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The purpose of this paper is to link crowdsourcing, operations management (OM) and project management (PM). The study demonstrates how crowdsourcing as an open innovation mechanism is operationalised within a complex PM context. Specifically, the study seeks to understand how crowdsourcing as a novel form of OM improves key outcomes.

The authors conducted exploratory research involving five pure-play crowdsourcing firms based in the USA and Australia.

The findings indicate that the firms practise a form of crowdsourcing that allows flexible, efficient and low risk operations and links to contemporary notions of PM such as projectification and project society. The crowd can be used in a new manner to boost success factors tied to PM through open innovation and operational novelty. In terms of OM, crowdsourcing offers flexibility, speed, dynamism and scalability to project processes.

This research is based on five case studies. Further fine-grained, longitudinal research is required to fully understand this phenomenon in a wider range of contexts.

The paper contributes to practices tied to open innovation and provides guidance on how organisations might use large crowds to enhance PM success.

The study represents early scholarship on crowdsourcing and project operations. It makes three contributions. First, the authors introduce a new theoretical framework linking PM and novel aspects of crowdsourcing to extend understandings of projectification, as well as open innovation frameworks. Second, the authors showcase the flexibility and fluidity of the crowdsourcing project process. Third, the authors examine crowdsourcing operations in terms of size, efficiency and scalability which results in timely and efficient output due to innovative technology, along with the element of trust among stakeholders.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a better understanding of how the supply chain structure (i.e. degree of vertical integration) of a focal organization shapes the breadth of its portfolio of technologies.

In total, three case studies were conducted involving key players in the Australian mass grocery retail sector. Each had a distinct supply chain structure (i.e. totally vertically disintegrated, partially vertically integrated and totally vertically integrated). Each supply chain case study included manufacturers or suppliers, transport and logistics service providers, wholesalers/distributors, as well as the mass grocery retail organizations. Interviews with key personnel from these organizations and other relevant information informed the findings and conclusions.

The information technologies employed by the three focal case organizations and their extended trading partners varied in terms of level, type, complexity and sophistication. The authors highlight how the choice of supply chain technologies is affected by supply chain structure (extent of vertical integration). The authors found that disintegrated supply chain structures have a broader portfolio of technologies, whereas integrated supply chains have a narrow portfolio.

This study is confined to three organizations in the Australian mass grocery retail sector, so any extensions should be made with caution.

The framework presented in this study can guide organizations in assessing the appropriateness of their supply chain portfolios of technologies with the structure of their supply chains. For standard setting bodies, the findings of this study suggest that technologies need to be tailored to the requirements of the supply chains, with the level of vertical integration being one easy way to segment the supply chain types.

The study adapts and extends the “arcs of integration” framework. The propositions enhance the understanding of how supply chain structure, in the form of degree of vertical integration influences an organization’s supply chain portfolio of technologies.

The aim of this research is to understand how customers perceive their logistics service providers in terms of achieving the claimed benefits of outsourcing. This paper is based on research focusing on the state of the 3PL (Third Party Logistics) industry in Australia.

A set of typical business outcomes to which logistics outsourcing is expected to contribute were identified. Customers were asked to rate the contribution of their principal 3PL to these performance indicators. We used competitive priorities of 3PLs, the services provided by them and technologies used by them as predictors and performed regression analysis for each of these.

The results indicate that customers of 3PLs place significant value on the services they provide, technologies they use and objectives that transcend just low cost. The implication of this final finding shows that customers see a focus on service based solutions as providing a set of benefits beyond mere cost control.

The main limitation of this paper is that it is confined to Australia. So, any extensions of the findings to other regions of the world should be done with caution.

The practical implication of the study is that it provides support for the potential for an effective set of arrangements with 3PLs to help organizations to move out of the world of pure cost based competition, and into one where they could compete on multiple dimensions.

This study provides evidence from customers of logistics service providers indicating that 3PLs provide them with a means for competing through greater flexibility, at the same time as enabling better‐cost management. In this sense, customers see 3PLs as providing them with a potential pathway to more innovative business models.

The purpose of this paper is to develop an understanding of the nature of collaborative arrangements that partners in Australian hospital supply chains use to manage inventories.

A case study involving a supply chain network of ten healthcare organisations (three pharmaceutical manufacturers, two wholesalers/distributors and five public hospitals) was studied. Data included 40 semi‐structured interviews, site visits and examination of documents.

This study highlights the existence of a variety of collaborative arrangements amongst supply chain partners such as the “Ward Box” system (a variant of the vender managed inventory system) between wholesalers/distributors and hospitals. The materials management departments were more willing than their pharmacy counterparts to participate in a variety of partial and complete outsourcing arrangements with wholesalers/distributors and other hospitals. Several contingent factors were identified that influenced development of collaborative arrangements.

This study is limited to the Australian healthcare sector. To improve generalisability, this study could be replicated in other industry sectors and countries.

Application of collaborative arrangements between manufacturers and wholesalers/distributors would improve inventory management practices across the supply chains. Also, learning from materials management departments could be transferable to pharmacy departments.

Several contingent variables for the implementation of collaborative inventory management arrangements between healthcare supply chain partners have been identified. Methodologically, data across three echelons in the supply chains (manufacturers, wholesalers/distributors and hospitals) were collected and analysed.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the implementation of e‐business processes in the procurement area of a healthcare supply chain when multiple stakeholders are involved.

A single longitudinal case study spanning three years is presented using data collected from interviews, participant observation, and documentary analysis.

This study identifies the lack of consistency and poor data quality as well as the global nature of suppliers as key issues in the e‐business implementation in the healthcare supply chain. It also points out the need for collaboration and trust for a successful implementation.

This study provides practitioners with a useful guide to the various technology‐related, management, and business issues that can arise during the implementation of e‐business processes in the context of supply chains involving multiple stakeholders.

This study is distinctive on two grounds: the longitudinal nature of the study over three years; and the wide variety of participants in the Monash Pharmacy Project (including a large general hospital pharmacy, pharmaceutical manufacturers, wholesalers, government regulatory agencies, and technology providers).

The aim of this review and of the papers in this special issue is to critically examine different approaches to teaching operations management (OM) in order to provoke and stimulate educators within the discipline.

The papers within this special issue include empirical assessments of a problem‐based learning enterprise resource planning (ERP) simulation; a computer‐based learning tool for material requirements planning (MRP); a simulation of assembly operations; an operations strategy innovation game; an extension of the production dice game; an experiential teaching method in different class settings; and problem‐based assessment methods in OM. A variety of data are used to support these empirical studies, including survey, interview, and observational data.

The papers within the special issue support the argument that OM is well‐suited to more applied methods of teaching focusing on the application of subject knowledge to real‐life situations through a variety of techniques.

It is hoped that this review and the papers within this special issue act to stimulate educators to re‐evaluate their approaches to teaching OM and encourage them to consider adopting experiential teaching methods, business simulations, role‐plays, group exercises, live cases, and virtual learning environments, instead of, or in addition to, the more conventional lectures that typically dominate many OM modules around the world.

A special issue on teaching OM appears timely given the significant changes to both the university landscape and to the nature of the discipline that we have witnessed over the last quarter of a century.