Second part of the article on Suggested Topics for Dissertations and Thesis Research Projects in Procurement Management, Supply Chain Management, Inventory Management, and Distribution Management: By: Sourabh Kishore, Chief Consulting Officer This is a mobile friendly page: please click here for visiting the full article page Please contact us at consulting@eproindia.com or consulting@eproindia.net to discuss your topic or to get ideas about new topics pertaining to your subject area. Further, We also offer you to develop the "problem description and statement", "aim, objectives, research questions", "design of methodology and methods", and "15 to 25 most relevant citations per topic" for three topics of your choice of research areas at a nominal fee. Such a synopsis shall help you in focussing, critically thinking, discussing with your reviewer, and developing your research proposal. To avail this service, Please Click Here for more details. I am happy to present the second part of the article on dissertation and thesis topic development in the fields of Procurement Management, Supply Chain Management, Inventory Management, and Distribution Management. This is an extension of our original article in these fields, accessible through the following link: Link to original article on suggested Topics for Dissertations and Thesis Research Projects in Supply Chain Management and its associated domains This article explores many newer topics of research in supply chain management and its associated domains categorized under eight broad research areas. The article largely covers the research areas of lean and six sigma and sustainability in supply chain management. Each area presents opportunities for studying a number of practices and the factor variables (both mediators and moderators) associated with it, and their interrelationships. The studies proposed are mostly positivistic, deductive, and quantitative employing inferential statistical methods like ANOVA, MANOVA, Multiple Regressions, and advanced Multivariate Statistical Modelling and Analysis comprising of Exploratory Factor Analysis using Principal Component Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, and Structural Equation Modelling. Please visit our page on Multivariate Statistical Modelling and Analysis for further details on analysing and optimising the measurement constructs. You may also consider in touch programmes (action research), organisational ethnography, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and phenomenology as appropriate qualitative methods for deriving deeper knowledge about the variables and their possible interrelationships after completing the quantitative part (I mean, employing methodology triangulation using quantitative data and analytics).The descriptions of the areas and their associated practices are presented as the following: (A) Lean and Six Sigma in Supply Chain Management: Lean and six sigma are two philosophical approaches that are focused on enhancing the capabilities of an organization for achieving quality excellence in cost effective ways. Lean philosophy advocates optimum use of resources, elimination of wastes, and costs reduction. Six sigma advocates elimination of defects and errors in a quality system in such a way that defects per million of opportunities shifts multiple sigmas (a sigma is the standard deviation) away from the mean of a million measurements of the target quality statistic in a normal distribution curve. At the sixth sigma from the mean of the target quality statistic, the defects per million opportunities are only 3.4 and the accuracy level of the process task is 99.9999980%. This is called the six sigma quality level. This target may not appear to be feasible in many processes because one may not be able to visualize the targeted mean of a quality statistic in a million opportunities accurately, and the targeted statistical mean of the quality statistic in a million measurements may be shifting periodically. Hence, the philosophy of six sigma is not about achieving this statistical quality target albeit is to achieve a culture of listening to the voices of customers (that is, collecting and analyzing data on the concerns raised and feedbacks provided by the customers) continuously, performing quality measurements continuously, performing continuous improvements, striving for excellence, and data-driven statistical thinking. The model for achieving these cultural changes and the resulting systems and processes is called DMAIC (define, measure, analyse, improve, and control). Lean and six sigma philosophies can be combined for achieving excellence in supply chain management with the help of the following practices: 1. Management commitment by setting directions and allocation of funds and resources 2. Monitoring and control by top management 3. Process reforms championships for managing changes 4. Cost consciousness through skewing of the costs and the expenses incurred towards the goals aligned with the voices of customers (concerns raised and feedbacks provided by the customers), and the most essential business objectives and goals 5. Quality consciousness and orientation in the processes, tasks, and deliverables 6. Elimination of wastes: here wastes refer to the processes and tasks that poorly or do not contribute to the primary business objectives such as shareholders' wealth creation, customer satisfaction, productivity, innovation, efficiency, sustainability, and compliance 7. Elimination of defects: here defects refer to deviations from requirement specifications in execution of processes and their tasks 8. Multi-skilling of employees for expanding their working domains 9. Aligning every policy, process, and tasks to the voices of customers 10. Lean consumption of internal resources 11. Lean consumption of external and natural resources 12. Lean strategies of operations (like, maintaining transit warehouses, reducing transportation size for better volume consumption per trip, just-in-time production, just-in-time inventory replenishment, demand-linked lean distribution, etc.) 13. Strategic supplier relationships 14. Vendor-managed inventory 15. Just-in-time 16. Cellular manufacturing design (as against continuous flow assembly lines design) 17. Demand pull strategy 18. Flexible and agile capabilities in the final stages of production (like, delaying assembly of finished products until the orders have been confirmed) 19. Toyota Production System (TPS) and Total Quality Management (TQM) principles, and their relationships with lean and six sigma philosophies 20. Competencies and capabilities to process small / tiny batches of orders in large numbers with significantly varying specifications as demanded by the customers The above list is a representative set of practices that influence planning, adopting, implementing, operating, and controlling lean and six sigma systems and processes following their philosophies. Each of these practices may be supported by a number of underlying factor variables acting as mediators and moderators. One may consider studying these practices and their variables separately through in touch programmes (action research), organisational ethnography, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and phenomenology as in qualitative studies or investigating their interrelationships through hypothesis testing and testing of structural constructs (complex relationships models) in quantitative studies. This is a vast research area that requires significant contributions by students and professionals. The existing empirical knowledge of lean and six sigma in supply chain management is inadequate requiring significant research efforts as it is very valuable for achieving quality excellence in cost effective ways. Please visit our page on Multivariate Statistical Modelling and Analysis for further details on analysing and optimising the measurement constructs. (B) Sustainable Supply Chain Management: Many scholars have attempted to derive definitions of sustainability. However, the stereotyped outcomes of such research studies have evolved a modern theory that there cannot be a single most valid scientific definition of sustainability. Hence, sustainability is viewed as a framework of three large areas interacting with each other for ensuring that humanity-centric problems that can challenge the long-term survival of humanity can be identified and addressed. This framework is widely referred as the Triple Bottom Line (TBL), which comprises of three large areas: Economics, Environment, and Empowerment. Some literatures also refer to it as the Triple-E model. The practices under the three areas in the Triple Bottom Line / Triple-E model pertaining to supply chain management are the following: Economics: 1. Enhancing the role of supply chain competencies in achieving business performance 2. Effective management of financial risks of supply chain management 3. Enhancing cost effectiveness by reducing costs and improving productivity 4. Enhanced effectiveness and efficiency of manufacturing plants 5. Enhancing the accuracy and timeliness of supplies and demands forecasting 6. Enhanced effectiveness and efficiency of procurement, production, logistics, transportation, and distribution 7. Enhanced controls on inventory management to meet demands effectively 8. Eliminating dysfunctional phenomena, like order rationing, beer gaming, and bullwhip effect 9. Implementing activity-based costing in supply chain management 10. Keeping the variance of key performance metrics within the tolerance limits Environmental: 1. Checking of and reducing the depletion of critical atmospheric layers 2. Measuring and reducing the carbon footprint on transportation channels caused by movements of freight ships, commercial vehicles, and freight airplanes 3. Measuring and reducing greenhouse emissions that may be aiding the ongoing global warming and related climate changes 4. Implementing green standards in the processes of all the echelons of a supply chain 5. Exploring, adopting, and implementing global standards for handling of hazardous materials 6. Measuring and reducing harmful radiations in a supply chain causing hazards to people, plants, and species 7. Lean approach towards consumption of natural resources 8. Measuring and reducing pollutions of all forms 9. Taking appropriate actions for preventing harms caused to species and biodiversity 10. Applying appropriate green labelling and green instructions on the packages in transit, storage, and distribution Empowerment: 1. Creating employment opportunities for the local communities in the supply chain 2. Developing healthy relationships with the local communities affected by the operations of a supply chain 3. Creating employment opportunities for the displaced people and expatriates travelling long distances in search of well being 4. Identifying and eliminating all possible unfair employment practices 5. Exploring, adopting, and implementing global standards for occupational health and safety and labour management practices 6. Exploring, adopting, and implementing global standards for protection of workers when exposed to harsh working conditions 7. Eliminating gender inequality 8. Eliminating corruption and money laundering practices 9. Multi-skilling of employees for building an efficient workforce 10. Eliminating child labour The triple bottom line practices presented above form a representative set, which can be expanded through extended review of literatures. Each of these practices may be supported by a number of underlying factor variables acting as mediators and moderators. One may consider studying these practices and their variables separately through focus group discussions and interviews in qualitative studies or investigating their interrelationships through hypothesis testing and testing of structural constructs (complex relationships models) in quantitative studies. This is a vast research area that requires significant contributions by students and professionals. Latest studies have linked lean and agile practices and lean six sigma philosophies with sustainability practices of supply chain management. Hence, the practices and their corresponding factor variables in research areas A and B (explained above) can be combined in the same studies. You should be careful not to overload your study with too many practices and their factor variables. I suggest keeping the focus on one independent practice and one dependent practice in a master research. As a ballpark, such topics may comprise of six to twelve factor variables in their initial structural theoretical constructs (called initial measurement models). At PHD level, you may choose two independent and two dependent practices in your topic design. As a ballpark, such topics may comprise of fifteen to twenty-five factor variables in their initial structural theoretical constructs. These variables may include both the mediators and the moderators. Please visit our page on Multivariate Statistical Modelling and Analysis for further details on analysing and optimising the measurement constructs. Another emerging area in sustainable supply chain management is "market-orientation of sustainability capabilities for achieving competitive advantages". A number of studies have been conducted in past five years but this area is so much complex and in demand that many new studies can be designed. The fundamental question is raised by the business stakeholders of a company: what is the return on investments on sustainability for a business? The economics area of triple bottom line model addresses this question to a good extent, but answers need to be explored in the environment and empowerment areas, as well. Recent studies are gradually building the theoretical foundation but a lot of new studies are desired in this area. Please visit the Link to our latest article on suggested Topics for Dissertations and Thesis Research Projects in Industry 4.0, Industrial Internet of Things, Big Data Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence (C) Sustainable Procurement: Normally, sustainable procurement should have been a part of sustainable supply chain management. However, this research area is studied separately because sustainable procurement has been standardized in the form of a structured and organized framework included in the legal and regulatory systems for public procurement in UK, EU, and Australia based on the research and analysis by Sustainable Procurement Task Force (SPTF) of HM Government (UK), Department of Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs (DEFRA, UK), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), professional designs (such as IBM's Maturity Model for Sustainable Procurement and INSEAD report on sustainable procurement design), and large number of academic research studies. Sustainable procurement largely follows the lean and agile designs and the triple bottom line model of sustainability. The differences in sustainable procurement as compared to sustainable supply chain management are the following: 1. There is a structured and organised legal and regulatory framework for sustainable procurement in place. 2. Every government and public sector organisation is expected to maintain a complete documented standard for sustainable procurement. 3. The documented standard should comprise of organisational strategies and policies, operating processes and tasks, controls, criteria for decision-making, information systems, and all the additional documentation of contracts, records, communications, and suppliers' compliance reports. 4. The life cycle of each sustainable procurement project is defined and published. 5. There are clear guidelines defined by DEFRA and UNDP on measuring sustainability in the entire raw materials acquisition, production, packaging, storing, transportation, and distribution life cycle operated by suppliers. 6. The guidelines also include measures, indicators, and measurement methods for suppliers' sustainability auditing. 7. All the internal and supplier audit and assessment records and related compliance reports are published. 8. The concept of framework agreements is implemented as a part of the sustainable procurement practices. The students may like to study the effectiveness of the above practices in public sector and government organisations through qualitative studies involving in touch programmes (action research), organisational ethnography, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and phenomenology. In addition, the research topics in sustainable procurement may be designed to cover the following: 1. Various practices and factor variables related to the DEFRA and UNDP standards for sustainable procurement 2. Performance measures, indicators, and performance measurement methods in product lifecycle performance assessment and sustainable procurement standards 3. Supplier auditing and assessment 4. Sustainable procurement life cycle planning, implementation, monitoring, control, and reporting 5. Various designs and implementation of framework agreements 6. Practices and their factor variables related to sustainable procurement effectiveness and efficiency 7. Strategic supplier relationships; role of suppliers in effective sustainable procurement 8. Economics of sustainable procurement 9. Market orientation of sustainable procurement 10. Competitive advantages achieved because of sustainable procurement practices 11. Excellence in processes and tasks related to sustainable procurement 12. Continuous improvements in sustainable procurement through six sigma Currently, this research area has been addressed by a number of qualitative studies following in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and critical literature analysis. This research area requires a number of quantitative studies for investigating the interrelationships between practices and their factor variables. As recommended above, master studies may comprise of one independent practice and one dependent practice, and their corresponding factor variables; and PHD studies may comprise of two independent and two dependent practices, and their corresponding factor variables. Please visit our page on Multivariate Statistical Modelling and Analysis for further details on analysing and optimising the measurement constructs. Please visit the Link to our latest article on suggested Topics for Dissertations and Thesis Research Projects in Industry 4.0, Industrial Internet of Things, Big Data Analytics, and Artificial Intelligence (D) Sustainable Logistics Capabilities for Industrial Engineering Excellence in Production, Transportation & Warehousing, and Distribution: Sustainable logistics capabilities study is a part of sustainable supply chain management. However, there are many research topics related to industrial engineering in achieving sustainable logistics, which may not be covered in the triple bottom line framework studies under sustainable supply chain management. The following is a representative list of topics on industrial engineering excellence for sustainable logistics capability development in the fields of production, transportation, warehousing, and distribution: 1. Sustainability in different phases of plant logistics operations 2. Impact of sustainability on logistics costing (such as lot quantity, inventory carrying, transportation and warehousing, and order processing costs) 3. Sustainability in reverse logistics for returns, warranty claims, and recycling 4. Sustainability in manufacturing cycle, jobs, buffering, and assembly planning 5. Sustainability in enterprise resources planning 6. Sustainability in materials requirements planning (MRP II) 7. Sustainability in inter-stage material feeds, job preparation tasks, buffers, and machine operations 8. Sustainability in management of loading / unloading areas, docking stations, internal transportation, spaces and cubes, storage and retrieval systems (like, conveyor belts), heating, cooling, boilers, water circulation, power supplies, power distribution, pipelines and valves, other similar industrial systems, and the end-to-end infrastructure of machines and tools 9. Sustainability in transportation networking management and vehicle routing (both internal and external) 10. Sustainability in configurations and assembly of finished products 11. Sustainability in safety stock and forecasting management 12. Sustainability in managing arrivals, departures, and internal lead times of transit buffers 13. Sustainability in procurement planning and inventory replenishment 14. Sustainability in assembly and disassembly networks 15. Sustainability in third party and fourth party logistics management and in vendor managed inventory management Many more topics of sustainability in industrial engineering excellence can be added. ISO 14000 series standards, OHSAS 18000 series standards, and many academic studies cover about sustainability in industrial engineering excellence. These topics can be researched through detailed process modelling, process layout study, system dynamics modelling, and Taguchi's method. Some of the tools recommended for these studies are ARENA, VENSIM, MATLAB, and Taguchi's templates. Please feel free to contact us to get recommendations of your research topics or discuss the research topic you have chosen. Please contact us at consulting@eproindia.com or consulting@eproindia.net to discuss your topic or to get ideas about new topics pertaining to your subject area. Further, We also offer you to develop the "problem description and statement", "aim, objectives, research questions", "design of methodology and methods", and "15 to 25 most relevant citations per topic" for three topics of your choice of research areas at a nominal fee. Such a synopsis shall help you in focussing, critically thinking, discussing with your reviewer, and developing your research proposal. To avail this service, Please Click Here for more details. 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