Mihalis Giannakis

Facilitating learning and knowledge transfer through supplier development

Purpose – This paper aims to explore how supplier development programmes can be adapted to create value for organisations through generation and transfer of knowledge between supply chain partners.Design/methodology/approach – Based on the existing literature on supplier development, knowledge transfer and learning and on the interaction model of the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing group, certain factors that condition learning and knowledge transfer through supplier development programmes are discussed and a conceptual framework for improving knowledge transfer is developed. Empirical research is conducted in four large multinational organisations, exploring how supply chain partners can better utilise their capabilities and facilitate knowledge transfer through these programmes.Findings – Several organisational and relational factors that affect the success of knowledge transfer in supplier development programmes are identified and discussed and several management practices are proposed to enhance t...

Management of service supply chains with a service‐oriented reference model: the case of management consulting

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the utility of the manufacturing biased supply chain operations reference (SCOR) tool in services and develops a reference model for use in service organisations.Design/methodology/approach – Services are considered as supply chain processes that are balanced around the capacity of the firm through the upstream sourcing processes. Empirical research is undertaken to model the design, creation and delivery processes of a management consultancy as a supply chain and to identify the potential application and benefits of the tool in a service context.Findings – The developed model conceptualises the capacity of service firms as a resource inventory to build a service offering. This inventory‐capacity duality that describes a service firms capabilities is applicable across a wide spectrum of the service sector. Six major processes for the design and management of service supply chains are identified: plan, source, develop, adapt, operate, and recover.Research limitations/i...

An examination of a modular supply chain: a construction sector perspective

Purpose: This paper aims to present research which explores the application of modular practices and principles within a construction sector supply chain to demonstrate the degree to which supply chain practices are aligned with modular construction. Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses an exploratory case study approach to examine a construction supply chain from module manufacturer through to module client. Each member of the supply chain was involved in the provision of a modular hospital in the United Kingdom. Findings: The findings suggest that there is a need to increase supply chain integration to ensure that modular solutions can compete more effectively with traditional, on-site solutions and overcome some of the negative attributes associated with modular buildings. Research limitations/implications: The study has focused on the key stages of a modular supply chain in order to identify the application of supply chain practices within the context of modular operations. Suppliers need to balance the inherent limitations associated with modular product architecture with the increasing needs of module clients for more bespoke modular solutions. Practical implications: The paper provides useful insights into the dynamics of modular supply chain operations, which illustrate the difficulties associated with integrating modular operations and competing with the traditional on-site construction, which currently dominates the sector. Originality/value: The main theoretical argument put forward in this paper centres on the need for greater levels of supplier integration amongst suppliers to the modular construction industry. The study is one of the first to explore supply chain integration through the lens of a single modular supply chain and contributes to knowledge in this growing area through the development of a number of tools to position potential and current module suppliers.

A multi-agent based system with big data processing for enhanced supply chain agility

Purpose Decision support systems are becoming an indispensable tool for managing complex supply chains. The purpose of this paper is to develop a multi-agent-based supply chain management system that incorporates big data analytics that can exert autonomous corrective control actions. The effects of the system on supply chain agility are explored. Design/methodology/approach For the development of the architecture of the system, a sequential approach is adopted. First three fundamental dimensions of supply chain agility are identified – responsiveness, flexibility and speed. Then the organisational design of the system is developed. The roles for each of the agents within the framework are defined and the interactions among these agents are modelled. Findings Applications of the model are discussed, to show how the proposed model can potentially provide enhanced levels in each of the dimensions of supply chain agility. Research limitations/implications The study shows how the multi-agent systems can assist to overcome the trade-off between supply chain agility and complexity of global supply chains. It also opens up a new research agenda for incorporation of big data and semantic web applications for the design of supply chain information systems. Practical implications The proposed information system provides integrated capabilities for production, supply chain event and disruption risk management under a collaborative basis. Originality/value A novel aspect in the design of multi-agent systems is introduced for inter-organisational processes, which incorporates semantic web information and a big data ontology in the agent society.

The intellectual structure of the supply chain management discipline: A citation and social network analysis

Purpose – This paper aims to explore the way that the intellectual structure of the SCM discipline has been shaped over the last 20 years. The discipline is represented by the papers that are published in a network of ten leading academic journals in the field. As the SCM literature has grown, the analysis of the way that the characteristics of this network of journals have changed over time enables the identification of salient challenges facing SCM theory and practice for the new decade.Design/methodology/approach – A combination of social network and citation analyses among the selected journals is applied. Citations between and within journals are collected and analysed using social network analysis metrics, that assess the communication patterns between and among the journals, the cohesion of the network and the role that each of the journals has performed (and is acquiring) in the dissemination of knowledge.Findings – The analysis reveals that the current structure of the network of journals is char...

The massification of higher education in the UK: Aspects of service quality

This article explores several aspects of service quality for the provision of higher education. Alongside the trend of the massification of higher education over the past two decades, higher education institutions are required to review quality across a range of outputs, besides teaching and learning. The study was undertaken within the undergraduate placement programme of a UK higher education institution and investigated aspects of service quality through students’ surveys conducted over a five-year period and staff questionnaires and interviews. The findings of the study point out that, amongst other factors, the increase in student numbers implies a deterioration of higher education service quality. Based on the findings, several areas that can potentially improve the quality of higher education services in modern universities are identified.

The role of procurement in the management of supplier relationships

This paper explores the role of procurement in supplier relationships (SRs). Driven by the importance of outsourcing, there is a widespread awareness that procurement plays an important role in their management, yet there is still an incoherent view of what this role entails. The role of procurement is identified in this study by exploring how procurement managers conduct certain activities for the management of SRs that involve the exchange of products/services with different levels of asset specificity. The role is analysed and assessed in terms of four fundamental dimensions of SRs (trust, power, commitment and involvement). The findings reveal a far more limited role for procurement managers than what is advocated in the literature, especially for SRs that involve the exchange of products/services with high level of asset specificity and criticality. In light of the findings, certain profiles that can be adopted by procurement managers in specific contextual situations are identified and a guide to how procurement departments may be involved in an effective way in the management of SRs is proposed.

The design and delivery of modular legal services: implications for supply chain strategy

We explore how professional legal services and their supply chains can be modularised. Based on a review of the service modularity, supply chain modularity and supply chain strategy literature, we posit that the scope of service modularisation should be determined by, and aligned with, the supply chain strategy of a firm. We develop a conceptual framework that links the service and supply chain modular architectures with the supply chain strategy of service firms. The framework provides the foundation for an empirical confirmatory analysis through in-depth multiple case studies in 10 law firms in the UK. We identify the current status quo of service and supply chain architectures of professional legal services and then explore several options for their modularisation. Our findings show that legal services are currently over-customised, offering significant opportunities for the application of modularity across their supply chains. We generate insights to show how service modularity can be applied to the service offering, processes and supply chain levels of law firms. We also demonstrate the effects of each level of modularisation on the selection of appropriate interfaces and on the decomposability of services.

A mathematical programming-based method for heterogeneous multicriteria group decision analysis with aspirations and incomplete preference information

Abstract Aspirations, which serve as a performance target and simplify cognitive processes associated with decision making, are an important decision factor for individuals and organizations. However, this factor is usually ignored in traditional multicriteria decision making. This paper considers a multicriteria group decision making problem with aspirations and incomplete preference information, in which criteria values and aspirations accept multiple formats. To solve this problem, new consistency and inconsistency indices considering importance and interaction as well as aspirations of criteria are defined. Then, we propose a bi-objective intuitionistic fuzzy programming model to identify importance and interaction parameters, based on which, an individual ranking of alternatives can be elicited. Next, to elicit a group ranking of individuals, a flexible mix 0–1 nonlinear programming model of minimizing the inconsistencies between the group final ranking and the individual ranking is established by comprehensively considering both the majority and the minority principles. Finally, an example of selecting the best strategic freight forwarder is used to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed method, followed by a sensitivity analysis and a comparison analysis. The prominent advantages of the developed method are its ability to handle multiple preference information characterizing bounded rationality and nonadditive behaviors of decision makers as well as improve a cardinal inputs-based group decision making model.