DIT PhD/Doctoral Project

Supervisor name & contact details: / Paul O’Reilly
Dr Claudia Wagner

Research Centre Name and Website (if applicable) / National Institute for Transport and Logistics (NITL) www.nitl.ie
Funding Agency
Scholarship Details
Subject Area / Supply Chain Management
Title of the Project / Supply Chain Integration (SCI) Theory and Practice
Project Description (max 300 words)
Since its introduction by management consultants in the early 1980s, the supply chain management (SCM) concept has risen to prominence in both academic and commercial circles. A substantial body of academic knowledge has been, and continues to be, developed in the broad SCM domain. There is significant evidence that the effective implementation of SCM can result in improvements in the performance of firms. However, there is also evidence of a divergence between theory and practice in terms of SCM understanding and adoption. The fundamental purpose of this research is to disentangle the rhetoric from the reality in relation to SCM adoption in practice with specific reference to the core concept of supply chain integration (SCI) and to the situation that pertains in Ireland.
NITL has conducted a number of pieces of research in this broad area. The EI-funded “Logistics Capability Study” from the early 2000s enabled a picture of logistics and SCM practice at that time to be drawn. The 2005/6 “SCM Barometer” was a broader and more comprehensive study and demonstrated how firms in Ireland were performing in relation to some of the key components of world-class SCM practice. More recently, PhD work has adopted a mixed-methods approach to identifying current levels of understanding and adoption of SCI principles. From this work some of the critical success factors and barriers to implementation have been identified.
The next phase of this work will involve quantitative research to monitor developments in SCI adoption and the use of qualitative approaches to develop a more robust understanding of the factors influencing SCI adoption in practice.
Please indicate the student requirements for this project
Minimum 2.1 (any discipline considered)
Deadline to submit applications (only for funded projects)
Please choose College as appropriate
Arts & Tourism
Business
Engineering and Built Environment / X
Sciences & Health