Review of supply chain management and logistics research

TLDR: In this article, the authors examined the state of logistics and supply chain management (SCM) research in the last five years from the standpoint of existing methodologies by examining the research design, number of hypothesis testing, research methods, data analysis techniques, data sources, level of analysis and country of authors.

Abstract: Purpose – To examine the state of logistics and supply chain management (SCM) research in the last five years from the standpoint of existing methodologies. The state of research is assessed by examining the research design, number of hypothesis testing, research methods, data analysis techniques, data sources, level of analysis and country of authors.Design/methodology/approach – The review of SCM and logistics research is based on 442 papers published from 1999 to 2003 in the following three academic journals Journal of Business Logistics, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, and Supply Chain Management: An International Journal.Findings – Major findings show that there is an increase in the direct observation methods like case studies. In general, the research is more interpretive in nature. Survey method is still holding the highest position. More advanced techniques are being used for data analysis in empirical studies and there has been an increase in hypothesis tes...