Learning Communities of the Master in Supply Chain Management

The learning communities give students the opportunity to interact with industry professionals, enhancing their professionalism and ability to reconcile theory and practice. For the industry professionals, it is an opportunity to contribute to education, and get to know (and recruit) some bright and interested students while remaining current on research and developments. 

The topics of the learning communities are diverse but revolve around current trends and developments in the industry. This academic year, we have chosen four topics: 

1. Sustainability of last-mile logistics
2. Enablers of digitalisation in transportation and logistics companies / Data Analytic Capability
3. The role of trust and technology in inbound supply chains /  Supply Chain Resilience
4. The role of transformation leadership in digitalisation

With the guidance and supervision of lecturers and experienced researchers, the research conducted in the context of learning communities has also been rigorous enough to be presented at conferences and submitted to academic journals. Below you will find some highlights. 

Sustainability of last mile logistics: we investigate how parcel recipients can be motivated to select delivery alternatives that we believe to be more sustainable (e.g. waiting for deliveries to be consolidated, or cycling to a parcel locker). Hans Quak and Alinda Kokkinou will present this research at the Annual Transportation Research Board conference in Washington DC in January 2024. Another paper is currently under review by the Research in Transportation Economics journal. 

Data analytic capability in organisations: during the past three years we have investigated different aspects of how organisations develop their data analytic capability. In august 2023, Alinda Kokkinou received a one-year subsidy by the Dutch Taskforce for Applied Research (SIA) to develop a roadmap for data analytic capability. In June 2023, Alinda Kokkinou and Jan van Elderen presented a preliminary version of the Data Analytic Capability Wheel at the Bled eConference, prepared together with Eric Hopstaken and Albert Mandemakers. 

Supply Chain Resilience: with the unprecedented disruptions that have occurred in the past few years (COVID-19, wars in Ukraine and Israël, and an ocean vessel getting stuck in the Suez Canal), supply chain resilience has been a hot topic, keeping many supply chain managers awake at night. During the past three years we have investigated different ways in which organisations can increase the resilience of their supply chain. Alinda Kokkinou and Albert Mandemakers presented the results at the European Operations Management Association (EurOMA) conference. More recently, they published a scientific paper in Continuity & Resilience Review. 

In addition to scientific publications, we disseminate the findings of the learning communities through white papers and by integrating them in our curriculum. 

Should you wish to receive more information about the learning communities, you can contact Albert Mandemakers (Mandemakers.A@buas.nl).