with seven employees working in the design and purchasing department of the case study Lindex. Through the interviews the employees clarified how the design and purchasing processes in the company are now as well as what barriers and changes may be necessary for product development of recyclable clothing. Three different product groups were studied through scenarios that would facilitate recycling of clothing. The results of the study shows that the company has the resources to implement many of these changes today, however not to a large extent throughout the collections due to design limitations. A large barrier is the inadequate communications flow internally in the case company and externally between the head office and suppliers. Important resources that have been identified in the study that will ease the implementation of changes are however a driven supplier network and the long term relationships to these suppliers. A limited view of the company's network has also been identified within the design and purchasing department of the case company. In conclusion this would need to be widened to allow for implementation of changes. Even the communications flow should be fully utilised to allow the employees to work towards the companys goals, which places demands on management to define guidelines for product development of recyclable clothing. To be able to implement certain changes that would allow for production of recyclable products, a collaboration between fashion companies would be required. Despite the fact that recyclable garments are possible to produce today, further research is needed to develop the technology to produce garments from recycled fibers in a large scale, as well as to address the quality problems associated with recycled fibers. The language of this report is Swedish.

This thesis addresses aspects of preparedness, by not-for-profit humanitarian relief organizations, for effectively responding to natural disasters. It asks how not-for-profit organizations, engaged in humanitarian supply chain management, develop capabilities and implement various elements of preparedness. The research methods consist of a combination of case-based research and grounded research in examining two very different organizations, one comparatively small and faith based and the other larger and secular. Data collection consisted of mostly open-ended interviews with representatives of the two organizations. The findings consist of a number of themes centred on the concept of a local focus on vulnerable communities. Associated themes include the importance of establishing a presence in the community, local capacity building, and early needs assessment. These themes are summarized as testable propositions. A summary framework is presented for the integration of international and local supply chains, in preparing to respond to natural disasters.

In den letzten Jahren verzeichneten viele mittelständische Unternehmen ein überdurchschnittliches Unternehmenswachstum. Häufig gerät die Zielsetzung des Unternehmenswachstums jedoch mit anderen Zielsetzungen wie der Bestandsreduktion oder einer erhöhten Kunden- und Prozessorientierung in eine Art Wettbewerb. Um eine Harmonisierung zwischen den Anforderungen der Wachstumsstrategie und der Supply-Chain-Gestaltung zu erreichen, bedarf es einer Aufbereitung der Wechselwirkungen zwischen der Wachstumsstrategie und den Supply Chain Methoden. Ausgehend von dieser Problemstellung wurde ein Modellansatz entwickelt, welche die Interdependenzen zwischen den Wachstumsstrategien und den Gestaltungselementen der Supply Chain darstellt. Im Rahmen des Konzeptes werden anhand der vier Handlungsfelder (Prozess, Struktur, Collaboration und IT) aufgezeigt, wie ein Unternehmen eine an die Wachstumsstrategie angepasste Supply-Chain-Gestaltung vornehmen kann.

Zugl.: Münster (Westf.), Universiẗat, Diss., 2008.

Zugl.: Potsdam, Universiẗat, Diss., 2008.