فرصت هایی برای توسعه دانش مدیریت زنجیره تأمبن و مدیریت عملیات

In a separate paper (Singhal and Singhal, 2011b), we identified two sets of opportunities for radical innovations in operations and supply-chain management (O&SCM): pursuing all phases of science and pursuing multiple perspectives. In this paper, we propo

In a separate paper (Singhal and Singhal, 2011b), we identified two major opportunities in academic research in O&SCM: First, there is an opportunity to pursue all phases of science, including exploratory and qualitative research, developing theories, causation and internal validity, and testing models and theories for external validity (the ability to generalize knowledge to other situations). Second, there is an opportunity to pursue multiple perspectives because a scientific conclusion valid for a narrow domain may prove to be partially true or false if one obtains multiple perspectives. Multiple perspectives can be obtained by investigating different parts of the system, by employing different methods of analysis, by using different sources of data, or by using different subsets of the same data. Multiple perspectives also have the potential for obtaining new insights and for finding a new paradigm (or a new punctuated equilibrium) in research, in the system being investigated, or in both. In this paper, we describe specific approaches for pursuing all phases of science and multiple perspectives. The paper is organized as follows: In Section 2, we describe various phases of science from exploratory research to verification of models and theories. We also address the role of fundamental tools and instruments and the role of knowledge drawn from other fields and from multiple countries in developing any science. In Section 3, we describe three situations for organizing networks of research teams to pursue radical innovation in individual topics, supply networks, and multiple industries. In Section 4, we outline the roles of outliers in radical innovation and risk management, and we emphasize the importance of analyzing such outliers as industries with unusual characteristics. In Section 5, we describe the roles of meta-analysis and synthesis of published works. In Section 6, we highlight some points covered in the paper, outline the steps needed to implement our proposals, and offer a long-term perspective.

We can increase our community's chances of enhancing the validity of research and discovering radical innovations, new research paradigms, or new punctuated equilibria by pursuing all phases of science and multiple perspectives, pursuing research in collaboration with companies, organizing networks of research teams for long-term projects, focusing on outliers, and pursuing meta-analysis and syntheses of published works. We have endeavored to propose an integrated framework. This should help to mitigate the shortcomings we have identified and facilitate evolution of the “metaparadigm of management,” regarded by Hopp (2004, p. 5) as “the highest, and the most abstract, level of process.”