Professorship for Global Supply Chain Management

Juri Reich, Ph.D., from the Department of Global Supply Chain Management, along with Professors Aseem Kinra, Herbert Kotzab, and Xavier Brusset, has published a new study in the International Journal of Production Research on the introduction of decision support systems (DSS) into the decision-making process of global supply chain management. The study, called - Strategic global supply chain network design - how decision analysis combining MILP and AHP on a Pareto front can improve decision-making - contributes with an innovative decision support framework that combines Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP), Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Pareto front approaches during a case study in the medical device industry.

Prof. Dr. Aseem Kinra (Chair of Global Supply Chain Management) and PhD student Samaneh Beheshti-Kashi (LogDynamics IGS, BIBA), in collaboration with other international colleagues, have published a new study on big data analytics and driverless mobility adoption in Transport Policy. The study explores the potential of AI and machine learning techniques in transport policy decision making using a real-world case study of driverless mobility policy making.

The research applies automated text and content analytic techniques such as topic modeling, document classification, and sentiment analysis on unstructured data forms such as newspaper articles and tweets, and identifies key concerns or factors related to the adoption of driverless vehicles. The results enrich the literature and the Road Directorate's decision-making for the future deployment of driverless car technology by, among other things, highlighting labor market effects that are a major concern for the public.

Prof. Dr. Aseem Kinra (Chair of Global Supply Chain Management), in collaboration with colleagues from Copenhagen Business School (Prof. Kim Hald and Raghava Mukkamala) and Ryerson University (Prof. Ravi Vatrapu), has published a new article on measuring countries' logistics performance in the International Journal of Operations and Production Management.

In this article, the authors explain the design of a novel textual analytics approach built on unstructured Big Data. The developed approach not only provides results in the form of logistics performance ratings, but also contributes to the development of more informed weightings of different categories of logistics performance that are missing in existing approaches. Moreover, the approach tackles the benchmarking task with reasonable accuracy and generates useful assessments from a management and policy-making perspective.

Professor Alexandre Bohas together with Professors Aseem Kinra, and Michael J. Morley have published a new study with the title "Perlmutter revisited: revealing the anomic mindset” in the Journal of International Business Studies. The study highlights cognitive constraints and behaviors of managers that should be considered when managing global business processes. The discrepancy uncovered between internationally operating companies and their decision makers in the global value creation environment opens up interesting perspectives for decision making and information structures in global SCM.  It raises questions of how the identified behavioral patterns affected local and global rationalities and preferences should be considered for the completeness of the strategic global SC decisions. Similarly, culturally driven technology adoption and interpretation patterns should be considered in order to reflect the complexity of the digitalized global SCM reality.

Prof. Aseem Kinra (Professorship of Global Supply Chain Management) in collaboration with Prof. Werner Rothengatter (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) and Prof. Füsun Ulengin (Sabanci University) have recently published a special issue (SI) and editorial in the Transport Policy journal.

The SI titled “Advances in thoughts and approaches for transport and logistics systems performance evaluation” aims to restore the discussion about transport system analysis and the integration of logistics performance assessment in conjunction with their impacts on transport policy making for a sustainable future.

The SI addresses how policy makers can assess logistics performance during transportation investment decisions and how logistics costs can be aggregated into macro-level measurement indicators taking into account globalisation, digitalization and sustainability. Furthermore, the editorial analyses and evaluates which industry- and sector practices lead to increased macro logistics performance at regional and country levels; and whether digitization substitute or complement the existing user preferences and value propositions in Port logistics.