[Logprofs] Call for papers - Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, Special issue on Supply Chain Auditing

[Nicola Codner]

Call for papers

 

Supply Chain Management: An International Journal

 

Special issue on

Supply Chain Auditing 

 

 

 

Are Our Supply Chains "Healthy"?

 

Although there is a vast literature on supply chains and value streams,
closer investigation reveals a current shortfall in a very critical
area.  Business process engineering, lean supply and JIT all have their
advocates.  Tools and techniques include Method Study, OR, process
mapping, simulation and systems engineering.  But the mantra is always
biased and directed at showing that performance improvement is
achievable this way (with emphasis that this is the only way).  But what
is the present "health" of a particular value stream?  How does it
compare with its peers either in the same market sector, or worldwide?
How much does it lag behind the exemplars?  Along which performance
dimension is improvement most urgently required?  How do we know if the
promised enhancement has been delivered?  These questions are very
difficult to answer, hence the perceived shortfall in the literature.

 

So where are the comprehensive, robust supply chain audit methods which
will reliably answer such questions?  Such methods need to produce a
"rich picture" of that particular value stream under scrutiny.  It
should also provide detailed insights into the operations of the various
businesses within the chain.  If the audits are consistent between
different analysts and between different value streams, then
opportunities for improvement can be identified through rigorous
comparisons with other companies. However, developing such an approach
is challenging.

 

Looking well beyond individual value streams, it may be possible for an
audit method to generate comparative (horizontal) knowledge on a family
of value streams, rather than just being restricted to insular
(vertical) knowledge appropriate to a single supply chain.  If this is
possible, then the audit methodology may develop "new management
theory", thus identifying key pathways for companies to follow.  This
could be seen as a critical step as, despite 25 years of theory, many
companies still struggle with effective implementation of business
process improvement programmes.

 

Auditing of value streams has to concentrate on core business
performance metrics if the results are to be meaningful.  Hence such
indicators as price, quality, lead-time, customer service level, and
annual stock turns are highly important in peer comparison.  It follows
that supply chain auditing methodologies have to uncover sufficient
reliable and triangulated evidence to make value judgements which are
realistic, consistent and reliable.  An independent assessor needing to
use the audit results for either particular or general use thereby has
the necessary confidence level in the specific output.  Such
methodologies do exist, but some are still in embryo.  This Special
Issue is the first step in giving performance auditing researchers and
users a cohesive platform to display their capabilities.

 

Potential topics for papers

 

Topics sought include (but are not restricted to):

 

*                 Structured approaches for supply chain auditing.

*                 Critical review of supply chain auditing approaches.

*                 Positioning of supply chain auditing as a research
method.

*                 Selection of evaluation criteria for supply chain
auditing.

*                 Empirical applications of supply chain auditing
approaches.

*                 Longitudinal studies demonstrating the impact of
supply chain auditing.

*                 Cluster analysis to identify value chain
commonalities.

*                 Future directions for supply chain auditing

*                 Auditing Methods tailored to the pin-pointing of "best
practice"

*                 Exploiting auditing methods to generate new management
theory in supply chains.

 

Submission guidelines

All submissions should be made though Manuscript Central, following the
guidelines below:

 

Registering on Manuscript Central 

If you have not yet registered on Manuscript Central, please follow the
instructions below: 
*    Please log on to: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/scm
*    Click on 'Create Account'
*    Follow the on-screen instructions, filling in the requested details
before proceeding 
*    Your username will be your email address and you have to input a
password of at least 8 characters in length and containing two or more
numbers
*    Click 'Finish' and your account has been created

 Submitting an article to SCM on Manuscript Central 
* Please log on to SCM at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/scm with your
username and password. This will take you through to the Welcome page
* (To consult the Author Guidelines for this journal, click on the Home
Page link in the Resources column) 
* Click on the Author Centre button 
* Click on the submit a manuscript link which will take you through to
the Manuscript Submission page
* Complete all fields and browse to upload your article to the Supply
Chain Auditing special issue
* When all required sections are completed, preview your .pdf proof 
* Submit your manuscript

 

The deadline for submission is 31st October 2008

 

Guest Editors   

Dr. Andrew Potter, Logistics Systems Dynamics Group, Cardiff University,
UK. 
E-mail: PotterAT at Cardiff.ac.uk 

 

Dr. Paul Childerhouse, Department of Management Systems, Waikato
Management School, University of Waikato, New Zealand

E-mail: pchilder at waikato.ac.nz 

 

 

 

 

 


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