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Blockchain is increasingly being considered for applications in operations and supply chain management. However, evidence from practice is still scarce on why, where and how organizations seek to apply the technology in the supply chain across different industries. The study develops a comprehensive framework to enhance understanding of the application areas of blockchain technology in the supply chain, as well as organizations' motivations in seeking blockchain solutions and relevant contingency factors influencing applications.

The authors investigate 50 use cases of blockchain applications in the supply chain, covering six industries. Contingency theory is applied in conducting a qualitative textual and correlation analysis to identify and compare blockchain adoption motivations, application areas and contingency factors across different industries.

The analysis develops an evidence-based framework that captures ten principal motivations in seeking blockchain solutions, three main blockchain application areas along with important application sub-categories and five clusters of contingency factors that influence blockchain deployment and its uses in different industrial sectors.

The study expands the limited cross-sectoral research on blockchain applications and motivations in the supply chain. Using contingency theory, it presents a comprehensive framework that captures the drivers and factors relating to blockchain adoption in the supply chain in a nomological network. The study lays the foundation for further theoretical perspectives and empirical research to investigate relevant sectoral characteristics and their importance for different types of blockchain application in the supply chain.

The study informs practitioners about potential supply chain application areas that can be enhanced through blockchain technology, taking account of the specific characteristics of their products, business and manufacturing processes, supply network configurations, industry standards, regulations and market demand.

The study is the first to provide cross-sectoral evidence on the relevance of organizations' motivations and numerous contingency factors on blockchain application areas in the supply chain.

Supply chains evolve and change in size, shape and configuration, and in how they are coordinated, controlled and managed. Some supply chains are mature and relatively unchanging. Some are subject to significant change. New supply chains may emerge and evolve for a variety of reasons. The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of supply chain evolution and address the question “What makes a supply chain like it is?”

The paper analyses and develops key aspects, concepts and principal themes concerning the emergence and evolution of supply chains over their lifecycle.

The paper defines the supply chain lifecycle and identifies six factors that interact and may affect a supply chain over its lifecycle – technology and innovation, economics, markets and competition, policy and regulation, procurement and sourcing, supply chain strategies and re-engineering. A number of emergent themes and propositions on factors affecting a supply chain’s characteristics over its lifecycle are presented. The paper argues that a new science is needed to investigate and understand the supply chain lifecycle.

Supply chains are critical for the world economy and essential for modern life. Understanding the supply chain lifecycle and how supply chains evolve provides new perspectives for contemporary supply chain design and management.

The paper presents detailed analysis, critique and reflections from leading researchers on emerging, evolving and mature supply chains.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how organisational learning (OL) can occur through process improvement (PI) activities, leading to sustained improvements over time in the context of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The authors study PI practices in six engineering-oriented SMEs via interview-based case studies. The authors draw from a range of literature and use an OL conceptual framework informed by Crossan et al.’s (1999) 4I framework as an analytical lens.

The OL perspective provides new insights to conceptualise the nature of PI as a multi-level practice in SMEs. Effective PI practices within SMEs are shown to be consistent with OL concepts, enabling firms to translate individually identified improvement opportunities into organisational-level changes that result in sustained benefits. A new conceptual model is presented that explains how SMEs can learn through improvement activities. The key role of management support, both operational and strategic, is highlighted. It is necessary for management to provide sufficient PI opportunities to enable and sustain beneficial learning.

The study is based on a sample of engineering-oriented SMEs located in the UK. Further case-based, longitudinal, and survey-based research studies with firms of different types will enhance the generalisability of the findings, allowing the confirmation and extension of the new conceptual model.

The findings provide a theoretically underpinned framework for achieving OL in engineering-oriented SMEs through PI activities. The new model highlights the key mechanisms that enable learning from improvement activities. The findings highlight the key role played by management in introducing additional learning opportunities in the form of new business that requires exploratory learning. Without this, the reduction in improvement opportunities reduces the benefits that can be realised from PI.

OL provides a multi-level perspective to understanding how smaller firms are able to undergo systematic improvements and the support required to continually improve.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate vendor managed inventory (VMI) for the supply of medicines between distributors and hospitals to identify factors that may affect VMI adoption.

Two contrasting VMI initiatives involving five organizations (three hospitals, one distributor and one manufacturer/supplier) are studied. A case study method with semi-structured interviews is used with triangulation in data collection, site visits and document analysis to enhance reliability and validity. The cases are analyzed and compared with respect to hospital, supplier, product and supply chain integration characteristics.

A successful public sector VMI initiative and an unsuccessful private sector VMI initiative are identified. The public sector supplier focuses on improving service level while the private sector supplier seeks to strengthen relationships with a key customer. Hospital characteristics, including type of hospital, top management perspectives and the hospital’s willingness to share information, are critical in decisions on VMI initiation or termination. Relatively stable demand products are preferred for a VMI approach. Hospitals may perceive risks in VMI adoption for medicines as it involves relinquishing control of critical supplies and may result in “lock-in” with a particular supplier.

The cases have been conducted in one country, which may affect generalization of the findings. Wider empirical evidence from other countries in both developed and less developed regions will be beneficial.

VMI is advocated as being beneficial in many supply contexts. However, it is challenging to implement. The study identifies factors that affect the adoption of VMI for hospital pharmaceuticals and provides guidance on initiating VMI in a hospital context.

The potential for VMI in public health projects to enable greater access to critical medicines is highlighted.

The paper provides supply side and demand side perspectives on VMI adoption in an important sector. It highlights the need for greater understanding of the perceived and actual risks in VMI from the perspective of both the hospital and the supplier and for much clearer advice on which pharmaceutical products are appropriate for VMI control in a hospital context.

The world is changing – economically, technologically, politically, and socially. As an academic discipline, operations management (OM) is, almost by definition, close to practice. Are our OM research methods fit for purpose for the new age? This paper reflects on and develops the principal themes discussed in the “OM Methodology” Special Session at the 2011 EurOMA Conference in Cambridge, UK. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The emerging landscape in which future OM research will be conducted is discussed. The paper provides a range of perspectives on the research challenges facing the discipline with respect to what the authors research and how the authors research it. The range of methods open to us and their relative merits and challenges are debated.

The traditional research divide between quantitative modelling, often normative in outlook, and the more reflective modes of qualitative enquiry, with a wide spectrum of empirical work in between, is reflected in the different academic traditions, groupings, conferences, and publications across the discipline. Research should not be driven by methodological convenience but by the needs of a changing world. Rather than a sterile “quants versus qual” debate, the paper argues that a rich diversity of approaches can provide a reinforcing cycle to generate relevant, interesting and exciting research underpinned by robust and valid theory.

The paper presents detailed reflections from leading researchers on contemporary and future OM research, arguing that research approaches must evolve that reflect the new realities to further enhance OM as a theoretically sound and practically relevant discipline.

The study seeks to classify retailer‐driven clothing supply networks to provide new insights on their structure and operation and examine whether or not differences are evident in the types of networks operated by different types of retailer.

A large‐scale empirical investigation is conducted of 73 supply networks operating with 26 Sri Lankan apparel manufacturers, representing 39 major retailers. In‐depth interviews and survey methods are used, representing qualitative and quantitative approaches, respectively.

Six primary types of clothing supply network are identified. A strong association is shown between retailer type and network type, specifically for networks operated by established brand retailers and by value players such as supermarket retailers. The typical attributes of the supply networks of each type of retailer are compared.

Although the empirical study is large, it is limited to supply networks with prime manufacturing partners located in Sri Lanka. The country is important in global clothing production, serving many prominent global retailers. Studying and comparing supply networks anchored in other regions will provide a valuable comparison with the findings here.

The study has implications for clothing retailers in analyzing, managing and developing their networks. For manufacturers, it provides insights to understand the network structures operated by different types of retailer for different classes of garment. The study also offers insights for policy makers in clothing producing regions.

A new empirically based classification is presented for clothing supply networks. The diversity in network types has not previously been shown. The comparison of networks of established brand retailers and value players provides empirical evidence of differences not reported previously. The findings enrich both the theoretical and empirical bases for sector‐specific supply network studies.

For manufacturing enterprises, today's business environment is characterised by globally dispersed supply and manufacturing networks. In addition, the level of variety in products continues to increase in almost all sectors. Greater understanding of the management of product variety in international operations is required. Aims to discuss this issue.

A generic simulation model representing a multinational corporation (MNC) supply chain is used to investigate the impact on supply chain performance of increasing product variety in combination with supply lead‐time and demand uncertainty in an international setting. The simulation focuses on the upstream activities of production planning, inbound supply and manufacturing. The structure and logic of the simulation model are based on insights obtained from an empirical study of real MNC supply networks.

The study shows that increasing the level of product variety has a detrimental impact on supply chain performance. In the presence of supply lead‐time and demand uncertainty, high levels of variety result in much longer flow times and much higher system inventory relative to more stable conditions. The impact is greatest when variety involves critical materials which are required early in the production process and that entail long set‐up times.

The study could be extended to incorporate more advanced inventory control models, the inclusion of downstream activities, multiple manufacturing sites and multiple potential supply routes.

Implications for the selection of suppliers and for inventory control policies are discussed in the context of international operations. The potential value of postponement strategies and the need in some cases for fundamental product and process redesign to mitigate the negative impacts of variety are highlighted.

Managing product variety in the context of international operations has received very little attention to date in the research literature. This study quantifies the potential impact of increasing product variety on supply chain performance in an international setting.

Identifies the need for a formal procedure to generate a reference state when conducting qualitative simulation studies. A procedure for generating a reference state is presented and justified. The procedure considers output performance indicators, steady state conditions, system capacity and model validity. Its application is illustrated using a simulation model for an order fulfillment process. The calibration process is necessarily iterative and subjective to some degree and in general does not generate a unique reference state. The impact of using different reference states in a simulation experiment is illustrated. In general the results are consistent when interpreted qualitatively in terms of direction, trend and order of magnitude. The approach is most applicable for qualitative simulation studies where comparative performance is being investigated and where precise numerical estimation is not required. However the procedure is also applicable to the study of real systems where data is not available.

Manufacturers across many sectors increasingly operate in high variety environments. Research evidence suggests that variety has a negative impact on performance. However, the research literature is limited on the enablers that allow variety to be managed effectively and efficiently at the “front‐end” of an organisation and in quotation processes in particular.

This paper presents case analysis of the quotation processes from manufacturers operating in high‐variety environments. Qualitative process modelling tools have been developed to allow representation of process complexities and informal process elements.

Findings are presented on generic mechanisms for absorbing and mitigating the impact of variety on quotation processes. A generic quotation process model is presented comprising four key decisions centres: customization request initiation and information gathering on customer needs, classification of requests, resource control, and identification of information for reuse.

The implications of the study for the automation of quotation processes in high variety and mass customization environments are discussed and it is speculated that different decision centres will dominate in different environments.

The generic model developed by this research offers insight into the functioning of the core process elements of the quotation system. Reviewing an organisation's structure and the information systems infrastructure supporting these decision centres should lead to the identification of potential system or reorganisation improvements.