Joint research seminar on supply chain management, operations management, and purchasing research
Welcome to an afternoon joint research seminar organized by the International Business and Logistics units (School of Business) and the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management (School of Science)
When: Thursday, March 30, 2017 at 14:00-16:00
Where: Aalto University School of Business in Töölö, Chydenia building, room G-111 (Runeberginkatu 22-24, Helsinki).
Seminar program (14.00-16.00):
- Vice-Dean Kristiina Mäkelä (Aalto University School of Business): Opening words
- Dr. Zhaohui Wu (Oregon State University, USA): Research paper “Toward a Theory of Supply Chain Strategic Action Fields: An Institutional Perspective of MNEs' Supply Chain Localization in Emerging Markets” (under review) and an Associate Editor’s tips on publishing qualitative research in operations and supply chain management journals
- Coffee and networking break
- Dr. Louise Knight (Aston University, UK): Innovating in academic research: A journal editor’s reflections
- Seminar organizers: Closing words
Speaker profiles:
For speaker profiles/bios, please visit their home pages:
- Dr. Zhaohui Wu, Professor of Supply Chain and Operations Management, Oregon State University, USA (http://business.oregonstate.edu/users/zhaohui-wu), Associate Editor, Journal of Supply Chain Management and Journal of Operations Management
- Dr. Louise Knight, Senior Lecturer, Aston University, UK, (http://www.aston.ac.uk/eas/staff/a-z/dr-louise-knight/), Co-Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management
Registration: As coffee and refreshments will be served during the break, we kindly ask you to register for the seminar preferably by March 23 by filling out this form: https://www.webropolsurveys.com/S/CC624BB27BCC9D41.par
More information:
If you have any questions regarding the seminar, please contact one of the seminar organizers:
International Business unit (Department of Management Studies): Anne Quarshie (anne.quarshie@aalto.fi) and Daria Kautto (daria.kautto@aalto.fi)
Logistics unit (Department of Information and Service Economy): Suvituulia Taponen (suvituulia.taponen@aalto.fi)
Department of Industrial Engineering and Management: Juri Matinheikki (juri.matinheikki@aalto.fi)
Welcome!
Abstract for Dr. Wu’s paper:
“Toward a Theory of Supply Chain Strategic Action Fields: An Institutional Perspective of MNEs' Supply Chain Localization in Emerging Markets” by Zhaohui Wu (Oregon State University) & Fu Jia (University of Exeter)
Abstract: Supply chain localization in emerging economies has seen increasing strategic importance for multinational enterprises (MNEs) in recent years. Unlike building a supply chain in a company's home country, localization takes place in an institutional environment with different regulative, normative and cognitive characteristics. Introducing new technologies and supply chain operations initiates different ways of conceiving supply chains and practices. We argue that supply chain localization is a process involving institutional change at both the supply-chain and industry-sector levels. To the best of our knowledge, little is known about the relationship between supply chain localization and institutional change.
To explore this relationship, we take a grounded approach to explore how western MNEs localize supply chains in China. We chose four MNEs with advanced sustainable operations practices to accentuate the differences they encounter in supply chain practices and institutional settings. Their sustainability-oriented value propositions challenge existing operations practices in corresponding Chinese industrial sectors. Our analysis introduces the notion of supply chain strategic action fields. It foregrounds government and semi-government entities as institutional actors who also function as architects of the new supply chains. We find that localization is a process of strategic actions among actors in an institutional field. Thus the adoption of new cognitive, normative and regulative frames enables localization.