logistics management thesis

Theses - Supply Chain 2020 Project

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Since its launch in 2004, a large number of masters theses, as well as a few doctoral theses, have been conducted as part of the SC2020 Project, in centers from the SCALE Network. An exhaustive list of these theses, as well as links to access them, are presented here.

Doctoral Theses at MIT

Title:  Effect of scenario planning on field experts' judgment of long-range investment decisions . Author: Phadnis, Shardul. Advisors: Yossi Sheffi, Chris Caplice and Mahender Singh. Year: 2012. Program: Doctoral Thesis, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. URI:  http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/96020

Title: A methodology to capture, evaluate and reformulate a firm's supply chain strategy as a conceptual system . Author: Roberto Perez-Franco. Advisors: Yossi Sheffi and Mahender Singh. Year: 2010. Program: Doctoral Thesis, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/62761

Title: Dynamic Retail Assortment Models with Demand Learning for Seasonal Consumer Goods . Author: Felipe Caro. Advisor: Jérémie Gallien. Year: 2005. Program: Doctoral Thesis, Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/33415

Master Theses at MIT

Title: A Qualitative Mapping and Evaluation of an Aerospace Supply Chain Strategy . Author: Jonathan Hung and Nicholas Pierce. Advisor: Roberto Perez-Franco. Year: 2011. Program: M. Eng. in Logistics, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. URL: CTL Publication Link

Title: Redefining organizational boundaries : building an aware and agile organization by enabling new social interactions . Author: Benjamin Maupetit. Advisor: Mahender Singh. Year: 2009. Program: S.M. in Technology and Policy Program, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/52754

Title: Evolutionary supply chain risk management: transforming culture for sustainable competitive advantage . Author: Romain Lévy. Advisor: Mahender Singh. Year: 2008. Program: M. Eng. in Logistics and S.M. in Technology and Policy Program, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/42928

Title: Exploring the future of the U.S. pharmaceutical industry : a supply chain perspective . Author: Loïc Lagarde. Advisor: Yossi Sheffi and Mahender Singh. Year: 2007. Program: S.M. in Technology and Policy Program, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/40294

Title: The Supply Chain Response to Environmental Pressures . Author: Julie Rebecca Paquette. Advisor: Randolph E. Kirchain. Year: 2006. Program: S.M. in Technology and Policy Program, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/34530

Title: Demand Management: A Cross-Industry Analysis of Supply-Demand Planning . Author: Peng Kuan Tan. Advisor: Lawrence Lapide. Year: 2006. Program: M. Eng. in Logistics, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/36139

Title: Order Promising/Fulfillment and Customer/Channel Collaboration in Supply Chain Management . Author: Yimin An and Samuel Srethapakdi. Advisor: Mahender Singh. Year: 2006. Program: M. Eng. in Logistics, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/36148

Title: Analysis of Sourcing & Procurment Practices: A Cross Industry Framework . Author: Ioannis G. Koliousis. Advisor: Edgar Blanco. Year: 2006. Program: M. Eng. in Logistics, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/36143

Title: Analysis of Supplier Involvement in New Product Development and Launch . Author: Herman Alex Kurapov. Advisor: Chris Caplice. Year: 2006. Program: M. Eng. in Logistics, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/35614

Title: A Cross Industry Analysis and Framework of Aftermarket Products and Services . Author: Petros Englezos. Advisor: Lawrence Lapide. Year: 2006. Program: M. Eng. in Logistics, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/35539

Title: An Examination of Boeing’s Supply Chain Management Practices within the Context of the Global Aerospace Industry . Author: Daglar Cizmeic. Advisor: Kirkor Bozdogan. Year: 2005. Program: M. Eng. in Logistics, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/33315

Title: An Exploration of of Supply Chain Management Practices in the Aerospace Industry and in Rolls-Royce . Author: Mohit Tiwari. Advisor: Kirkor Bozdogan. Year: 2005. Program: M. Eng. in Logistics, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/33373

Title: Supply Chain Strategies in the Apparel Industry: The Case of Victoria’s Secret . Author: Sumit Kumar. Advisors: Sharon Novak and Lawrence Lapide. Year: 2005. Program: M. Eng. in Logistics, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/33324

Title: The Dynamics of Supply Chains in the Automotive Industry . Author: Niklas Braese. Advisor: Lawrence Lapide. Year: 2005. Program: M. Eng. in Logistics, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/33312

Title: The Pharmaceutical Supply Chain: A Diagnosis of the State-of-the-Art . Author: Mahender Singh. Advisor: Charles H. Fine. Year: 2005. Program: M. Eng. in Logistics, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/33354

Title: Supply chain practices in the petroleum downstream . Author: Santos Manzano, Fidel. Advisor: Lawrence Lapide. Year: 2005. Program: M. Eng. in Logistics, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/33345

Title: An analysis of current supply chain best practices in the retail industry with case studies of Wal-Mart and Amazon.com . Author: Chiles, Colby Ronald; Dau, Marguarette Thi. Advisor: Gabriel R. Bitran. Year: 2005. Program: M. Eng. in Logistics, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/33314

Title: Framework for the study of governance in the supply networks : Wal-mart : "Enlightened Despot" model . Author: De Graeve, Denis. Advisor: Gabriel R. Bitran. Year: 2004. Program: S.M. Technology and Policy Program, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/28504

Title: An Evaluation of Scenario Planning for Supply Chain Design . Author: Yishai Boasson. Advisor: Yossi Sheffi. Year: 2004. Program: M. Eng. in Logistics, Engineering Systems Division, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/28504

Master Theses at ZLC

Title: Analysis of Supply Chains in the Consumer Packaged Goods Industry . Author: Marc-Elliott Finkelstein. Advisor: Paul M. Thompson. Year: 2005. Program: M. Eng. MIT-Zaragoza International Logistics Program, Zaragoza Logistics Center. Link:  Download .

Title: Supply Chain Excellence in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Novartis– A Case Study . Author: Gourav Narayan Mukherjee. Advisor: Prashant Yadav. Year: 2005. Program: M. Eng. MIT-Zaragoza International Logistics Program, Zaragoza Logistics Center. Link:  Download .

Title: Excellent Supply Chains In The Oil Industry: Royal Dutch/Shell . Author: Stefan Röthlisberger. Advisor: Prashant Yadav. Year: 2005. Program: M. Eng. in Supply Chain Management and Logistics, MIT-Zaragoza International Logistics Program, Zaragoza Logistics Center. Link:  Download .

Title: Supply Chain Excellence in the Retail Industry: METRO AG – A Case Study . Author: Manuela Schranz-Whitaker. Advisor: Paul M. Thompson. Year: 2005. Program: M. Eng. in Supply Chain Management and Logistics, MIT-Zaragoza International Logistics Program, Zaragoza Logistics Center. Link: Download .

Title: SC2020: Toyota Production System & Supply Chain.  Author: Macharia Brown. Advisor: Prashant Yadav. Year: 2005. Program: M. Eng. in Supply Chain Management and Logistics, MIT-Zaragoza International Logistics Program, Zaragoza Logistics Center. Link:  Download .

Title:  Excellence In European Apparel Supply Chains: Zara.  Author: Phyllis Chu. Advisor: Paul Thompson. Year: 2005. Program: M. Eng. in Supply Chain Management and Logistics, MIT-Zaragoza International Logistics Program, Zaragoza Logistics Center. Link:  Download .

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50 Supply chain and logistic dissertation topics for 2024

The meaning of supply chain management

To look into supply chain management. There is a poor understanding of how the supply chains operate. Therefore, elaborating how these systems can be managed is necessary. The same issues are evident in the search for supply chain thesis topics.  Most interesting supply chain topics are already researched in detail. Therefore, getting a better topic that can be defended at ease is quite challenging. Despite having our well-researched topics online, you can also access supply chain management thesis topics pdf from our website. we have also compiled a list of Ph.D. topics.

1. Impact of Ukraine and Russia war on global logistics and supply chain

This topic tries to find the consequence of the ongoing war in Europe on the supply chain and logistics of the world. This is one of the best logistic dissertation topics for 2022 that is not yet covered in length. Therefore, one can easily develop a  great thesis from it.

2. Africa as a new heart for the global supply chain

This topic tries to explain why Africa is the new emerging market and manufacturing hub for global supply. Africa has untapped potential such as cheap labor that may be utilized to meet global supply needs.

3. Strategies used for cost reduction in supply chain management

 To find out how to minimize expenditure during supply. High costs tend to affect the outcome in the provision cycle.

4. Effects of E-logistics on supply chain

To determine the outcome of E-logistics on any given process during the distribution of goods or services. Failure to recognize better ways of reaching out to those involved in supply. This is one of the most diverse supply chain management research topics of 2022. It still has so much gap to be covered.

5. Mobility solutions for supply chain

To identify faster ways to efficiently move goods or services. The delay faced during supply has a negative impact on all the participants.

6. Importance of digital transformation on supply

To reveal how adapting to new technology impacts business outcomes. Some employees are unwilling to adapt to change and hence resist training.

7. An analysis of supply chain integration

Evaluating whether incorporation of many participants improves results. Getting onboard partners that are unable to meet deadlines.

8. Evaluating supply chain resilience

Assessing how adaptable the systems are to change. Maintaining the new changes can be challenging.

9. Critical analysis of supply chain agility

To discover how fast businesses can adjust to meet the market requirements. Some firms take a long time to remodel to be at par with current trends.

10. Evaluating risks involved in the supply chain

Gauging the dangers that one can encounter in the supply process. Some risks are man-made and hard to deal with.

11. Managing the supply chain globally

To figure out ways of staying afloat in the market in many regions. There is high competition affecting supply and demand globally which some producers fail to meet.

12. Optimizing costs of the supply chain

To work out methods of upgrading product value while retaining a reasonable price. Upgrading products leads to a rise in prices.

13. Supply chain progressive gradation

To determine how to maintain growth. Stagnation affects most production firms at some point.

14. Effects of leadership changeover in supply chain

To know how to keep the chief officers for longer periods. Getting new employers can affect businesses negatively since they need time to master the new roles.

15. How environmental changes affect the supply chain

To deduce whether the climate can affect the supply chain. It is hard to predict the changes that can occur within a locality.

16.  What does big data do to supply chain management?

To evaluate the impact of a variety of high-volume data in supply chain management. There is limited room for improvement. 

17. Impact of the Green project on the supply chain

To investigate how managers can integrate environmentally friendly processes during production. Establishment of firms with no consideration of their impact on the environment.

18. Importance of Total Quality Management

To evaluate the importance of every member of the team maintaining high standards in their various areas. Pulling in the same direction will always be a cutting edge for all organizations.

19. Effects of political factors on supply chain management

To look into issues related to the government that could influence how goods flow from one point to the next. Regional instabilities due to wars interrupt the normal flow of products.

20. How the law affects supply chain management

To prove that some laws can hinder business systems from normal operation. Businesses that do not meet the stipulated codes of conduct are not allowed to run. 

21. Studying how the IoT works in relation to the supply chain

To ascertain if supply chain management depends on IoT for its smooth operation. Some businesses are unable to keep up hence lose customers.

22. Fourth Industrial Revolution and supply chain management

To determine if 4IR is beneficial to supply chain management. Specialization and flexibility are costly as boundaries become more blurry.

23. Establishing the relationship between supply chains and the performance of firms

To show how a firm’s potential affects the movement of its products. Failing firms can hardly have sustainable supply chains.

24. Effects of Covid-19 on supply chain management

To determine how the pandemic affected businesses and their customers. The pandemic caused businesses to shut down while others had to change modes of operation.

25. Profit maximization in supply chain management

Identifying how to get the most out of the goods and services produced. Wrong pricing of products leads to massive losses that are damaging to the firms.

26. What roles do technological changes play in the supply chain?

To expose how technology is shaping the production of both goods and services. Rapid technological changes have had a huge impact on supply chains. 

27. Importance of business relationships in supply chain management

To plan how beneficial partnerships can be established. Poor consumer supplier relations disrupt efficiency.

28. How is manufacturing important in the supply business?

To establish how significant manufacturing is in the supply chain business. Expensive processes are involved due to a lack of proper planning.

29. Customer satisfaction in relation to supply chain management

To find out how best to meet consumer needs. Good or service production without customer participation.

30. Impact of supply chain management on business

To research the extent to which supply chain management affects any given organization. Inefficient managers lead to the collapse of supply chains. 

31. Supply chain efficiency versus effectiveness

To clarify what the two terms mean in the supply chain. Producers are incapable of differentiating the two concepts.

32. Significance of logistics

To know how to handle logistics to maximize output. Lack of qualified logisticians to handle the procedures involved. 

33. Does analytics in supply chain matter?  

To demonstrate the significance of analytics in supply. Insufficient information on analytics.

34. How supply chains can affect a country’s growth and development

To point out ways in which a disruption in supply chains can cripple progress. Inadequate resource allocation.

35. Use of AI in organizations

To make a comparison between artificial intelligence and human intelligence in firms. Laxity in embracing the use of machines in making decisions.

36. The future of supply chain management

To analyze what lies ahead in the product distribution sector. Inability to correctly predict the market trends.

37. Types of supply chains

To name and list the types of supply chains. Lack of clarity on the types of supply chains that exist.

38. How firms adhere to supply chain ethics

To determine how ethics affect organizations. Inadequate knowledge on the functions of these ethics.

39. Importance of supply chain management to the society

To give a detailed explanation of how the people benefit from proper regulations of supply chains. Few people understand what is involved in production and supply.

40. Supply chain visibility

To discuss how visibility can be maintained from the initial to the final stage. Few suppliers have the ability to trace their goods.

41. How an organization can ensure supply chain sustainability

To find out how companies deal with social, economic, and environmental issues in the process of supplying goods or services. There is disregard for issues that arise relating to the products being distributed.

42. How quality control works in supply chain management

To understand the role of quality control in supply chain management. Suppliers ignore matters related to quality controls resulting in poor outcomes.

43. Essential supply chain management tools

To find out which tools are used. Inability to recognize what is required for successful operations.

44. Lack of qualified personnel in the supply chain

To elaborate on the effect of fewer qualified professionals in supply chain management. Supply chain jobs were not considered to be as valuable.

45. Issues faced by supply chain managers

To state challenges that managers go through. Lack of experience in handling customers hence inability to solve the problems that arise.

46. Challenges that operation managers face currently

To discuss what operation managers experience in their line of work. Lack of the right skills to tackle problems.

47. How operation management is crucial in supply chain management

To bring out the significance of operation management.

48. The key elements in logistics

To describe the elements in logistics. Very few people understand the concept and how it works.

49. Logistics versus supply chain management

To bring out the difference between the two processes. Both deal with the end products in an organization.

50. The probability of supply chain managers being replaced by robots

To establish whether machines will take full control of the supply industry. It is difficult to tell really but it is a very interesting area to delve into.

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Doctoral dissertations in logistics and supply chain management: a review of Nordic contributions from 2009 to 2014

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• Published: 14 March 2016
• Volume 9 , article number  5 , ( 2016 )

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• Christopher Rajkumar 1 ,
• Lone Kavin 1 ,
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The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze Nordic doctoral dissertations in logistics and supply chain management (SCM) published from the years 2009–2014. The paper is based on a detailed review of 150 doctoral dissertations. Compared with previous studies, this paper identifies a trend toward: more dissertations based on a collection of articles than monographs; more dissertations focusing on inter-organizational SCM issues; a shift from a focal company perspective to functional aspects and supply chain-related research; and finally, a continued decreased focus on the philosophy of science. A score for measuring the significance of article-based dissertations is also proposed.

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1 Introduction

One way to keep track of the progress of logistics and supply chain management (SCM) discipline is to analyze the doctoral dissertations within the research area. By reviewing such dissertations, it will be possible to gain some interesting information regarding the development and direction of research within the discipline. Specifically, such a review will help us to understand the different approaches in relation to research framework, methodologies, theories applied and the empirical interpretations. Furthermore, the review could not only provide valuable insights into potential research gaps within the discipline, but also pave way for recognizing interesting topics for future research [ 13 , 41 ]. Besides, given that PhD students are likely to form the next generation of established researchers, research conducted by them is important to the SCM discipline as it helps keeping the discipline on track with emerging topics as well as stimulate theory generation.

The number of PhD students in the Nordic countries has increased significantly during the last decades [ 24 , 41 ]. Based on the rise in the number of dissertations as well as their varying content, it is interesting to investigate the requirements that are part of completing a PhD dissertation. There has been an escalation in dissertations that are based on collections of articles instead of a monograph [ 41 ]. A reason for this might be an increasing pressure to publish at the universities [ 21 ], which might be driving PhD students to learn and master the craft of publishing from the very start of their career. No matter what, the culture of many research departments is characterized by a high focus on performance in terms of publications in ranked journals [ 2 , 20 , 22 , 27 ]. Therefore, by choosing an article-based dissertation, PhD students might have a better opportunity to work together with other PhD students and senior researchers; in doing so, they also learn how to “play the game.”

The first two comprehensive digest of doctoral dissertations completed within the Nordic countries was conducted by Gubi et al. [ 13 ] and Zachariassen and Arlbjørn [ 41 ]. These efforts provide PhD students, other academic staff as well as practitioners with an overview of what has been researched within the logistics and SCM area. These studies have also facilitated the comparison of Nordic dissertations themes to those in the USA (e.g., compiled by Stock [ 31 ] and Nakhata et al. [ 25 ]). Prior research has demonstrated that much confusion exists concerning SCM definitions and its overlap with logistics [ 32 ]. This paper extends the work of Zachariassen and Arlbjørn [ 41 ] that applies what Halldórsson et al. [ 14 ] call a relabeling approach between the terms of logistics and SCM. The purpose of this paper is to document the progress of doctoral work in logistics and SCM within the Nordic countries between 2009 and 2014. In all, 120 relevant dissertations were identified; however, we were unable to retrieve eight dissertations either in physical form or electronically; therefore, only 112 dissertations were reviewed. With a point of departure within the dimensions and classified categories of these two above-mentioned reviews, this paper provides two analyses:

An analysis of identified Nordic dissertations from the year 2009–2014; and

A longitudinal analysis that compares the above analysis with the result from Gubi et al. [ 13 ] and Zachariassen and Arlbjørn [ 41 ].

Accordingly, the analyses within this paper will not only reveal several important insights, but also identify new, potential research areas within the logistics and SCM discipline. Based on these insights, it will be possible to coordinate future research efforts and avoid any unnecessary replication or duplication of previous work.

The rest of the paper is organized as follows: Sect.  2 provides a brief literature review of earlier contributions dealing with doctoral dissertation reviews. Section  3 discusses the methodology used in this study; it also outlines the limitations concerning the chosen methodology. Subsequently, Sect.  4 discusses the results obtained from analyzing the Nordic dissertations. Finally, Sect.  5 concludes with the overall purpose of the paper and some directions for future research activities.

2 Extant literature on doctoral dissertations in logistics and supply chain management

Several authors have analyzed and classified doctoral dissertations in logistics and SCM, both within the Nordic countries as well as the USA. In this section, nine prior studies—seven American studies and two Nordic studies—are briefly mentioned so as to identify the trends in topical coverage through the years and to see whether there are any similarities between the topics chosen by PhD students across the Atlantic.

The first study of compendiums of PhD research in logistics conducted by Stock back in 1987 [ 28 ] examined 684 dissertations from the period 1970–1986 [ 29 ]. Subsequent reviews were conducted in (1) 1993 covering 422 American dissertations that were completed in the period of 1987–1991 [ 34 ] and (2) 2001 with an analysis of 317 PhD dissertations completed in the period of 1992–1998 [ 31 ]. In 2006, Stock completed his fourth review of PhD dissertations together with Broadus [ 33 ]. This study showed a distinct increasing trend in the number of dissertations within SCM- and/or logistic-related areas in the period from 1999 to 2004 when compared to the period covered by the 2001 study. But surprisingly, the count between 1999 and 2004 fell short of the overall levels of 1987–1991. A more interesting finding of the 2006 study was that the dissertations were more multifaceted due to the fact that they closely mirrored the cross-functional and boundary spanning nature of logistics; at the same time, their multifaceted nature made the classification task more difficult.

Another American study was conducted by Das and Handfield [ 8 ] wherein the authors investigated 117 PhD dissertations from the period 1987–1995 in order to evaluate the intellectual health of the purchasing discipline. The study was an extension of a previous research on purchasing dissertations conducted by Williams [ 39 ] to identify the key focus areas of research in the prior decade. In this study, Williams concluded that the key focus areas covered were supplier selection and development, information systems, organizational and measurement issues, negotiation and purchasing ethics.

The most recent review covering US dissertations was conducted by Nakhata et al. [ 25 ]. In this study, the authors reviewed 609 doctoral dissertations completed between 2005 and 2009. The number of identified dissertations in this study is significantly larger than the four reviews conducted by Stock and colleagues and clearly reflects a significant increase in colleges/universities graduating doctoral students within logistics- and supply chain-related areas. Nakhata et al. [ 25 ] also point out that a forthcoming retirement of academic “baby boomers” during the period 2005–2020 may explain the increase in the PhD production. The most prominent research methodologies employed by doctoral students in the study of Nakhata et al. [ 25 ] are modeling, simulation and empirical quantitative methods.

Two earlier studies of Nordic doctoral dissertations within logistics and SCM have been disseminated in academic journals. The first was developed by Gubi et al. [ 13 ], who reviewed 71 Nordic dissertations published between 1990 and 2001. Most of the dissertations were published as monographs with manufactures and carriers as the primary entity of analysis. The most recent Nordic contribution is by Zachariassen and Arlbjørn [ 41 ] wherein the authors analyze the development in Nordic doctoral research in logistics and SCM from the years 2002–2008. As opposed to Gubi et al. [ 13 ], Zachariassen and Arlbjørn [ 41 ] found more dissertations based on a collection of articles, which was reflective of a response to increase publication pressure. In contrast to the Gubi et al.’s [ 13 ] study, the primarily entity of analysis of most dissertations was the manufacturing companies. While prior reviews showed a focal company perspective, the review of Zachariassen and Arlbjørn [ 41 ] documented a shift toward an inter-organizational perspective covering dyadic and supply chain units of analysis. Additionally, according to Zachariassen and Arlbjørn [ 41 ], there has also been a decreased focus on the philosophy of science, since most dissertations were being published as collections of articles.

The method applied for identifying, collecting and reviewing the doctoral dissertations in this paper follows a three-step process. These steps are explained in the following subsections.

3.1 Identifying and collecting Nordic doctoral dissertations

The first step consisted of sending e-mails to contact persons at different research institutions within the Nordic countries (i.e., Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden) as outlined in [ 41 ]. Based on this e-mail contact, the list was further modified (e.g., adding University of Vaasa in Finland and Linnaeus University and Örebro University School of Business in Sweden). The final list included 39 research institutions which are presented in “Appendix 1.” A contact person at each of the 39 research institution was identified and was contacted by e-mail. The e-mail provided a clear statement of the research project and requested the list of completed doctoral dissertations within logistics and SCM within the analysis period. This process provided an initial list of 120 dissertations. Majority of these dissertations were accessible in electronic form (we either received them by e-mail or downloaded them from the corresponding institution’s Web site). The rest of the dissertations were available in hard copy form.

3.2 Validating the initial list of doctoral dissertations

The second step was concerned with the validation of the identified dissertations by senior researchers from each of the Nordic countries. This step was completed by e-mailing the initial list to these senior researchers and by attending the 27th annual NOFOMA conference in June 2015 at Molde University College. This process resulted in the inclusion of an additional 41 dissertations, thereby increasing the total count to 161.

3.3 Reviewing the received dissertations

In the third step, a detailed review of the 161 dissertations took place. During this process, three dissertations were excluded since they were judged as not being within the scope of the present analysis. Out of this net list of 158, it was possible to conduct reviews of 150 dissertations. As mentioned earlier, we were unable to retrieve eight dissertations as well as there was no response from the authors when we e-mailed them requesting for the copy of their dissertation. A complete list of the dissertations is included in “Appendix 2.” The detailed review took place against a review framework as described in [ 13 , 41 ]. Our analysis covered additional review elements as the dissertations were mostly based on a collection of articles. These elements were: (1) number of articles, (2) type of article (journal publication, book chapter, conference paper, working paper or unpublished paper), (3) year of publication, (4) ranking of the journal, (5) number of authors on each article and (6) the doctoral candidate’s author number for the specific article.

3.4 Limitations

This dissertation review has some limitations that are worthwhile to mention. First, even though the gross list of dissertations was reviewed and validated by senior researchers within the Nordic countries, there is a possibility that some dissertations were not identified. Second, reviewer subjectivity could not be completely eliminated in the review of the 150 dissertations. However, in order to minimize subjectivity, an aligned interpretation of the review elements and their outcome was obtained by a common review of three different types of dissertations (one monograph and two article-based dissertations). Third, the list of dissertations that was composed and reviewed stems from the NOFOMA research community. Obviously, other Nordic researchers may produce doctoral dissertations that deal with topics under the scope of this review, but is outside the NOFOMA radar (e.g., researchers belonging to European Decision Sciences Institute (EDSI), European Logistics Association (ELA), European Operations Management (EurOMA), International Purchasing and Supply Education and Research Association (IPSERA) or Logistics Research Network (LRN) or Rencontres Internationales de Recherche en Logistique (RIRL) (International Research Conference on Logistics and Supply Chain Management). This study can make observations only based on the dissertations reviewed under the NOFOMA umbrella. Fourth, since the contact persons were not provided with a definition of logistics and SCM, they might have excluded some dissertation that could have fallen within the scope of this analysis. Moreover, the senior researchers whom we e-mailed for dissertations might not be from the department of logistics and SCM. Therefore, including definitions for logistics and SCM will have no impact.

This section is concerned with specific analyses of the 150 reviewed doctoral dissertations. For comparative purposes, the data from the present review are portrayed and analyzed with the categories that are similar to those used by Gubi et al. [ 13 ] and Zachariassen and Arlbjørn [ 41 ]. The results are displayed in tables and are followed with appropriate comments and interpretations.

4.1 Number and type of dissertations finalized in the period 2009–2014

Table  1 contains the PhD dissertations divided by country, year of publication and type of dissertation (monograph vs. a collection of articles). Compared with the earlier studies, these new figures show some interesting developments. First, the number of finalized dissertations in the period 2009–2014 is 158, which represents an average of 26 dissertations per year. Compared with averages numbers of 10 (from the period 2002–2008) and 6.25 (from the period 1990–2001), this shows that there has been a strong increase in PhD production in this research area. A similar pattern is identified by Nakhata et al. [ 25 ] in their study of doctoral dissertations published by Dissertation Abstracts International in the period of 2005 and 2009. They explain that one reason for such an increase might be an increased level of retiring academicians toward 2020 which creates a stronger market for Assistant Professors. Another explanation could be that there is a drive from the governments to boost the number of annual PhD production in order to support national social, economic and environmental well-being as well as to address major global challenges [ 12 ]. The majority of the Nordic logistics and SCM PhDs come from the Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish research environments. In Denmark, the production is stable with 17 dissertations in the period of 2009–2014. Iceland has reported their first PhD in this period of analysis. Twenty-five Nordic research institutions have produced within logistics and SCM in the period 2009–2014 (see “Appendix 2”).

Another interesting finding in the current review is the increase in the share of dissertations that are based on a collection of articles. As given in Table  1 , 92 out of the 150 dissertations (61 %) are based on a collection of articles. Thus, there is a much higher focus on the craft to write academic articles when compared to the share of article-based dissertations in previous periods (29 % in the period 2002–2008 and 21 % in the period 1990–2001). This trend supports the predictions previously made by Zachariassen and Arlbjørn [ 41 ]. One plausible explanation for this development might be an increased amount of public and private resource allocation to research environments based on publications in internationally recognized peer-reviewed journals as well as measures such as impact indicators and H-index (see, e.g., [ 27 ]).

4.2 Primary entity of analysis

In Table  2 , all 150 dissertations are classified according to their entity of analysis; the classifications are also compared to previous results reported in [ 13 , 14 ]. The study of the primary entity of analysis in the dissertations shows strong differences. First, the category others has increased to about one-third of the dissertations in the last reported period. This group consists of a variety of dissertations without a specific supply chain actors’ perspective—such as fresh fish supply chains [ 26 ] and healthcare logistics [ 17 ]. Second, in absolute numbers, the manufacturer as the primary entity of analysis has increased when compared to the previous studies; but, if we measure the number as a percentage of the reviewed dissertations, there is a fall from 57 % in the dissertations from 2002 to 2008 to 33 % in the recent study.

Thus, it shows the more classical actors such as wholesalers, retailers and inventory hotels have obtained lesser research focus. Additionally, a remarkably low number of dissertations have focused on retail SCM within the Nordic countries. This is intriguing given the fact that the retail sector is well known for supply chain innovations such as quick response systems, efficient consumer response, distribution centers, reverse logistics, as well as collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment [ 10 ].

4.3 Level of analysis arranged according to year of publication

Table  3 shows the analysis of the dissertations level of analysis arranged by the year of publication.

An interesting development evidenced in the above table is an increased focus on functional themes within dissertations (in the present analysis, this is about 26 % of the dissertations compared with 11 and 10 % in previous analyses). This development is primarily driven by Finnish dissertations and can indicate an emphasis on building stronger knowledge bases in certain sub-disciplines along the supply chain. Examples of such dissertations are [ 18 , 19 ]. Another interesting development is the reduced focus on firm-level analysis and a subsequent increased focus on the supply chain or the network as the level of analysis, with the network level experiencing the highest increase. This increase is strongly evident within Swedish dissertations.

4.4 Research design, time frame and philosophy of science

Table  4 shows the classification of the dissertations according to research design, time frame and philosophy of science. The recent analysis reveals a decrease in share of dissertations that are purely theoretical in nature. Also, the share of dissertations founded on purely qualitative methods has also decreased compared with dissertations published in the period 2002–2008. The drop in share of these two categories has attributed to increases in shares of dissertations based on quantitative methods and on triangulations of qualitative and quantitative research methods. The increase in quantitative research methods can be explained by the increased pressure to publish, thereby favoring quantitative methods over time-consuming qualitative studies (see, e.g., [ 21 ]). While quantitative data collection can be automated, it is not possible for qualitative data collection. Qualitative data collection is, in general, more time-consuming and expensive when compared to quantitative research studies. Thus, it might be more cost-effective to slice one questionnaire survey into a number of articles than doing the same number of articles based on qualitative methodologies. This trend will undoubtedly improve numerical performance metrics. At the same time, this trend need not necessarily deliver new knowledge that could move the discipline significantly forward. Particularly, quantitative surveys are exposed to the phenomenon of “salami-slicing” where the data from a particular project are disseminated in a number of articles that in fact are “sliced” so thinly that there might be overlap of the papers (e.g., text recycling in literature review sections, key findings and discussions ([ 9 , 16 ]). We refer to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) [ 7 ] for a discussion on different forms of text recycling.

Table  4 also shows an increased share of dissertations that apply a longitudinal perspective. Additionally, the share of snapshot time frames has decreased and the share of the category time frame not specified has increased. Examples of dissertations without any specific time frame are by (1) Mortensen [ 23 ], who investigate the concept of attraction and explain its role in initiation and development of buyer–seller relations, and (2) Tynjälä [ 35 ], who conceptually examines the methods and tools for supply chain decision making during new product development. A final remarkable finding from Table  4 is the continued decline of dissertations containing philosophy of science issues. The present analysis identifies 73 % of the dissertations not including such philosophical considerations in comparison with 71 and 45 % in the two previous periods of analysis. Twenty-nine percent of dissertations that are monographs do contain philosophy of science considerations, whereas 25 % have this content among the article-based dissertations. Zachariassen and Arlbjørn [ 41 ] provided four possible reasons for this decline: (1) There are no mandatory requirements for PhD students to attend philosophy of science courses, (2) article-based dissertations do not rely on philosophy of science argumentations to the same degree as the monographs that typically require more in-depth interaction of this issues and method considerations, (3) there is a lower prioritization of philosophy of science due to higher pressure from external funded projects that do not demand this theme, and (4) logistics and SCM are closely connected with industry that could lead to a perception that philosophy of science is less relevant. To this list, we add four more potential reasons. First, there are no requirements mentioned in Nordic countries’ ministerial orders granting degrees of PhD about unfolding philosophical of science perspectives. Second, few, if any, journals within logistics and SCM demand such discussions. Third, philosophy of science has disappeared from PhD candidates’ syllabi. Finally, only a few PhD advisors have the knowledge to join in such discussions with their PhD students; therefore, they do not send signals for offering such courses. Overall, this development is inexpedient if the discipline really has to move toward theory development [ 6 , 30 ].

4.5 Dissertations distributed according to topic groups and country of origin

Table  5 displays the dissertations according to topic groups based on a title analysis of the 158 identified dissertations. For comparison reasons, the topic groups identified in previous studies were used [ 13 , 41 ] and further supplemented with two new groups risk management and humanitarian logistics. The table shows a continued decline in the share of dissertations related to system design/structure/effectiveness, organizational development/competencies and material handling. In contrast, topics related to system integration/integration enablers and transport/transport systems have obtained increased awareness. The increase in these topics is primarily based on Swedish and Norwegian dissertations.

Additionally, while the study by [ 41 ] found that topics related to humanitarian logistics and risk management were absent, the present review of dissertations has remedied this with dissertations on this topic from Finland and Sweden.

4.6 Article-based dissertations

The study reported in this paper reveals an increased amount of article-based dissertations. This development confirms the expectations raised by Zachariassen and Arlbjørn [ 41 ]. However, an article-based dissertation can be composed in different ways—e.g., with respect to requirements regarding the type of articles, number of articles, co-author permission and the author order position among the co-authors in an article. The ministerial orders granting the degree of PhDs in the different countries do not provide any guidance and requirements concerning the format of a PhD. This opens up for various interpretations of the required workload to earn the PhD degree. Therefore, the increase in more article-based dissertations requires that we study how the practice of these types of dissertations is unfolded in the Nordic countries. This section takes a closer look at the 92 article-based dissertations and develops a measure to differentiate the various types of dissertations. The subsequent subsection proposes a measure for article-based dissertation; this measure is subsequently used in analyzing the identified Nordic article-based dissertations.

4.6.1 Measure for dissertation score

In order to develop a measure for an average article-based dissertation, we first need to recognize the fact that a specific article that is part of the dissertation can take different forms. Hence, the first element in this proposal for a dissertation measure is to differentiate between the different types of contributions that are part of the article-based dissertation and then to allocate different scores for the different types. The present analysis distinguishes between five different types of articles with specific scores as follows:

Peer-reviewed journal articles, score: 1

Peer-reviewed articles in form of book chapters (e.g., in an anthology), score: 0.8

Peer-reviewed conference articles, score: 0.8

Working papers, score: 0.5

Non-published papers, score: 0.5

The differences in scores are used to reflect different perceptions of workload as well as quality requirements. Thus, a peer-reviewed journal article obtains the highest score of 1 point followed by book chapters and conferences papers with scores of 0.8, and working papers and non-published manuscripts of 0.5 points.

The next step in developing a dissertation score is to propose a measure that takes into account the number of authors as well as the order of the authors. Thus, a sole authored paper by a PhD candidate counts more than a co-authored paper. And, in the present measure, a first-order author position counts more than a lower author position. Table  6 proposes scores for authorship indicators evaluating each of the articles that take into consideration various numbers of authors and author order positions.

Based on the above proposals of different types of articles and measures for different authorship indicators, we can now develop an overall dissertation score based on Formula 1:

Formula 1: overall dissertation score

where S  = overall dissertation score, T  = type of article and authorship factor = number of authors (NoA) * author order position (AOP).

The overall dissertation score is composed of multiplying the scores of the individual articles by the authorship factor. The basic idea is that the highest score per article of 1 point is reduced based on the lower the level of the perceived status of various channels (e.g., journal rankings; journal articles versus book chapters; conference articles versus journal articles/book chapters) and the number of co-authors as well as the author order the PhD student has for the given article. A conference paper that is included in an article-based dissertation, which have been through a double-blind review process (e.g., at a NOFOMA, LRN or a EurOMA conference), is valued 0.8 compared with an article that is published in a peer-reviewed journal. Thus, a conference article is considered as less mature when compared to an article that has been through perhaps several revisions in a journal before acceptance. However, we should avoid with the generalization of the different channels. The Danish Bibliometric Research Indicator, for example, value accepted conference articles as much as some journal papers, if they are accepted to be presented at some conferences (e.g., EURAM and AOM) [ 36 ]. Also, contributions to books are valued differently according to which publisher the work is published with [ 37 ].

The dissertation score is a measure for the PhD dissertation at hand—and thus, the status of it when it was judged and passed. Several article-based dissertations contain non-published papers, working papers and conference articles that find its way to peer-reviewed journals after the degree of PhD has been awarded and further workload is invested in those articles. Other articles of this nature never end in publications for various reasons. Thus, the status of the papers after the PhD evaluation is not included in the dissertation score presented in this article.

An article-based dissertation is evaluated not only on the enclosed articles, but also on the text (the frame) that bind the articles together. Also, herein there seems to be different practices—e.g., the scope and depths on positioning the thesis against extant research; the level and scope of methodological and philosophy of science discussions (see, e.g., [ 3 ]); independent literature reviews as well as discussions on the “red line” between the included articles.

The overall purpose with the dissertation score is to propose a measure to be used for discussing the scope and content-type of a PhD dissertation. What is enough? And how much of a dissertation can be co-authored with others? Is one dissertation better than another because it includes articles that are published? It is our experience that there are differences in what is needed in an article-based dissertation both within a department at a research institution and between research institutions. The present dissertation score can help in discussing what is needed and also in developing department guidelines.

The proposed overall dissertation score formula is not without limitations. First, the division of types of articles and their scores is subjective. The peer-reviewed journal category, for example, can be further divided into different scores by following specific journal ranking lists. Second, the scores for various numbers of authors and their author order position in the proposed authorship factor calculation are also subjective and can be altered. The order of authors of a paper does not necessarily display the true workload of different authors. The order of authors can be organized using different principles such as a simple alphabetical listing, organized after seniority (experience); listing the person first who got the idea to the article as the first author; or listing PhD students first because they need the credit more than their senior co-authors. Third, the dissertation score does not include a time perspective (i.e., the length of the PhD program)—a higher score can be obtained over a 5-year period when compared to a 3-year period. Fourth, the dissertation score does not take into consideration the extent of thesis frame (the text accompanying the articles such as scoping, positioning, methods, philosophy of science, contribution and implications). Fifth, the score of author order position decreases based on the position; this may not reflect the actual work load. In summary, as with any measures in general, this overall dissertation score also has its own shortcomings and these are important to be considered to ensure the practical use of the score. However, in spite of the sometime magical status of numbers—we should remember that “numbers are just number” and that they can be used to jump start discussions on how to compose an article-based dissertation.

4.6.2 Dissertation scores

This section provides an analysis of the 92 article-based dissertations using the dissertation score developed in the above subsection. This number is divided among 12 Danish, 27 Finnish, 37 Swedish and 16 Norwegian dissertations. As given in Table  7 , the dissertations vary in the number of included articles spanning from three to eight articles. The majority of the dissertations are composed of four to six articles. The average number of articles counts to 4.84. Table  7 also shows that the average dissertation score increases from 1.53 with three articles to 5.38 with eight articles. This is not surprising given the design of the formula.

Furthermore, Table  7 shows that including journal articles is a well-established practice among the reviewed dissertations. The share of journal articles counts 54 % among dissertations with four articles (71/132); 62 % among dissertations with five articles (80/130); and 69 % among dissertations with six articles (99/144). After journal papers, conference papers and non-published papers are the second most typical types that are included in article-based dissertations. Finally, Table  7 shows that including reviewed books chapters is not that prevalent among the dissertations reviewed.

This review also shows that there are more PhD candidates at Chalmers University of Technology with highest number of contributions at 18 dissertations followed by Molde University College with 16 dissertations and Lund University with 11 dissertations (see Fig.  1 ). In all, the 92 article-based dissertations contain 446 articles divided into the five types discussed in Sect.  4.6.1 . Out of this, 266 are peer-reviewed journal articles of which 68 are from Chalmers University of Technology; 39 are from Molde University College; and 39 are from Lappeenranta University of Technology. In total, 83 articles are included as conference papers; 64 are included as non-published papers; 27 are included as working papers; and only six articles take the form of book chapters.

Average dissertation scores divided by research institution. AU Aalto University, ASB/AU Aarhus School of Business/Aarhus University, CUT Chalmers University of Technology, HSE Hanken School of Economics, JIBS Jönköping International Business School, KI Karolinska Institutet, LiU Linköping University, LU Lund University, LUT Lappeenranta University of Technology, MUC Molde University College, SU Stockholm University, TSE Turku School of Economics, TUD Technical University Denmark, UO University of Oulu, UV University of Vaasa, USD University of Southern Denmark

Figure  1 demonstrates a relatively high variety among the dissertations across the different research institutions with respect to the average institutional dissertations (ranging from 1.47, 2.47, 2.76, 2.96, 3.03, 3.12, 3.22, 3.25, 3.45, 3.83, 3.87, 3.93, 4.11, 4.22, 4.28, 5.02). Four of the six dissertations composed of three articles (see Table  7 ) are Danish dissertations from Aarhus School of Business/Aarhus University. In contrast, eight out of the 24 dissertations holding six articles are composed of 4–6 peer-reviewed journal articles. The dissertation score is here suggested as an instrument that can be used in discussions on what is required to earn the degree of PhD at the specific research institutions and, through benchmarks, facilitate alignment processes if needed. With the limitations in mind, a PhD student can discuss with her or his advisor(s) as of what type of articles are required; whether co-authored articles with advisors or other senior researchers or PhD students can be included; and how a PhD student documents her or his contribution in each article if they are co-authored. The dissertation score can also stimulate further discussions on what should be included in the binder of the dissertation—e.g., prioritizes theme to be discussed in the binder instead of adding another article.

4.7 Potential topics for inclusion in the dissertations

The review process of the 150 dissertations reveals that five research areas seem to be under-prioritized among Nordic scholars within logistics and SCM. The topics are as follows (not prioritized):

Cloud technology Although there is a focus on maximizing the effectiveness of shared resources [ 5 ], the increased availability of high-capacity network, low-cost computers and storage devices as well as the widespread adoption of hardware virtualization, service-oriented architecture, and autonomic and utility computing have led to a growth in the use of cloud technology. In spite of its increased importance, it is distinct that this subject has not received more attention in the dissertations reviewed.

Globalization of SC As mentioned previously, this topic was still largely ignored in the dissertation reviewed. With the natural outcome of expanding growing market and sustaining competitive advantage, companies have to make key decisions about managing costs and complexity through globalized supply chain (see, e.g., [ 11 ]).

Supply chain innovation (SCI) The discipline of innovations has branched out into the supply chain context and should be regarded as an important topic. While firms are applying their assets, operating resources and capabilities to develop new ways of improve performance, they cannot ignore the importance of their supply chain partners in enabling product and process innovations (see, e.g., [ 1 ]). Accordingly, more attention needs to be paid to this topic.

Security This topic was also mentioned in the previous study by Zachariassen and Arlbjørn [ 41 ]. Yet, this topic has only received limited attention among the 112 dissertations published between 2009 and 2014. Security is increasingly becoming a major concern to both private and public sector organizations. Security searches for cooperative arrangements between businesses as well as identifies risks before the goods move. It is also concerned with controlling theft and reducing illegal import and export of stolen goods. There are many areas of research within the topic of security from formal aspects to empirical research (see, e.g., [ 4 , 40 ]). Hence, it is essential that researchers start focusing on the different aspects of this topic in the future. This is one of the key topics of research within supply chain now as well as in the distant future.

Big data This is currently drowning the world. The huge amount of data is an invaluable asset in the context of supply chains. The quality of the evidence extracted significantly benefits from the availability of broad datasets. On the one hand, extensive vision is more promising when extra data are available. And, on the other hand, it is a big challenge. The current approach is not appropriate to handle large data, and therefore, there is a need for new solutions to handle large datasets. This research field is new and rapidly evolving [ 38 ], and there is also a lead-time issue before we see the first dissertations within this area. As a result, any initial effort taken will be a strong contribution from both experimental and theoretical perspective (see, e.g., [ 15 ]).

5 Conclusion

This paper has set out to analyze the development of Nordic doctoral dissertations in logistics and SCM from the years 2009–2014. The paper identified 158 dissertations relevant for review; out of this, 150 dissertations were reviewed in depth based on different criteria. Compared with previous studies, this research found several important developments in Nordic doctoral research. First, there has been an increase in the average annual number of finalized dissertations when compared to previous Nordic studies. The results predominantly show the remarkable increase in dissertations between 2009 and 2014 (158 dissertations) wherein Sweden ranks highest followed by Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland, respectively. Second, there has been a decrease in dissertations that focus on classical entities of analysis such as carriers, wholesalers, retailers and inventories. Therefore, it is clear that the PhD dissertation’s focal point is still more on manufacturing firms (50/150) rather than on other entities. Third, there has been an increase in functional subject areas of logistics and SCM and the supply chain/network level. Fourth, the number of dissertations containing philosophy of science discussions is continuing to decline. As mentioned earlier, there is a significant increase in article-based dissertations and these dissertations do not adopt philosophy of science; as a result, there is an extreme decrease (110/150). Finally, there is clear shift toward disseminating doctoral research as an article-based dissertation (2009–2014: 92/150; 2002–2008: 26/70; 1990–2001: 15/71, respectively). However, this piece of research has demonstrated that the content of the Nordic article-based dissertations varies along dimensions such as types of articles included, the number of articles included and the number of co-authors at the papers. A dissertation score has been suggested as a measure for initiating discussions about such dissertations at a single research institution and as a benchmark between different institutions. As discussed earlier, such a score is not without limitations and must not stand alone. Therefore, the next logical step might be to discuss how far should we go with the number and the type of contributions. What is enough in order to earn a PhD degree? The content of this paper can be used to match the expectations of PhD students and their supervisors so as to find the right path to learn the craft of conducting and disseminating logistics and SCM research.

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Christopher Rajkumar, Lone Kavin, Xue Luo & Jan Stentoft

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Appendix 1: Research institutions contacted

Aalborg University

Aarhus School of Business/Aarhus University

Copenhagen Business School

Danish Technical University/Technical University of Denmark

Roskilde University

University of Southern Denmark

Aalto University

Åbo Akademi University

Hanken School of Economic

Helsinki University

Lappeenranta University of Technology

National Defence University

Swedish School of Economics and Business Administration

Tampere University of Technology

Technical Research Center of Finland

Turku School of Economics

University of Oulu Business School

University of Vaasa

University of Iceland

BI Norwegian School of Management

Institute of Transport Economics

Molde University College

Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration

Norwegian University of Science and Technology

SINTEF Industrial Management

University of Oslo Business School

University of Nordland

Chalmers University of Technology

Gothenburg University

Jönköping International Business School

Karolinska Institute Department of Public Health Sciences

Linköping University

Linnæus University

Lund University

Örebro University

Stockholm School of Economics

Stockholm University

Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute

University College of Borås

Appendix 2: Doctoral dissertations identified

2.1 danish dissertations.

Aarhus School of Business/Aarhus University:

Abginehchi, S. (2012), Essays on Inventory Control in Presence of Multiple Sourcing , Aarhus.

Bach, L. (2014), Routing and Scheduling Problems — Optimization using Exact and Heuristic Methods , Aarhus.

Bendre, A.B. (2010), Numerical Studies of Single - stage, Single - item Inventory Systems with Lost Sales , Aarhus.

Bodnar, P. (2013), Essays on Warehouse Operations , Aarhus.

Christensen, T.R.L. (2013), Network Design Problems with Piecewise Linear Cost Functions , Aarhus.

Du, B. (2011), Essays on Advance Demand Information, Prioritization and Real Options in Inventory Management, Aarhus.

Hanghøj, A. (2014), Papers in Purchasing and Supply Management: A Capability - Based Perspective , Aarhus.

Kjeldsen, K.H. (2012), Routing and Scheduling in Liner Shipping , Aarhus.

Copenhagen Business School:

Andreasen, P.H. (2012), The Dynamics of Procurement Management — A Complexity Approach , Frederiksberg.

Kinra, A. (2009), Supply Chain (Logistics) Environmental Complexity , Frederiksberg.

Nøkkentved, C. (2009), Enabling Supply Networks with Collaborative Information Infrastructures: An Empirical Investigation of Business Model Innovation in Supplier Relationship Management , Frederiksberg.

Yu, L.A. (2012), Fabricating an S&OP Process: Circulating References and Matters of Concern , Frederiksberg.

University of Southern Denmark:

Jensen, J.K. (2013), Development of Environmentally Sustainable Food Supply Chains , Kolding.

Mikkelsen, O.S. (2011), Strategic Sourcing in a Global Organizational Context , Kolding.

Mortensen, M.H. (2011), Towards Understanding Attractiveness in Industrial Relationships , Kolding.

Zachariassen, F. (2011), Supply Chain Management and Critical Theory: Meta - Theoretical, Disciplinary and Practical Contributions to the Supply Chain Management Discipline Based on Insights from the Management Accounting Discipline , Kolding.

Technical University of Denmark:

Jørgensen, P. (2013), Technology in Health Care Logistics , Lyngby.

2.2 Finnish dissertations

Aalto University School of Business:

Aaltonen, K. (2010), Stakeholder Management in International Projects , Finland.

Ahola, T. (2009), Efficiency in Project Networks: The Role of Inter - Organizational Relationships in Project Implementation , Finland.

Ala-Risku, T. (2009), Installed Base Information: Ensuring Customer Value and Profitability after the Sale , Finland.

Groop, J. (2012), Theory of Constraints in Field Service: Factors Limiting Productivity in Home Care Operations , Finland.

Helkiö, P. (2013), D eveloping Explorative and Exploitative Strategic Intentions — Towards a Practice Theory of Operations Strategy , Finland.

Hinkka, V. (2013), Implementation of RFID Tracking across the Entire Supply Chain , Finland.

Karjalainen, K. (2009), Challenges of Purchasing Centralization — Empirical Evidence from Public Procurement , Finland.

Karrus, K. (2011), Policy Variants for Coordinating Supply Chain Inventory Replenishments , Finland.

Kauremaa, J. (2010), Studies on the Utilization of Electronic Trading Systems in Supply Chain Management , Finland.

Nieminen, S. (2011), Supplier Relational Effort in the Buyer – Supplier Relationship , Finland.

Peltokorpi, A. (2010), Improving Efficiency in Surgical Services: A Production Planning and Control Approach , Finland.

Porkka, P. (2010), Capacitated Timing of Mobile and Flexible Service Resources , Finland.

Rajahonka, M. (2013), Towards Service Modularity — Service and Business Model Development , Finland.

Ristola, P. (2012), Impact of Waste - to - Energy on the Demand and Supply Relationships of Recycled Fibre , Finland.

Seppälä, T. (2014), Contemporary Determinants and Geographical Economy of Added Value, Cost of Inputs, and Profits in Global Supply Chains: An Empirical Analysis , Finland.

Tenhiälä, A. (2009), Contingency Theories of Order Management, Capacity Planning, and Exception Processing in Complex Manufacturing Environments , Finland.

Torkki, P. (2012), Best Practice Processes — What are the Reasons for Differences in Productivity between Surgery Units , Finland. NOT reviewed

Turunen, T. (2013), Organizing Service Operations in Manufacturing , Finland.

Tynjälä, T. (2011 ) , An Effective Tool for Supply Chain Decision Support During New Product Development Process , Finland.

Viitamo, E. (2012), Productivity as a Competitive Edge of a Service Firm: Theoretical Analysis and a Case Study of the Finnish Banking Industry , Finland.

Voutilainen, J. (2014), Factory Positioning in an Unpredictable Environment: A Managerial View of Manufacturing Strategy Formation , Finland.

Åbo Akademi University:

Nyholm, M. (2011), Activation of Supply Relationships , Turku.

Hanken School of Economic:

Antai, I. (2011), Operationalizing Supply Chain vs. Supply Chain Completion , Finland.

Haavisto, I. (2014), Performance in Humanitarian Supply Chains , Finland.

Harilainen, H. (2014), Managing Supplier Sustainability Risk , Finland.

Tomasini Ponce, R. (2012), Informal Learning Framework for Secondment: Logistics Lessons from Disaster Relief Operations , Finland.

Vainionpää, M. (2010), Tiering Effects in Third - party Logistics: A First - Tier Buyer Perspective , Finland.

University of Oulu Business School:

Juntunen, J. (2010): Logistics Outsourcing for Economies in Business Network , Finland

Lappeenranta University of Technology — Industrial Engineering and Management:

Karppinen, H. (2014), Reframing the Relationship between Service Design and Operations: A Service Engineering Approach , Lappeenranta.

Kerkkänen, A. (2010), Improving Demand Forecasting Practices in the Industrial Context , Lappeenranta.

Laisi, M. (2013), Deregulation’s Impact on the Railway Freight Transport Sector’s Future in the Baltic Sea Region , Lappeenranta.

Lättilä, L. (2012), Improving Transportation and Warehousing Efficiency with Simulation - Based Decision Support Systems , Lappeenranta.

Niemi, P. (2009), Improving the Effectiveness of Supply Chain Development Work — An Expert Role Perspective , Lappeenranta.

Pekkanen, P. (2011), Delay Reduction in Courts of Justice — Possibilities and Challenges of Process Improvement in Professional Public Organizations , Lappeenranta.

Salmela, E. (2014), Kysyntä - Toimitusketjun Synkronointi Epävarman Kysynnän ja Tarjonnan Toimintaympäristössä , Lappeenranta. NOT reviewed.

Saranen, J. (2009), Enhancing the Efficiency of Freight Transport by Using Simulation , Lappeenranta.

Lappeenranta University of Technology — School of Business:

Kähkönen, A. (2010), The Role of Power Relations in Strategic Supply Management — A Value Net Approach , Lappeenranta.

Lintukangas Annaliisa, K. (2009), Supplier Relationship Management Capability in the Firm’s Global Integration , Lappeenranta.

Vilko, J. (2012), Approaches to Supply Chain Risk Management: Identification, Analysis and Control , Lappeenranta.

Turku School of Economic:

Koskinen, P. (2009), Supply Chain Challenges and Strategies of a Global Paper Manufacturing Company , Turku.

Lorentz, H. (2009), Contextual Supply Chain Constraints in Emerging Markets — Exploring the Implications for Foreign Firms , Turku.

Rantasila, K. (2013), Measuring Logistics Costs. Designing a Generic Model for Assessing Macro Logistics Costs in a Global Context with Empirical Evidence from the Manufacturing and Trading Industries , Turku.

Solakivi, T. (2014), The Connection between Supply Chain Practices and Firm Performance — Evidence from Multiple Surveys and Financial Reporting Data , Turku.

Tampere University of Technology:

Jokinen, J. (2010), Multi - Agent Control of Reconfigurable Pallet Transport Systems , Tampere. NOT reviewed

University of Vaasa:

Addo-Tenkorang, R. (2014), Conceptual Framework for Large - Scale Complex Engineering - Design & Delivery Processes. A Case of Enterprise SCM Network Activities and Analysis , Finland.

Kärki, P. (2012), The Impact of Customer Order Lead Time - Based Decisions on the Firm’s Ability to Make Money — Case Study: Build to Order Manufacturing of Electrical Equipment and Appliances , Finland.

Moilanen, V. (2011), Case study: Developing a Framework for Supply Network Management , Finland.

Nugroho Widhi, Y K. (2009), Structuring Postponement Strategies in the Supply Chain by Analytical Modeling , Finland.

2.3 Icelandic dissertations

University of Iceland — School of Health Sciences:

Nga, M. (2010), Enhancing Quality Management of Fresh Fish Supply Chains through Improved Logistics and Ensured Traceability , Reykjavik.

2.4 Norwegian dissertations

Norwegian University of Science and Technology:

Bai, Y. (2013), Reliability of International Freight Trains, An Exploratory Study Drawing on Three Mainstream Theories , Trondheim.

BI Norwegian School of Management:

Hatteland, C.J. (2010), Ports as Actors in Industrial Networks , Norway.

Bjørnstad, S. (2009), Shipshaped Kongsberg Industry and Innovations in Deepwater Technology, 1975 – 2000, Norway.

Hoholm, T. (2009), The Contrary Forces of Innovation - An Ethnography of Innovation Processes in the Food Industr, Norway.

Zhovtobryukh, Y (2014), The Role of Technology, Ownership and Origin in M&A Performance, Norway.

Molde University College:

Halse, L.L. (2014), Walking the Path of Change. Globalization of the Maritime Cluster in North West Norway , Norway.

Salema, G.L. (2014), The Antecedents of Supplier Logistics Performance: an Empirical Study of the Essential Medicines Supply in Tanzania, Norway.

Chaudhry, M.O. (2014), An Assessment of Linkages between Investment in Transport Infrastructure and Economic Development, Norway.

Søvde, N.E. (2014) Optimization of Terrain Transportation Problems in Forestry, Norway.

Iversen, H.P. (2013) Logististikkerfaringer i Psykiatri og Psykisk Helsearbeid: Om Forståelse, Organisering og Ledelsed av Relasjoner i en Profesjonell Organisasjon i Omstilling, Norway.

Bottolfsen, T. (2013) The Impact of Internal, Customer and Supplier Integration on Store Performance , Norway.

Schøyen, H. (2013) Identifying Efficiency Potentials in Maritime Logistics: Investigations from Container and Bulk Trades , Nowary.

Jin, J.Y. (2013) Cooperative Parallel Metaheuristics for Large Scale Vehicle Routing Problems, Norway.

Regmi, U.K. (2013) Essays on Air Transport Marketing and Economics , Norway.

Glavee-Geo, R. (2012) The Antecedents and Consequences of Supplier Satisfaction in Agro Commodity Value Chain: an Empirical Study of Smallholder Cocoa Growers of Ghana , Norway.

Lanquepin, G. (2012) Algorithms for Dynamic Pricing and Lot Sizing, Norway.

Qin, F.F. (2012) Essays on Efficient Operational Strategy of Urban Rail Transit, Norway.

Qian, F.B. (2012) Passenger Risk Minimization in Helicopter Transportation for the Offshore Petroleum Industry , Norwary.

Bø, O. (2012) Aspects of Production Tracking Systems in the Supply Network for Caught Seafood , Norway.

Yue, X. (2010) Competition and Cooperation: a Game theoretic Analysis on the Development of Norwegian Continental shelf, Norway.

Shyshou, A. (2010) Vessel Planning in Offshore Oil and Gas Operations , Norway.

Thapalia, B.K. (2010) Stochastic Single - commodity Network Design , Norway.

Bakhrankova, K. (2010) Production Planning in Continuous Process Industries: Theoretical and Optimization Issues, Norway.

Bhatta, B.P. (2009) Discrete Choice Analysis with Emphasis on Problems of Network - based Level of Service Attributes in Travel Demand Modeling , Norway.

Burki, U. (2009) Cross Cultural Effects on the Relational Governance of Buyer – Supplier Relationships: an Empirical Study of the Textile Exporting Firms of Pakistan , Norway.

Vaagen, H. (2009) Assortment Planning under Uncertainty, Norway.

Saeed, N. (2009) Competition and Cooperation among Container Terminals in Pakistan: with Emphasis on Game Theoretical Analysis, Norway.

2.5 Swedish dissertations

Chalmers University of Technology:

Almotairi, B. (2012), Integrated Logistics Platform the Context of the Port Relational Exchanges and Systematic Integration , Gothenburg.

Andersson, R. (2009), Supply Chain Resilience through Quality Management , Gothenburg.

Bankvall, L. (2011), Activity Linking in Industrial Networks , Gothenburg.

Behrends, S. (2011), Urban Freight Transport Sustainability — The Interaction of Urban Freight and Intermodal Transport , Gothenburg.

Ekwall, D. (2009), Managing Risk for Antagonistic Threats against Transport Network , Gothenburg.

Ellis, J. (2011), Assessing Safety Risks for the Sea Transport Link of a Multimodal Dangerous Goods Transport Chain , Gothenburg.

Finnsgård, C. (2013), Materials Exposure: The Interface between Materials Supply and Assembly , Gothenburg.

Fredriksson, A. (2011), Materials Supply and Production Outsourcing , Gothenburg.

Hanson, R. (2012), In - Plant Materials Supply: Supporting the Choice between Kitting and Continuous Supply , Gothenburg.

Hilletofth, P. (2010), Demand – Supply Chain Management , Gothenburg.

Hjort, K. (2013), On Aligning Returns Management with the Ecommerce Strategy to Increase Effectiveness , Gothenburg.

Ingrid, H. (2014), Organizing Purchasing and Supply Management across Company Boundaries , Gothenburg.

Ivert, L. (2012), Use of Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) Systems to Support Manufacturing Planning and Control Processes , Gothenburg.

Kalantari, J. (2012) Foliated Transportation Networks - Evaluating Feasibility and Potential , Gothenburg.

Kharrazi, S. (2012), Steering Based Lateral Performance Control of Long Heavy Vehicle Combinations , Gothenburg.

Lindholm, M.E., (2012) Enabling Sustainable Development of Urban Freight from a Local Authority Perspective , Gothenburg.

Mirzabeiki, V. (2013), Collaborative Tracking and Tracing — A Supply Chain Perspective , Gothenburg.

Roso, V. (2009), The Dry Port Concept , Gothenburg.

Sternberg, H. (2011), Waste in Road Transport Operations — Using Information Sharing to Increase Efficiency , Gothenburg.

Styhre, L. (2010), Capacity Utilization in Short Sea Shipping , Gothenburg.

Sundquist, V. (2014), The Role of Intermediation in Business Networks , Gothenburg.

Thörnblad, K. (2013), Mathematical Optimization in Flexible Job Shop Scheduling: Modelling, Analysis, and Case Studies , Gothenburg.

Jönköping International Business School:

Borgström, B. (2010), Supply chain strategising: Integration in practice, Jönköping.

Cui, L.G., (2012), Innovation and network development of logistics firms, Jönköping.

Skoglund, P. (2012), Sourcing decisions for military logistics in Peace Support Operations: A case study of the Swedish armed forces, Jönköping.

Jafari, H. (2014), Postponement and Logistics Flexibility in Retailing , Jönköping.

Wikner, S. (2011), Value Co - creation as Practice — On a supplier’s capabilities in the value generation process, Jönköping.

Karolinska Institute Department of Public Health Sciences:

Anund, A. (2009), Sleepiness at the Wheel , Sweden.

Linköping University:

Ekström, J. (2012), Optimization Approaches for Design of Congestion Pricing Schemes , Linköping.

Feldmann, A. (2011), A Strategic Perspective on Plants in Manufacturing Networks , Linköping.

Hansson, L. (2010), Public Procurement at the Local Government Level: Actor Roles, Discretion and Constraints in the Implementation of Public Transport Goals , Linköping.

Isaksson, K. (2014), Logistics Service Providers Going Green — A Framework for Developing Green Service Offerings , Linköping.

Lindskog, M. (2012), On Systems Thinking in Logistics Management — A Critical Perspective , Linköping.

Malmgren, M. (2010), Managing Risks in Business Critical Outsourcing: A Perspective from the Outsourcer and the Supplier , Linköping.

Martinsen, U. (2014), Towards Greener Supply Chains: Inclusion of Environmental Activities in Relationships between Logistics Service Providers and Shippers , Linköping.

Mårdh, S. (2013), Cognitive Erosion and its Implications in Alzheimer’s Disease , Linköping.

Musa, S.N. (2012), Supply Chain Risk Management: Identification, Evaluation and Mitigation Techniques , Linköping.

Olstam, J. (2009), Simulation of Surrounding Vehicles in Driving Simulators , Linköping.

Thoresson, K. (2011), To Calculate the Good Society: Cost - Benefit Analysis and the Border between Expertise and Policy in the Transport Sector , Linköping. NOT reviewed.

Linnaeus University:

Farvid, S.M. (2014), Essays on Inventory Theory , Sweden.

Samadi, R. (2010), Supply Chain Optimization and Market Coordinated Inventory , Sweden. NOT Reviewed.

Lund University:

Bagdadi, O. (2012), The Development of Methods for Detection and Assessment of Safety Critical Events in Car Driving , Lund.

Eng Larsson, F. (2014), On the Incentives to Shift to Low - Carbon Freight Transport , Lund.

Howard, C. (2013), Real - Time Allocation Decisions in Multi - Echelon Inventory Control , Lund.

Lundin, J. (2011), On Supply Chain Incentive Alignment: Insight from a Cash Supply Chain and a Trucking Service Supply Chain , Lund.

Olander, M. (2010), Logistik och Juridik. Moderna Affärsförbindelser och Kontrakt som Utmaningar för Förmögenhetsrätten, Lund. NOT Reviewed

Pazirandeh, A. (2014), Purchasing Power and Purchasing Strategies — Insights from the Humanitarian Sector , Lund.

Urciuoli, L. (2011), Security in Physical Distribution Networks: A Survey Study of Swedish Transport Operators , Lund.

Olander Roses, K. (2014), From PowerPoints to Reality - managing Strategic Change in the Paper Packaging Industry , Lund.

Sohrabpour, V. (2014), Packaging Design and Development for Supply Chain Efficiency and Effectiveness, Lund.

Abbasi, M. (2014), Exploring Themes and Challenges in Developing Sustainable Supply Chains - A Complexity Theory Perspective , Lund.

Ringsberg, H. (2013), Food Traceability in Regulated Fresh Food Supply Chains with an Emphasis on the Swedish Fishing Industry , Lund.

Beckeman, M. (2011), The Potential for Innovation in the Swedish Food Sector , Lund.

Dominic, C. (2011), Packaging Logistics Performance , Lund.

Johansson, O. (2009), On the Value of Intelligent Packaging - A Packaging Logistics Perspective , Lund.

Pålsson, H. (2009), Logistics value of using tracking data from uniquely labelled goods , Lund.

Stockholm University, Department of Psychology:

Eriksson, G. (2014), On Physical Relations in Driving: Judgments, Cognition and Perception , Stockholm.

Örebro University School of Business:

Ahlberg, J. (2012), Multi - Unit Common Value Auctions: Theory and Experiments , Örebro.

Arvidsson, S. (2010), Essays on Asymmetric Information in the Automobile Insurance Market , Örebro.

Bohlin, L. (2010), Taxation of Intermediate Goods — A CGE Analysis , Örebro.

Krüger, N. (2009), Infrastructure Investment Planning under Uncertainty , Örebro. NOT reviewed

Liu, X. (2013), Transport and Environmental Incentive Policy Instruments — Effects and Interactions , Örebro. NOT reviewed

Lodefalk, M. (2013), Tackling Barriers to Firm Trade. Liberalisation, Migration, and Servicification , Örebro.

Sund, B. (2010), Economic Evaluation, Value of Life, Stated Preference Methodology and Determinants of Risk , Örebro.

Swärdh, J. (2009), Commuting Time Choice and the Value of Travel Time , Örebro.

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Rajkumar, C., Kavin, L., Luo, X. et al. Doctoral dissertations in logistics and supply chain management: a review of Nordic contributions from 2009 to 2014. Logist. Res. 9 , 5 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12159-016-0132-0

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Received : 02 November 2015

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Published : 14 March 2016

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s12159-016-0132-0

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Supply Chain Management Thesis Topics- Top 30 Ideas

One of the most frequently asked question from SCMDOJO followers is, I am doing Supply Chain Management Masters from  Europe ,  UK  or  USA  and I need some Master Thesis ideas in Supply Chain?

Key academic research areas in SCM are offering robust and implementable supply chain management thesis that are transforming worldwide trends. The increasing strength of global Supply Chain Management (SCM) is one functional area that shows several students are seeking a good start, especially in solving significant problems in the form of  Masters  and  PhD thesis .

Nevertheless, with the changing trends in the industry, some students are likely to struggle with the early stages of academic writing. A significant reason for this problem is usually down to a lack of ideas or facing new topics with low research activity.

Old Industries and New Industries

The recent pattern shifts in academia, from the traditional research approach to other conventional methods, is taking a more student-centred view. Most of the supply chain management thesis is crafted by students, including dissertation, topic creation, research, and more with help of their supervisors.

With new industries, like Amazon and Apple, transforming old concepts with technological disruption, there are new trends to look out for to help narrow your supply chain management thesis.

The  7 Powerful Supply Chain Trends  (I also dubbed “Supply Chain 7.0”) have the potential to become a powerful influence over time. These trends, including Augmented reality (AR), Big Data, Gamification of the supply chain, moving supply chain to “Cloud,” and Internet of Things (IoT) – Industry 4.0. Also, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning in supply chain alongside 3D Printing are now needed to support the product life cycle.

Forbes also highlights the key  2020 Supply Chain Technology Trends  that are receiving lots of buzz in Supply Chain Management. In this regard, students seeking top-notch research areas for supply chain management thesis can consider new trends to help create adequate research content.

30  Supply Chain Management Thesis Topics for 2020

On these premises, any supply chain management thesis should be comprehensive. There several topics and areas to consider, and below are 30 Supply Chain Management Thesis Topics for 2020 that students can do research on towards an excellent postgraduate study in SCM.

Digital Transformation

• Digital Transformation Key Attributes; Challenges; enablers & Success Factors
• Smart Government Initiatives: How Governments are Driving Digital Change
• Digital Leadership linking to Virtual Teams or Self Organised Teams (Agile PM)
• COVID 19 impacted the implementation of Digital Transformation?
• Cross-functional collaboration in the decision-making process.
• The value of data and interdependencies in decision-making.
• Machine learning techniques in supply chain management

Sustainable Project Management (SPM)

• Can apply the SPM model or any of its dimensions to any type of project
• Can Blockchain help with Sustainable Project Management?
• Factors affecting the application of an efficient supply management system.

IoT- Industry 4.0 and Big Data

• Application of IoT in Logistics – Challenges; enablers & Success Factors
• The practicability of intertwined supply networks with IoT.
• Implementation of IoT in 3PL/4PL Industry – Challenges; enablers & Success Factors
• Big data and impact in DDMRP
• Evaluation of technology use in modern supply chain management.
• The extension of supply chain resilience through Industry 4.0
• The Impact of Industry 4.0 on supply chain management.
• Implementation of E-logistics in Supply Chain Operations.

Operations and Supply Chain Management

• Risk Evaluation and Management involved in a supply chain
• Partnerships Perspective in Supply Chain Management
• Assessing Supply Chain Risk Management Capabilities
• Implementation of Green Supply Chain Management Practices
• Supply Chain Management Practices and Supply Chain Performance Effectiveness
• The Impact of Supply Chain Management Practices on the Overall Performance of the org
• The Influence of Environmental Management Practices and Supply Chain Integration on Technological Innovation Performance
• The Relationship between Total Quality Management Practices and their Effects on Firm Performance
• Level of Commitment to Top Management regarding the TQM Implementation
• Impact of Mobility Solutions (transportation / latest technologies) on logistics.
• Study on the roles of supply chain management in corporate outsourcing.
• Evaluating strategies for cost reduction in SCM relating to exports and imports.

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The supply chain systems of today are more likely to see massive changes technologically in the coming years. Some selected supply chain management thesis topics may face limited data or access to real-time data in making proper research and forecast, including seasonality and trends. So, due diligence is necessary to ensure you not only pick an exciting supply chain management thesis, but you also have sufficient access to data, studies, and materials useful in such an area. The impact of these trends alongside technological advancement in the selected areas would certainly help your thesis stand out and unique.

If are looking for more articles in the education category,  you can visit this page

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How to get a phd: a handbook for students and their supervisors.

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About Dr. Muddassir Ahmed

Dr. Muddassir Ahmed is a global speaker, blogger and supply chain industry, expert. Dr Muddassir Ahmed has received a PhD in Management Science from Lancaster University Management school. Muddassir is a Six Sigma black belt and has founded scmdojo.com with the intention to enable supply chain professionals and supply chain teams to solve the problems they face in their jobs & business.

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About Zaragoza Logistics Center

Zaragoza Logistics Center is a research and educational institute affiliated to the  Massachusetts Institute of Technology  and the  University of Zaragoza .  Core research areas  in logistics and supply chain management at Zaragoza Logistics Center (ZLC) strive to be actionable and applied so that people and organizations can make decisions and take action.

Zaragoza Academic Partnership (ZAP)

The Zaragoza Academic Partnership (ZAP) Program  allows companies to sponsor ZLC students’ thesis projects for both masters  ZLOG , ZLOGb and MDSC . It is an initiative to enhance applied research and bring industry-academia relationships closer together in the field of supply chain management. Each year students are required to complete thesis projects and many of them work with our partner companies on challenging and innovative research projects through the ZAP Program.

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