Lutz Kaufmann

Behavioral supply management: A taxonomy of judgment and decision-making biases

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review and integrate the extensive literature base which examines judgment and decision‐making biases, to introduce this literature to the field of supply management, to create a valid, mutually exclusive, and exhaustive taxonomy of decision biases that can affect supply managers, and to provide guidance for future research and applications of this taxonomy.Design/methodology/approach – The authors use a qualitative cluster analysis, combined with a Q‐sort methodology, to develop a taxonomy of decision biases.Findings – A mutually exclusive, and exhaustive taxonomy of nine decision biases is developed through a qualitative cluster analysis. The Q‐sort methodology provides initial confirmation of the reliability and validity of the cluster analysis results. The findings, along with numerous examples provided in the text, suggest that supply management decisions are vulnerable to the described biases.Originality/value – This paper provides a comprehensive review of ...

Purchasing and Supply Management— A Conceptual Framework

„Everyone can do purchasing“. This traditional attitude, prevalent in practice and theory alike, was one of the major roadblocks in the development of professional supply management. Compared to other business functions, for quite some time purchasing has lacked adequate recognition as a major contributor to achieving sustainable competitive advantages.

Increasing the rigor of grounded theory research – a review of the SCM literature

Purpose – This study aims to examine the quality of the extant supply chain management (SCM) research which has utilized a grounded theory (GT) approach. The purpose of this research is to better understand the current state of the field, by introducing and highlighting the distinctions between the Glaserian and Straussian schools of thought and examining the extent to which existing SCM research has either complied with or diverged from the six dimensions which distinguish the two schools of thought. By doing so, it aims to provide guidelines to both reviewers and researchers who might use GT in future studies, with the goal of improving the validity and rigor of GT research.Design/methodology/approach – The method underlying this paper followed the steps of a systematic literature review process. GT works within leading SCM journals were examined to determine the extent to which they complied with the methodological tenets of GT.Findings – The systematic literature review shows that, while the use of GT...

Debiasing the supplier selection decision: a taxonomy and conceptualization

Purpose – The authors perform a large‐scale review of debiasing literature with the purpose of deriving a mutually exclusive and exhaustive debiasing taxonomy. This taxonomy is used to conceptualize debiasing activities in the supplier selection process. For each supplier selection‐debiasing construct, scale items are proposed.Design/methodology/approach – A systematic classification approach was used to build a debiasing taxonomy, combined with a Q‐methodology.Findings – Based on the developed and externally validated debiasing taxonomy, five debiasing activities for the supplier selection context are derived. The conceptual investigation of these supplier selection‐oriented debiasing measures helps both researchers and supply managers to gain a better understanding of debiasing mechanisms and to effectively further improve the supplier selection process by integrating behavioral aspects.Originality/value – This research extends the taxonomy of decision biases developed by Carter, Kaufmann, and Michel, b...

Constraints to Building and Deploying Marketing Capabilities by Emerging Market Firms in Advanced Markets

Firms can achieve a competitive advantage across different institutional environments by building and deploying marketing capabilities (MCs)—that is, their ability to sense and meet customers’ demands. However, internationalizing emerging markets firm have preferred different sources of competitive advantage thus far. Drawing from marketing research and the resource-based view of the firm, this article investigates the antecedents for building and deploying MCs by Chinese firms in Europe. Using a qualitative research approach, the authors find that deficiencies in motivation, opportunity, and ability constrain these firms from shifting to more marketing-driven business models. The authors also identify the underlying reasons for each of these antecedents, including causal ambiguity and inertia. The derived theoretical framework specifies the constraining effects of different levels of motivation, opportunity, and ability on the building and deployment of MCs in firms from emerging markets as they evolve from one stage of international marketing to another.

The impact of individual debiasing efforts on financial decision effectiveness in the supplier selection process

Purpose – The nascent behavioral supply management (BSM) research stream has raised the level of attention given to deviations from the standard assumptions of the rational paradigm in economics. The adaptation of cognitive heuristics, which add vulnerability to judgment and decision making, creates a pressing need to identify and develop mitigation strategies to debias decision making in the supply chain management environment. The purpose of this paper is to investigate debiasing measures, corresponding contextual variables in the supplier selection process, and their implications for financial decision effectiveness.Design/methodology/approach – The authors used a large‐scale empirical survey among 306 buyers to investigate the relationships among individual and organizational contextual factors, debiasing measures in the supplier selection decision, and the financial effectiveness of the supplier selection decision.Findings – It was found that organizational and individual contextual factors have diff...

Using a multiple-informant approach in SCM research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review the current state of survey-based SCM research that employs a multiple-informant perspective. Recommendations on how to rigorously conduct such research are developed, strengths and limitations discussed, and opportunities for advancing the discipline through this approach identified. Design/methodology/approach – A systematic literature review (SLR) of 1,048 articles published in five leading SCM journals within a seven-year time frame is conducted. Findings – The review shows that multiple-informant studies are still largely under-represented. Yet this approach more accurately depicts the multi-faceted nature of SCM. Specific requirements of this approach need to be considered throughout the research process, from unit of analysis, sampling frame, and data collection to analytic strategy. Research limitations/implications – Taking into account the often complex, dynamic actor networks in which SCM phenomena are embedded may provide new insights, especiall...

Author Affiliation in Supply Chain Management and Logistics Journals: 2008-2010

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to extend a series of studies dating back to 1967 that evaluates faculty publication productivity in refereed supply chain management and logistics journals.Design/methodology/approach – Publication output and rankings of academic institutions are based on publication data from six supply chain management and logistics journals from 2008 through 2010. The results are compared to prior studies to identify trends and changes in the rankings. The authors also assess author collaboration influences as well as authorship diversity. Finally, the authors examine further changes to the core set of journals considered for future iterations of this study.Findings – The results indicate that supply chain management and logistics authorship continues to be dynamic. Several schools entered the top 25 ranking for the first time and others substantially improved their rankings. While higher‐ranked schools engage in more collaboration within their own institutions, they practice les...

Social network analysis in supply chain management research

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate when and how to best use social network analysis (SNA) in the supply chain management (SCM) discipline. In doing so, the study identifies SCM phenomena that have been examined from a social network perspective (SNA approach) in the SCM literature and highlights additional SCM phenomena that would be worth investigating using social network research. Then, the study critically investigates the application of SNA as a methodology (SNA method), with the goal of assessing and mitigating methodological risks in future studies. Design/methodology/approach This study carries out a systematic literature review of articles published in 11 top-tier SCM journals over a 20-year period. Findings First, while social network research has gained momentum especially since 2010, scholars are not yet entirely aware of the many possibilities the SNA approach offers to the SCM field. Second, expanded possibilities also hold for the development of SNA as a method. Originality/value The paper guides future SCM research by investigating when SNA is the right approach to use and how SNA as a method should be performed. Theoretically richer and practically more relevant research should result.

Consensus on supplier selection objectives in cross-functional sourcing teams

Purpose – A key driver of procurement effectiveness is the alignment of the procurement function with interlinked functions, such as R & D, engineering, production, and marketing. In the strategic management literature, the degree of alignment of individual team members on strategic objectives is termed “consensus.” The purpose of this paper is to investigate antecedents of consensus on objectives in cross-functional sourcing teams, the relationship between the degree of consensus and supplier performance, and moderators of the consensus-performance relationship. To do so, it ties strategic management literature to SCM and supplier selection research. As a result of these investigations, this research holistically introduces the concept of consensus to the discipline. Design/methodology/approach – The study analyzes a sample of 88 sourcing teams (233 team members) from three manufacturing companies using regression analysis and moderated regressions. Findings – Consensus on objectives for supplier selecti...