22 April 2017

Call for papers: "Supply Chains in the Network Economy"

For a special issue of the Journal of Supply Chain Relocation.

The characteristics of the new economy are causing changes in the activities of enterprises and in their approach to formulate strategies for competition. For almost 20 years, Porter’s classic value chain concept (Porter & Millar, 1985), concentrating on the configuration of the supply chain, has been a source of inspiration and a base for presenting new concepts of value creation in various types of business spheres. However, with the development of new organisational forms, the increasing importance of knowledge, and the use of both internal and external supply chain functions, the classic value chain concept has become untimely. The consequence of this has been the formulation of new value chain concepts, of which the most popular are: value store and value network (Stabel and Fjeldstand, 1998).

One reason for the failure of the classic value chain concept is that the importance of the supporting processes has been marginalised in most traditional enterprises. The source of value creation is the basic processes that constitute the actual value chain. Another observed trend in the new economy is the heterogonous market with an increasing focus on satisfying individualised customers’ needs. Here, the importance of supporting processes is evident but the classic value chain concept is still unsuitable. This problem is solved with the new value store concept.

The value store concept is based on applying knowledge to individual client issues. This is done using the assumptions of Deming’s classic PDCA (Deming, 1991). This approach requires a high degree of flexibility and support for the integration-based measures that are provided by the ancillary infrastructure, inseparable from the IS/IT systems. The value network concept, on the other hand, is deeply rooted in chaos theory and is most relevant to the new economy using network-related relationships. The three basic categories of value chain activity are related to the main areas of the core network processes: (1) Customer networks and relationship management systems, (2) Systems that support value creation, and (3) Operational Infrastructure.

The activities undertaken in these two areas complement each other to the extent that it is up to the customers’ current needs. Since customer expectations nowadays are characterised by high diversity and intensity, value creation should be viewed from a long-term relationship. This will require a move from creating ad hoc values and this will in turn create a source of flexibility and superiority over others. The value will not be generated directly by the network itself, but through mutual contacts and mediation between customers. In this case, the value chain is a collection of tools that support direct contacts of partners interested in the exchange process.

The solutions included in the value network concept allow customers to connect with each other. This makes the network a feature that is extremely important in the new economy. It is referred to as external network effects and is a spontaneous increase in the competitiveness of the network by increasing the number of users. This value is derived from the synergistic development of customer networks, the development of new/existing services as well as the development of more efficient and efficient infrastructure. Different kinds of relocation processes could be observed within this context (e.g. vertical integration).

The aim of this special issue will be to investigate different kind of strategies, solutions, and forms for the transformation of the traditional supply chains into new ones, based on implementation of new strategies, new forms of activity, and new forms of cooperation. We are interested in research papers especially focused on relocation activities in this context.

Suitable topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
  • Supply chain management in a strategic context
  • Global supply chain design
  • Value chains and networks
  • Supply chain network (e.g. manufacturing, distribution, transportation)
  • Manufacturing footprint design
  • Manufacturing and supply chain strategy
  • Relocation strategies (e.g. offshoring, reshoring, outsourcing, insourcing, nearshoring)
  • Relocation processes (e.g. feasibility, realisation, drivers, enablers, barriers, outcomes)
  • Relocation decisions (e.g. criteria, evaluation, investment/cost/risk assessment)
  • Vertical integration
  • Make or buy decisions
  • Experience and best practices of relocation decisions
  • New technology in relocation decisions (e.g. Industry 4.0, additive manufacturing)
  • Sustainability issues in relocation decisions
  • Supplier selection, evaluation, and relations
  • Innovation in supply chain
  • Supply chains' business model
  • People in supply chains 

Important Dates

Manuscripts due by: 30 September, 2017

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