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