It was an amazing IPSERA conference. I was absolutely dreading the conference. I had months of sleepless nights thinking the technology would let us down. I had images of queues of people and a full inbox of demands for refunds. But, if anything, the opposite happened. The technology was great, the platform worked really well and my inbox has been full of messages of positivity and support.   

There are so many highlights from this conference and I’d like to just mention a few. The panels Wendy organised, and seemed to mostly host as well, were incredibly insightful.  Hakan Karaosman’s fashion panel with some of the top names in fashion and in fashion research was incredible, the Dean’s panel and the two sustainability panels were definitely highlights for me.

I wish I could have cloned myself as there were so many things I wanted to attend but couldn’t. I’ve heard great things about all the panels, including the Meet the Editors Panel, Public Procurement Panel, Ethics and Sustainability Panel and Teaching Sustainability Panel, Sining Panel and the Re/Near/Offshoring Panel; and the incredible workshops including the Meta-Analysis Workshop, Sourcing Strategies and Circular Economy Workshop, Sourcing Services and Service Supply Chains Workshop, Healthcare Purchasing and Supply Management Workshop, Experimental Design Workshop,  so congratulations to everyone involved and in particular to Jenny Backstrand and Arni Hallderson who also seemed to be hosting quite a few of these workshops!

Two highlights for me were getting to see everyone and to reminisce about the 30 years of IPSERA and marvel at our friends in the IPSERA’s Got Talent event and also Robert Suurmond and Steve Kelly’s Everything IPSERA Quiz.  I am being incredibly biased when I say I’ve never seen social occasions work too well on zoom but I think we cracked it and the IPSERA spirit really shone through.

The standard of the research presentation I attended was also so high. I was in four papers from Masters students, Fanny Chen at Erasmus University, Rotterdam; and Benjamin, Shantal, Dolf and Polien, Masters students of Klass Stek at Twente, Cassia Yamanaka who is working with Leo Marques at Coppead and Feigao Huang, Ryan Lile and Sarha Nur, working with Andrea Sordi and Wendy Tate.  The standard of their work was amazing given that they are only just starting this rigorous academic journey. We often think of our PhDs being our youngest, or at least earliest IPSERA group but the Masters really seem to be picking up the pace too. So definitely a community to watch out for in the future.

I’d also like to say a huge thank you to Wendy Tate.  For those of you who know Wendy, you will know that she is nothing short of a superwoman.  Not only has she been organising two conferences, the physical conference in Knoxville and the online conference, but also managing, organising and chairing so many panels and workshops, and having unceasing energy throughout the conference.  Wendy, the whole of IPSERA stands up and applauds you for the truly amazing job you have done. 

I’d also like to thank Ryan Lile for being such a support to Wendy and for organising and directing all the stage management.  You were such a great part of the organising team. And, I’d like to thank all our stage managers, who kept the whole conference running, who made sure everyone could get into the sessions, were able to present and could ask questions.  You were the backbone of the conference and our heartfelt thanks go out to you all.

 Ryan Lile – Director of Stage Managers

Annie Dohmen

Avril Sun

Favour Mba

Faygao Huang

Georgios Vousinas

Guido Orzes

Iryna Maliasina

Jade Chu

Jan Spreitzenbarth

Junwoo Cha

Mark Soleski

Thu Trang Hoang

I’d also like to say thank to the amazing Executive Committee and in particular, Fred Vos, Leo Marques, Jenny Backstrand and Hakan Karaosman who took on the mammoth task of getting to grips with the platform, organising training, taking over trouble shooting, constantly updating and communicating with the community and ensuring the smooth running of the conference.  You were absolutely amazing and we can’t thank you enough. 

I’d also like to give a special thanks to the IPSERA’s Got Talent Team: Anni-Kaisa Kähkönen, Hakan Karaosman, Helen Walker and Olly Kennedy. And also to the Everything IPSERA Quiz organisers and masters Robert Suurmond and Steve Kelly.  

And a big thank you to the rest of the Executive Committee for all they were doing behind the scenes of the conference including Anni-Kaisa Kähkönen, Antonella Morretto, George Zsidisin, Marika Tuomela-Pyykkönen, Nadine Kiratli, Niels Uenk And Steve Kelly, and who have worked almost non-stop over the past year to keep our community going.

A huge thank you also goes to our wonderful sponsors: Nevi, the top purchasing and supply network in the Netherlands; and our amazing Supply Chain Finance Community. The support you gave us really provided us with so much comfort and made sure that we could make financial decisions that had a major positive impact on our community.  Nevi, for example, sponsored all the Dutch PhDs so they could attend the IPSERA conference for free. Thank you so much!

My final and biggest thank you as always, goes to our incredible IPSERA community. Our amazing panelists and attendees, workshop hosts and participant and session chairs and presenters. You make this conference every year. Without your support, your research, your incredible presentations and the amount of energy and fun you bring, this would just be another run-of-the-mill conference.  You have make it into something unique and special and I am so proud and humbled to be part of this incredible, insightful, wise and fun community.

We will hopefully see you all next year for IPSERA in Jönköping, to enjoy the peace and tranquillity of Sweden’s beautiful lake district!

Donna Marshall

IPSERA President

“I think Covid19 has forced me to be more efficient and hone my time management skills as I juggle many responsibilities from home.”

Although Covid19 has changed many aspects of daily life, including work and research, I choose to focus on the opportunities it has created. The pandemic has basically forced us to conduct our interactions virtually, but without that, I may never have had the opportunity to participate in IPSERA events. As a wife, a mother of four young children, and full-time assistant professor, while also a doctoral student, I may not have been able to take the time away and travel to the doctoral workshop as a student this year. However, because it is virtual, it is an honor to have been accepted and a privilege to participate.

As a doctoral student, I am a novice researcher. So although I have little with which to compare my experience, Covid19 has created a shift in virtual data collection for qualitative data. I will be conducting virtual focus groups instead of traditional face-to-face interviews. I will be interacting with my research committee via video conferencing and emails instead of in-person meetings and presentations. I think Covid19 has forced me to be more efficient and hone my time management skills as I juggle responsibilities. Participating in an accountability group with fellow researchers in my doctoral cohort has been key to staying focused and accomplishing weekly goals towards my research. Additionally, doctoral workshops, like IPSERA, are incredibly valuable in providing feedback and encouraging deeper analysis of my study design.

Honey Zimmerman, CPSM, C.P.M.

UMSL-DBA student

“When one door closes, another opens. If that one closes, there is a window. If the window will not open, hammers work well.”

COVID-19 has been a challenge for almost all of us. It has also shed light to those not familiar with supply chain management as to the criticality of our field in supporting humankind. One can argue that some of the developments with Industry 4.0 technologies have been beneficial for improving supply chain performance and hence, our capabilities and successes in overcoming many of the obstacles arising from the pandemic. Honey Zimmerman’s dissertation is getting to the core of our understanding in how Industry 4.0 technologies, in conjunction with the relationships cultivated between supply chain entities, support and facilitate inter-organizational efforts to procure, produce and distribute products and services needed for us to endure these challenging times. My hunch is that she will try to open the second door first before wielding the hammer.

George A. Zsidisin, Ph.D., CPSM, C.P.M.

John W. Barriger III Professor

University of Missouri – St. Louis

"A two-sided coin: tough challenges in the last year, but valuable opportunities ahead"

The Covid19 pandemic has deeply affected our day-to-day activities. To many of us, it meant a life-changing event. Coping with an overload of housework and hygiene procedures while caring for a relative with a sudden severe illness that eventually passed away had a significant impact in the research progress. PhD colleagues experienced varied impact: those dealing with children’s homeschooling reported increased stress, others experienced depression due to isolation.

The impact on research was not only characterized by effects of psychological issues, but also by changes in the objects of study as firms adapting to the crisis naturally reduced their openness to interview and data access. Those researchers caught in the stage of fieldwork found themselves facing stronger restrictions to collect data. Some colleagues even pivoted the research topic to focus on the evolution and impacts of Covid19 in businesses.

Despite the challenges, we could find a lot of support from faculty and colleagues. In our case, the adaption to online teaching was fast, and the use of online meetings and classes were fundamental to motivate the cohort and contribute to the advancement of research and learning. Opportunities in online teaching supported our careers.

It is expected that some procedures for Covid19 prevention will be maintained throughout 2021 and a mix of in-person and online activities will be here to stay, given the advantages of remote activities such as attending webinars from anywhere in the world for a reduced cost. In addition, the intensification of online tools can help students and scholars to better communicate research impact and nurture multidisciplinary and international collaboration. In this sense, academic conferences and seminars can be a structural support to PhD students and new ways of online networking within academia could be developed to further expand opportunities for co-authorship and development for early career researchers.

“Doing one’s best in a pandemic is different”

It was a good hard year. The first news threads about pandemics were not so alarming, but a “new normal” has come and we have learned to live it.  Working from home, wearing masks, avoiding handshakes, keeping distance, etc. What seemed like a quest at the beginning soon became a tiring routine. I believe that we all faced many inconveniences: being away from our families during holidays, constantly rescheduling bid celebrations, being under pressure of sad news and canceled plans. I would love to say that my work and progress have not been impacted. Sadly, it isn’t true. But the beginning is always the hardest. The most important thing that I learned from the pandemic is to be kinder to myself. To remember that one of the most important qualities we, doctoral students, have is our great passion and creativity. Every day is exciting, academia is a constant adventure. But as in every relationship, the love feeling needs some space. Friends, hobbies, reading non-dissertation-related books, mindfulness meditation, sport, dancing, coffee in cafes, learning a new language, etc. Dedicating time to those things will, in fact, make the academic work more successful. Funnily, I discovered this truth thanks to the pandemic. Even though I did not probably do as much as I would hope,  I achieved a harmony of my work and life balance. An academic career is a long journey and it would be sad to run out of fuel too early.  Let’s do our best but remember that doing one’s best in a pandemic is a very different thing. I believe that in a time of lack of communication, doctoral students should seek any suitable opportunity to meet other researchers online. Sharing your work in progress with others can give a new perspective and open eyes to things not considered before. I see IPSERA doctoral workshop as an excellent opportunity not only engaged with fellow doctoral students but receive feedback from more experienced researchers on how to improve my study. I am grateful to the conference and workshop organizers to take the extra effort to move the activities online. I think that following a routine is important to feel in control of your progress. I wish my fellow doctoral students to be kinder to themselves and be open to new opportunities of ”online” pandemic times, as they might be surprisingly exciting. Good luck!      

During the sanitary crisis, all doctoral students had to face the closure of schools, libraries and the psychological difficulties of confined life. However, each was affected to a different degree and, thus, more or less delayed in their thesis work. I feel that I have been well surrounded and that I am one of the lucky ones. My school, ESCP Business School, was extremely responsive and all the doctoral courses were adapted to distance learning within a few weeks. When I too had to switch to the teachers' side to give the courses and teach for the first time in my life by distance learning a few months ago, I could benefit from great technical and pedagogical support so as not to add stress to this first experience! I felt a great sense of belonging with the whole teaching staff, a lot of informal exchanges initiated by more experienced teachers who were keen to help their young colleagues in these particular circumstances. In this sense the Covid crisis was an opportunity, that of an accelerator of links, at least professionally, paradoxically!

At the beginning of the crisis, when the lock-down was decreed and events, conferences and symposia were postponed or cancelled, my PhD fellow students and I all had concerns about the impact that this might have on our progression. Our doctoral school  emphasises a lot the importance of participating in these gatherings and we were afraid that this lack of opportunity to meet other researchers to share our work, receive valuable feedback from academics working in the same field or simply the lack of visibility would make it more difficult to write our thesis and might also harm our employability after the crisis.  In the end, the reorganisation was quick and efficient, and I was able to attend such events online: the IPSERA doctoral workshop in February, the workshop dedicated to sustainable supply chains in November. Each time there was space for exchanges, with break-out rooms for example, and that really makes a difference. Even if the videoconference format is not easy to manage and requires reorganisation, it also has its advantages: it is a little less intimidating and this is not negligible for a beginner researcher :) More generally, I was particularly and pleasantly surprised by the orientation given to supply chain research : to contribute to a way out of the crisis with our skills as researchers, calls for papers on resilience, reorganisation, rebound of supply chains have flourished almost everywhere and, above all, a special place has been given to sustainable supply chains in this context, exactly as at the ISPERA event on the 30^th of  November. As this is my field of research, I could only be pleased about this.

Anne Ratsimandresy, PhD Student

Joe Miemczyk, Supervisor

"IPSERA doctoral workshop even more important in these times"

I am Madelon Wind, external doctoral student at Utrecht University (UU) and University of Twente (UT) in the Netherlands. I also work as researcher and consultant at the Public Procurement Research Centre (PPRC). My research revolves around the topic of building and maintaining ‘buyer-supplier’ relationships in the public sector, in the context of municipalities procuring youth care. Fredo Schotanus (UU) and Louise Knight (UT) are my supervisors.

COVID-19 has influenced the way in which I conduct my research greatly. I started setting up my research just before COVID-19 hit Europe. And both my supervisors also just started working at new universities just before that. Where you would normally have regular meetings at your professors’ offices, all of our discussions about the theme and later on my research plan had to be done online, except for one early kick-off meeting. This is how it is, but I am looking forward to meeting in real life, getting to know more about the others and their lives via the small talk at the coffee machine. Also, the unplanned discussions you have with your research colleagues at the university are really valuable, not only by discussing literature, but also about things like structure and research methods in general. 

Nevertheless, I am satisfied with what we ‘produced’ in 2020: my research plan has been approved by both my professors as well as the research director. So, now I can really start with conducting the research I proposed! I am therefore very happy that I am accepted as one of this year’s students for the IPSERA doctoral workshop. For me, the timing is excellent: my plans are still rather flexible, and I am eager to have an in-depth discussion about them. I think that even more than in other times the doctoral workshop is of high relevance. The doctoral workshop provides the explicit opportunity to discuss your research with colleagues (around the world): something that is generally less easy due to COVID-19.

Of course, but also in terms of progress I hope that COVID-19 soon starts to lose its grip on the world. I have an interesting paper planned in which I propose longitudinal research, but I could not start this research yet because of the virus. I think it is relevant, though, that COVID-19 underlines the (practical) importance of my research project: more than ever the relationships between municipalities and youth care providers are of high importance to deal with the situation at hand in our country. And more than ever it is clear that the provision of youth care is very important for our society. I also see this in my work as researcher/consultant, in which I most often work in the social domain. My research and advisory projects go hand-in-hand, from which I learn a lot both ways!

Concluding, I am very much looking forward to IPSERA-DW 2021 and to the rest of the (scientific) year!

Madelon Wind, PhD Student

Louise Knight, Supervisor

Fredo Schotanus, Supervisor

The Covid-19 pandemic has raised awareness of supply chains. Things that few people thought twice about before — like toilet paper being readily available on supermarket shelves — suddenly made the headlines when they didn’t happen anymore. Sourcing personal protective equipment (PPE) became a hotly debated issue and, towards the end of 2020, vaccine supply and distribution caught the public attention.

Collaboration in existing and new ways became common place. New collaborations and ventures were encouraged to respond to global scarcity of items such as ventilators, hand sanitiser and PPE. Researchers were asked to respond to Covid-19 rapid funding calls to understand the magnitude and impact of the pandemic on all aspects of our lives. The outcome of which quickly led to the generation of a wealth of intelligence and paved the way to the development of numerous viable vaccines.

The initial supply shortages and the complexity of distributing temperature-sensitive and labile vaccines will not have come as a surprise to many of us working in this area. With the first vaccines gaining authorisation, terms like hubs and ultra-cold chains made their way into the media. We first proposed to publish a media article on vaccine supply chain issues in September 2020 but were quickly told that there wasn’t much interest at the moment. The interest came early December 2020.  We responded to this by producing a series of three articles relating to the vaccine rollout programme as reported globally.

Tens of thousands of people have read our articles since December. Requests for contributions from radio, television, and print media followed. It has been an exhilarating though time-consuming experience. Most importantly, it was been a joy to use our expertise to condense a vast amount of complex information into comprehensible chunks and to do our part in fighting misinformation.

The Covid-19 vaccine supply chain is inherently complex due to the strict guidelines for the movement and storage of the vials, as well as the sheer scale of rolling out newly developed products to the entire world. Capacity issues exist on the supply side as production facilities are being ramped up. The equipment to safely transport the products is being deployed.  Thousands of flights are needed to distribute the vaccines around the globe, in the midst of the greatest ever crisis of the air transport industry.

The demand side is also experiencing challenges. Various countries are being criticised for their slow roll-out of vaccinations. While large vaccination hubs are appealing in terms of ensuring appropriate handling and storage of vaccines, reaching vulnerable populations is much easier through a decentralised model of local vaccination centres at doctors’ surgeries, pharmacies, and care homes. Logistically, that raises questions of waste, both through user errors and through a mismatch of supply and demand. More recently the delays associated with vaccines caused by supplier capacity issues have reminded us of the importance of procurement and contracting decisions in sourcing these vital products. Trust is imperative in collaborations and this is especially pertinent now.

We would be the first to remind our academic colleagues that there are many areas in which purchasing and supply chain professionals/academics can contribute their expertise to support business and social agendas. We have found that, as in so many situations, collaboration is key. This work on the vaccine supply chain is the first time we have collaborated. It has worked exceedingly well. Our first vaccine article reportedly having a ‘reach’ of 2.5 million readers.

Different experience and disciplines (one of us is employed by a School of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, the other by a Business School) offer complementary points of view. It is important to understand what each of us can contribute and also what we are not familiar or comfortable with.

These are confusing times full of complex problems. None of us are able to solve or even comprehend them all. But as purchasing and supply chain professionals, we can all add a part to the larger puzzle. Our expertise is probably more needed than ever before. Let’s contribute. Together.

References

COVID vaccine: some waste is normal – but here's how it is being kept to a minimum

https://theconversation.com/covid-vaccine-some-waste-is-normal-but-heres-how-it-is-being-kept-to-a-minimum-152772  

COVID vaccines are starting to arrive – here’s how everyone will get them. The  Conversation.

https://theconversation.com/covid-vaccines-are-starting-to-arrive-heres-how-everyone-will-get-them-151498    

Vaccines are here, but how will we get them to billions of people. The Conversation.

https://theconversation.com/vaccines-are-here-but-how-will-we-get-them-to-billions-of-people-151132

The Authors

Liz Breen Director of the Digital Health Enterprise Zone (DHEZ), University of Bradford, Reader in Health Service Operations, University of Bradford

https://theconversation.com/profiles/liz-breen-526613

Sarah Schiffling Senior Lecturer in Supply Chain Management, Liverpool John Moores University

https://theconversation.com/profiles/sarah-schiffling-1009067

I was happy to host the very first IPSERA online Doctoral Workshop which took place February 18, 2021. We had 78 participants registered for the workshop which shows that people are really interested about PhD research. We had such a wonderful workshop where the PhD students of our community shared their research. We had 16 PhD student presentations representing PhD research from different countries and different continents. The PhD students of this year were Jan Martin Spreitzenbarth, Gregor Möllers, Michela Guida, Mickaël Cïta, Anne Ratsimandresy, Max Emanuel Schwarzer, Tommaso Calzolari, Yujia Han, Favour Uzoma Mba, Kati Marttinen, Débora Masullo de Goes, Alessio Ronchini, Iryna Maliatsina, Murielle Francillette, Madelon Wind and Honey Zimmerman. This year PhD research focused on IoT, artificial intelligence, big data and the role of these in purchasing and supply management. Another popular topic was again this year sustainability and, in particular, circular economy. We were also able to enjoy the wonderful keynote speech by professor Erik van Raaij who shared some insights about reviewing and publishing.

The faculty mentors have a key role in successful workshop and this year our PhD students got excellent feedback from their mentors in a friendly IPSERA atmosphere.

Big thanks to our faculty mentors – Andrea Patrucco, Anne Touboulic, Guido Orzes, Arash Azadegan, Robert Suurmond, Antonella Moretto, Aki Jääskeläinen, Thomas Johnsen, Wendy Tate, Leonardo Marques, Federico Caniato, Donna Marshall, Steven Carnovale, Jo Meehan, Davide Luzzini, George Zsidisin – for your time and effort in helping the PhD students of our community to develop their research further.

Even though the online version worked well, we hope that the next IPSERA Doctoral Workshop in 2022 can be organized in person. In a meanwhile, hopefully we’ll see you all at the IPSERA 2021 online conference March 29 – April 1, 2021.

Anni-Kaisa Kähkönen

IPSERA Doctoral Workshop coordinator

Professor of Supply Management

LUT University, Lappeenranta, Finland

A Difficult but Exciting Year for the Audencia RICC

The Audencia IPSERA RICC revolves around the Audencia Sustainable Supply Chain Management Group that is part of our Business & Society Department. The research interests of the group span a wide range of topics related to purchasing and supply chain management, but sustainability is one of our core interests as is the role of purchasing in innovation. Although 2020 was naturally a difficult year due to Covid-19 it was also a very busy year with lots of activity involving the RICC.

Audencia is part of the IPSERA SIG in Purchasing & Innovation and as part of this we have dedicated time to a Special Topic Forum (STF) on Purchasing & Innovation in Journal of Purchasing & Supply Management (JPSM). Manuscripts are currently undergoing review and/or being revised and we look forward to the outcome of this process.

We also organized an online workshop on Purchasing & Supply Management Digitalization. This workshop was organized in collaboration with two other SIGs - ‘Supply Chain Finance’ and ‘Internet of Things’ – and generated a great deal of interests amongst the over 50 participants. Considering the success of this event, we expect that this will not be the last joint SIG event.

We have also been working on our EU ERASMUS+ funded “PERISCOPE” project (http://eu-periscope.essca.fr/), which was launched in 2019 as a follow-up to Project PERFECT, which also counted a number of IPSERA participants. Project PERISCOPE aims to identify PSM skills and key competencies for innovation and sustainability and is undertaken by a consortium of five partner institutions: ESSCA, Copenhagen Business School, Graz University of Technology, the University of Twente and Audencia. During 2020 we held an online World-cafe and launched a Delphi study, which is still ongoing. These events are giving us great insights from senior purchasing professionals that represent multiple industries and we look forward to reporting the results from this work in due course.

Finally, our "Purchasing and Digital Innovation” chair, launched in 2019 in collaboration with French consulting company AXYS, has been busy working on exciting new projects related to purchasing digitalization. The chair engages many of our students as well as French companies in these projects. We held one event on Purchasing and Artificial Intelligence in Nantes in November – a physical event we managed in between lockdowns!

Audencia RICC coordinator Thomas Johnsen

The IPSERA Education SIG was involved in the recent Educator's Workshop and coordinated a session on teaching and learning techniques and tools for engaging students in the online environment we find ourselves in. This involved some brief presentations from community members on what they have found useful over the last year and an open discussion on others experiences and thoughts. We are keen to build on these activities and support the IPSERA community through an increased sharing of experiences and will therefore be making use of the IPSERA members area as a place to store any relevant materials and if you have anything that you think others would find useful, please do email stephen.kelly@edgehill.ac.uk with details.

We would like to organise future SIG activities that are aligned to the needs of the community and therefore invite you to attend an open and informal meeting via Zoom on Friday the 5^th of March at 15:00 CET to discuss this in more depth. Please contact stephen.kelly@edgehill.ac.uk for the Zoom link and with any suggestions for discussion items.