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The purpose of this paper is to find out the current SCM skill development priorities in manufacturing firms and how the structural properties of the supply chain translate into demand for SCM skills in manufacturing firms.

An internet survey was designed and conducted. The responses of 154 manufacturing companies operating in Finland were analysed through descriptive statistics and regression analyses.

The supply chain management skills with an inter‐organisational focus tend to have a higher development priority than the skills with an intra‐organisational focus. The top five skills for development are: demand forecasting and supply planning; sourcing and supplier management; customer and distribution channel management; production planning and control; and information systems for logistics and production planning. Structural properties of the supply chain seem to have an effect on skills that are related to supply chain design and information flow infrastructure, i.e. the ability to locate the various nodes in the network, and to connect and coordinate their respective activities in the face of often uncertain demand.

The results are based on survey research with a limited sample size and geographic coverage with bias towards large firms. The research scope is further limited to investigating the influence of structural properties of the supply chain, leaving opportunities for further research on the demand for SCM skills.

The authors report original findings that provide input to the development processes of training programmes and university curricula, related to supply chain management. They also initiate theory development on the determinants of demand for SCM skills.

The purpose of this paper is twofold, first providing researchers with an overview about the uncertainties occurred in procurement including applicable approaches for analyzing different uncertain scenarios, and second proposing directions to inspire future research by identifying research gaps.

Papers related to supply chain risk management and procurement risk management (PRM) from 1995–2017 in several major databases are extracted by keywords and then further filtered based on the relevance to the topic, number of citations and publication year. A total of over 156 papers are selected. Definitions and current approaches related to procurement risks management are reviewed.

Five main risks in procurement process are identified. Apart from summarizing current strategies, suggestions are provided to facilitate strategy selection to handle procurement risks. Seven major future challenges and implications related PRM and different uncertainties are also indicated in this paper.

Procurement decisions making under uncertainty has attracted considerable attention from researchers and practitioners. Despite the increasing awareness for risk management for supply chain, no detail and holistic review paper studied on procurement uncertainty. Managing procurement risk not only need to mitigate the risk of price and lead time, but also need to have sophisticated analysis techniques in supply and demand uncertainty.

The contribution of this review paper is to discuss the implications of the research findings and provides insight about future research. A novel research framework is introduced as reference guide for researchers to apply innovative approach of operations research to resolve the procurements uncertainty problems.

Poor access to healthcare and increasing demand for services represent a management dilemma how to balance between needs and costs. Scrutinising the concept of demand management and using a case study from Finnish primary care, the purpose of this paper is to examine the complexities of managing demand for health services.

Convenience has explained the popularity of walk-in clinics (WIC), making it an attractive demand management tool. By analysing the quantitative service utilisation data of frequent attenders at WIC, the paper exemplifies what enhanced access to care means for demand management of public welfare services.

High user rates and satisfaction indicate demand for this type of service; however, the establishment of WIC provided supplementary care for the high users of health services, most suffering chronic diseases.

Better understanding of the structure of service demand is needed in order to develop a more coordinated service system and to manage demand for public welfare services.

The study demonstrates the importance of identifying service utilisation patterns in managing demand. Instead of single solutions, a wider system-level perspective is essential.

Managing demand and facilitating access are core primary care attributes but there is little evidence about the impact of demand management strategies. The paper ties together important healthcare management issues: how to control demand and improve the access? Moreover, few studies have examined the frequent attendance at WIC. This paper presents a practical illustration of demand management tool and indicates some demand management problems to be considered in healthcare management.

The purpose of this research is to argue that a number of organisations focused their efforts on developing sophisticated supply chains such that their managerial focus became myopic, and many lost sight of their markets and their customers, missing the fact that the customers, failing to realise their expectations, switched their loyalties. Thus it is argued here that it is essential to understand the demand chain prior to making supply chain structure decisions.

The first step is to reinforce the point that both supply chain management and demand chain management are about process management. The second step is to re‐validate the notion of the demand chain as a separate entity from the supply chain.

It is interesting to postulate that the differences between the demand chain‐led organization and the supply chain‐led organisation are based on emphasis. The paper attempts to make this point by suggesting that, while supply chain management is to a degree customer‐focused, the emphasis is on efficiency. Management concern is cost‐led and attempts to provide an adequate level of service. The danger here is that customers may be “aggregated” or fitted into categories that appear to be nearly relevant. Thus the link between supplier relationship management and customer relationship management is tenuous. By contrast the demand chain approach is a broader view of relationship management, taking a view that supplier and customer relationship management overlap, and that effective management is to integrate the two. If this is achieved, it results in bringing often conflicting objectives more closely together.

Contrasting the demand chain approach as a broader view of relationship management, and taking the view that effective management is to integrate the two. The view is that, if this is achieved, it results in bringing often conflicting objectives more closely together. Clearly more research is needed before such a view can be held with conviction.

This paper argues that a number of organisations focused their efforts on developing sophisticated supply chains such that their managerial focus became myopic, and many lost sight of their markets and their customers, missing the fact that the customers, failing to realise their expectations, switched their loyalties.

It is argued here that it is essential to understand the demand chain prior to making supply chain structure decisions.

The literature review aims to facilitate a broader understanding of on-demand service platform operations management and proposes potential research directions for scholars.

This study searches four databases for relevant literature on on-demand service platform operations management and selects 72 papers for this review. According to the research context, the literature can be divided into research on “a single platform” and research on “multiple platforms”. According to the research methods, the literature can be classified into “Mathematical Models”, “Empirical Studies”, “Multiple Methods” and “Literature Review”. Through comparative analysis, we identify research gaps and propose five future research agendas.

This paper proposes five research agendas for future research on on-demand service platform operations management. First, research can be done to combine classic research problems in the field of operations management with platform characteristics. Second, both the dynamic and steady-state issues of on-demand service platforms can be further explored. Third, research employing mathematical models and empirical analysis simultaneously can be more fruitful. Fourth, more research efforts on the various interactions among two or more platforms can be pursued. Last but not least, it is worthwhile to examine new models and paths that have emerged during the latest development of the platform economy.

Through categorizing the literature into two research contexts as well as classifying it according to four research methods, this article clearly shows the research progresses made so far in on-demand service platform operations management and provides future research directions.

The purpose of this paper is to report findings from a major UK research project covering six agri‐food supply chains, each spanning from farm to consumer.

The paper gives an overview of relevant literature out of which three research questions are posed. The research methodology is then outlined, followed by an overview of the methods used to collect and analyse the case study data. A summary of the research findings is then presented followed by a discussion of the findings in the context of the research questions. The paper concludes with an assessment of the validity of the research followed by some tentative suggestions regarding the need for, and potential benefits of, improving demand management in agri‐food chains.

The research has found that demand management is an area, which in practice is beset by difficulties and inefficiencies, which in turn affects the operational performance of the supply chains. Analysis of the characteristics of demand along the chains demonstrates a propensity for misalignment of demand and activity due to issues such as demand amplification and inappropriate production policies. The paper also identifies a number of operational inefficiencies and inconsistencies, which typically occur in the information systems and data handling procedures within these chains.

Suggestions are given as to how demand management processes could be improved through cooperative efforts across the supply chain.

The field of supply chain management (SCM) evolves dramatically due to factors of globalization, innovation, sustainability, and technology. These changes raise challenges not only to higher education institutions, but also to students, employing organizations, and third parties like SCM-related professional bodies. To understand the challenge, the purpose of this paper is to examine the gap between demand and supply of SCM-related knowledge areas, answer-related design questions, and make recommendations to close the gaps.

To compare the demand and supply of SCM-related knowledge areas, demand data is collected from a professional career website and supply data is gathered from operations management (OM) and SCM course syllabi from AACSB-accredited business schools in the USA. Cluster analysis identifies how supply and demand are matched on the data collected.

First, gaps exist between SCM talent requirements from industry and the knowledge/skill training by US business schools. This paper identifies matching, under-supplying, and over-supplying knowledge areas. Under-supply in emerging areas such as SCM information technology and certain logistics management topics are found. Some traditional OM topics are over-supplied due to out-of-date industry applications and should be revised to reflect the field’s transition from an OM to SCM view. Last, this paper makes recommendations to different stakeholders in this matching supply with demand process.

This study contributes to the literature in two ways. First, it provides an up-to-date understanding on demand and supply of SCM talent in USA. Second, it provides insights and recommendations not only to educators on curriculum design, but also to potential candidates interested in SCM careers, to companies’ job recruiters, and to professional organizations (such as APICS and Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals) to reduce the gaps between demand and supply.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the problems with demand management in fresh food value chains and to propose a framework for demand analysis and improved demand management.

The paper draws on empirical evidence from multiple case studies undertaken in the UK food industry.

Evidence from the case studies indicates a consistent misalignment of demand and supply, due to demand amplification, poor production systems and inconsistencies with information and data handling procedures.

The case study evidence is limited to the UK context and is therefore unlikely to be representative of the global situation in fresh food value chains. The proposed framework is based on the case study evidence but has not been formally tested.

More collaboration, information sharing and joint planning from primary production through to retailing is critical if fresh food value chains are to function efficiently and effectively in retail environments where promotional activity creates significant uncertainty.

Demand management has received little attention to date, outside the industry framework of ECR. This paper is the first to propose a framework for improvement based on greater collaboration and joint planning that extends beyond the retailer‐manufacturer interface

This paper demonstrates, using empirical cases from the National Health Services (NHS), how existing practices in demand specification, procurement and supply management fail to address the significant problems caused by the misalignment of demand and supply. When examining internal demand management a number of problems arise including: product overspecification, premature establishment of design and specification, frequent changes in specification, poor demand information, fragmentation of spend, maverick buying, inter-departmental power and politics, and the risk-averse nature and culture of the organisation. It is argued that unless these problems are addressed and eliminated the NHS will not be in a position to select the most appropriate reactive or proactive approach from the range of sourcing options available. An improvement path that NHS Trusts might follow to achieve more efficient and effective procurement and supply management is outlined.

This paper aims to assess the links among these demand chain constructs by conducting a full-scale systematic review of all demand chain management (DCM) literature reviews published in marketing and operations management journals from 2013 to 2020. Marketing and supply chain management are central to DCM; thus, this study briefly describes the contributions to knowledge provided by the papers contained in this issue. In addition, some additional areas of research in which the DCM can be gainfully deployed are outlined.

This paper makes a systematic literature review of 70 literature samples by means of content analysis and comprehensive analysis. These approaches guarantee a replicable, rigorous and transparent research process and minimize researcher bias. The analytical categories required for the content analysis are defined along the constructs of marketing and supply chain management.

As can be expected, this paper highlights the key role of the two constructs in the strategy of DCM. In this light, the paper claims to provide evidence of a link between the constructs of marketing and supply chain management. This paper reviews the connotation of DCM through literature review, distinguishes the relationship between DCM and supply chain management from a strategic management perspective and discusses the future research direction.

This study assesses the link between the strategic constructs of marketing and supply chain management through research embedded in literature reviews, pinpointing research gaps and potential future research directions in the field. Contributing to DCM theory building, a thorough review provides qualitative comparison of the link between marketing and supply chain management.

Although some literature reviews have been conducted in the past on the constructs of DCM, no full review of literature reviews aiming to test a strategic theoretical link in the demand chain related to supply chain and marketing.