A remark on relationships and the origin of concepts.
After seeing the ABBA musical Mamma Mia! in London’s West End I’ve become a bit concerned about — or maybe interested in — the origin of the ideas that lead into our research. Related to this, what influences you when you are thinking, discussing, and writing research proposals, analysis and/or results? The tsunami catastrophe, earthquakes, hurricanes and even 9/11 have made a number of scholars interested in various form of supply chain risk and humanitarian logistics.
When listening to the songs in Mamma Mia!, many of which were on the hit lists in the mid and late 1970s and until the early 1980s, I realised that they do to a large extent relate to relationships. What I heard at the musical, however, was not necessarily a romantic relationship alone, but also…and here it comes…buyer-supplier relationships.
Chiquitita:
…tell me the truth
Im a shoulder you can cry on
our best friend, Im the one you must rely on
Some articles on business relationships refer to “trust” and “vocie strategies”.
I do, I do, I do, I do, I do:
So love me or leave me,
make your choice but believe me
I love you
(Re-)Negotiation.
Knowing Me, Knowing You:
Breaking up is never easy, I know but I have to go
Reducing the supplier base.
Money, money, money:
I work all night, I work all day, to pay the bills I have to pay
Aint it sad
And still there never seems to be a single penny left for me
Arms length vs. long-term buyer-supplier relationships. In particular, Dyer’s paper on Transaction Value came into my mind.
S.O.S.:
Where are those happy days, they seem so hard to find
I tried to reach for you, but you have closed your mind
Opportunism?
Take A Chance On Me:
If you change your mind, Im the first in line
Honey Im still free
Take a chance on me
Supplier selection or supplier reduction.
Mamma Mia:
Ive been cheated by you since I dont know when
Moral hazard and supply chain risk?
Super trouper
Super Trouper beams are gonna blind me
But I wont feel blue
Like I always do
cause somewhere in the crowd theres you
Screening the supplier market – and element of both Krajlic’s portfolio model and Ellram’s discussion of Total Cost of Ownership.
Influence or not, the remaining issue is that phrases like collaboration, partnerships, close integration, supply chains, networks and relationships are too often used without further relfection, and may as such, easily become dogmatic, especially since it is difficult if not possible to trace the origins of these concepts.
These are the thoughts generated during the musical. Here are the questions that did emerge after the show:
1. Did the ABBA songs have an influence on the early publications of networks, inter-firm interaction, and buyer-supplier relationships that have emerged since the mid 1970s?
2. If there is some correlation to be found in question 1, the more important question is: What music may you be listening to when thinking about your research topics or writing your papers?
A sub-component of the latter question is whether the rigor of the research methods manages to neturalise this potential influence. But at the end of the day, is research truly objective, conducted without any personal emotions and influence of good music?
Árni
.)
As a topic, even logistics in developing countries, and the implications of logistics FOR development hit the eye.
