Guest editorial

Citation

Toyli, J., Lorentz, H. and Ojala, L. (2013), "Guest editorial", International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 43 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPDLM.00543daa.001

Guest editorial

Article Type: Guest editorial From: International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Volume 43, Issue 4

The Operations & Supply Chain Management (formerly Logistics) Group at the Turku School of Economics at the University of Turku, organized the 24th NOFOMA Conference on 7-8 June 2012, in Naantali, Finland. Almost 150 participants, coming from over 20 countries and representing over 30 nationalities, attended the conference. This is a testimony that the initially Nordic gathering evolved into a truly international event.

Also this year, a variety of both qualitative and quantitative approaches were represented. As can be seen from the word cloud made of the book of abstracts (Figure 1), “logistics” still looms large in the contents, followed by “supply chains” and “transport” with a long tail of numerous relevant management, development and performance issues.

Figure 1 The “word cloud” from NOFOMA 2012 book of abstracts based on 54 full papers and 30 work-in-progress submissions

The Scientific Committee selected the best papers of NOFOMA 2012 from a shortlist of about ten of the most promising full paper submissions. The Scientific Committee comprised Professors Christer Carlsson and Jan-Åke Törnroos from Åbo Akademi University, Professor Ulla Tapaninen from Turku University and the SI editors, Professor Juuso Töyli, Dr Harri Lorentz and Professor Lauri Ojala from Turku School of Economics.

SI editors chose candidates for this special issue based on the best paper selection for NOFOMA 2012. The SI editors and additional reviewers revised all five of the invited papers according to best journal standards. Additionally, the SI editors carefully selected additional reviewers from persons almost invariably at professorial levels. These additional reviewers complemented the reviewers that the NOFOMA conference originally used to score the submitted papers. After the iterative process between reviewers, authors and SI editors, and consultations with the IJPDLM European editors, three papers eventually to this special issue.

Patrik Jonsson and Stig-Arne Mattsson from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, author the first paper. The initial version of this paper received the NOFOMA 2012 best paper award. Through a simulation study the authors show that the value of information sharing in operative inventory control varies widely depending on the type of information shared and on the demand type. The results also indicate cases when information sharing is not valuable and question some previous research on information sharing.

The second paper by Andreas Wieland from Technische Universität Berlin and Carl Marcus Wallenburg from Otto Beisheim School of Management, Germany, investigates the effects of relational competencies on resilience, and what type of effect resilience, in turn, has on customer value in supply chains. This empirical research utilises confirmatory approach and survey data collected from manufacturing firms from three countries. The data is analysed using structural equation modelling. The relational view serves as the theoretical basis to explain the effects between three types of relational competencies (communication, cooperation, and integration) and the robustness and agility dimensions of resilience.

The third and final paper is authored by Erik Hofmann and Kerstin Lampe from University of St Gallen, Switzerland. This paper demonstrates the potential of financial analysis relating to logistics service providers (LSPs). With a sample of 150 quoted LSPs from all over the world, the authors analyse the financial structure of LSPs. The findings indicate segment-dependent financial characteristics and show that LSPs can follow different approaches in pursue of profitability. A detailed balance sheet analysis using contingency theory and correlation analysis are used as analysis method.

Be inspired by these papers addressing important topics in our field!

In Turku, 20 December 2012

Juuso Töyli, Harri Lorentz, Lauri Ojala
Guest Editors