Entries from July 2007
Monographs vs. article dissertations revisited. This seems to be an ongoing discussion at doctoral seminars, and seemingly the trend is towards more article-based dissertations. But what actually are the pros and cons of an article dissertation? (Some of the points below can be seen as both a pro and con.)
- Writing an article thesis gets you started in publishing. And the only way to learn how to publish is by publishing. Which is important in the academic “publish or perish” game.
- Articles count as publications. Now here’s the trick. They might not. Yes, they count as publications for your university, but not necessarily when you apply for a job where they may be seen as “part of your dissertation” only. Oddly enough, articles you publish from your dissertation AFTER the defence always do count.
- Each article is reviewed before the thesis is submitted. This is a plus for quality control. The separate review processes, however, can push each article to a different direction; finding an over-arching theme might be difficult. (In extreme cases people have written their articles but still have opted to submit the thesis as a monograph.)
- Each article has a contribution. This should make it easier to argue for the contribution of the thesis. And if you’re lucky, your articles don’t contradict each other.
- Articles may have co-authors. Which makes it difficult to judge the contribution of the author or the thesis, even with a statement of contributions. Also, writing with your supervisor may be tricky if that supervisor ought to be on your dissertation committee and/or is involved in setting your grade.
- It takes longer to write an article dissertation. Yes, it does. Mind you, some journals have awfully long review processes, and doctoral students do not always have the luxury to wait 2-odd years for an article to get published. Sadly enough, opting for lower-quality journals may earn you some criticism from your committee/opponent(s).
- Articles are shorter. And honestly, some of us are better in writing a long monograph, others better in getting to the point in 5000 words.
Does this push you into any direction? Ultimately, and here’s the provocative bit, what you end up doing is sthg your supervisor is most comfortable with. And that again may be dictated by the funding scheme of doctoral dissertations at different universities. As a comparison just see how “licenciate theses” virtually disappeared in Finland since the Ministry of Education withdrew their financial bonus to universities producing these (as comparative statistics from KOTA: 1997 there were 857 Lic and 934 PhD theses published in Finland, 10 years later, in 2006, the numbers are 489 Lic and 1409 PhDs). David Vellenga had a point in looking at journal rankings in the light of merit pay.
Gyöngyi
Beware! This blog entry comes from a person who did indeed write an article thesis. I admit to being fully biased.
Categories: Education & Management Development
Recent plane crashes got the transport infrastructure (or the lack of it - short, wet, inappropriate runways) of some countries and air traffic control (again, the lack of it; try to fly and land a jumbo jet “on sight”) into the news. But it would be unfair to only judge developing countries for their “bad” transport infrastructure. Building new capacity is one issue, maintaining the existing transport infrastructure another. Money spent on maintenance is the nightmare of many developed countries, as it is not glamorous for politicians, and the return on investment is more difficult to judge, especially if wanting to take “lives saved” into account. Back to wet runways, who hasn’t heard of the first snowfall knocking out major airports every single year? And air traffic jams are abundant at most major airports due to a lack of up-to-date runways for “bigger and better” planes. The age of airplanes is in fact another issue under scrutiny. This at a time when airlines try to boost their image and link “new fleet” to a “reduction of carbon emmissions“. Interestingly, in other countries, age limitations for airplanes can also be seen as an entry barrier (i.e. transportation regulation). But which changes should we expect in the EU now that the 7th Framework Programme focuses on security & safety (also in air transportation)?
Gyöngyi
Categories: Carbon management · Socks and sandals · Sustainability
Much of the literature on SCM represents it as a solution to particular problems, e.g. lack of integration, excessive inventories and long lead times.
In stead of a solution — the means to an end — would it be possible that SCM itself is a cause to many of the problems managers face?
Árni
Categories: Supply Chain Management
Whether McKinsey Quarterly’s article on Latin America’s supply chain risks, the new LogicTools symposium on “Managing risk in the global supply chain”or the Ethical Corporation’s supply chain summit, a series of upcoming events (and upcoming special issues - see the Wall) relate anything from carbon management, ecological issues, political disturbances, development issues or humanitarian disasters to, yes, supply chain risk. Bluntly put (these are consultants, after all), risk are always a matter of finance and ultimately, profit. Accountants (surprisingly, even environmental accountants) have their own ways of looking at risk, though, propagating outsourcing as a risk-avoidance measure. Now globalisation is taking its revenge - any problem that has been “outsourced” insofar ultimately comes back in the form of risk in the global supply chain.
Gyöngyi
Categories: Supply Chain Management · Sustainability
As it seems, more and more academics are discovering the web. After several publishing houses, now also journal editors have started blogging. The Journal of Marketing is by no means setting a precedence here. But how long will it take till SCM journals will follow suit?
Gyöngyi
Categories: Academic journals · Academic publications
Yes, not recycling, but freecycling.
Consumers are now involving themselves into reverse logistics via an Internet based platform: uk.freecycle.org
“Freecycle groups match people who have things they want to get rid of with people who can use them” and the objective is to
“keep usable items out of landfill”.
Árni
Categories: Reverse Logistics · Sustainability
Here is an interesting blog on recycling that also contains some practical information, especially for those who live and work in the UK.
Árni
Categories: Carbon management · Reverse Logistics · Sustainability
Here is a recent paper that may be of interest for managers that are considering the transition of logistics into supply chain management:
“Perspectives on Logistics vs. SCM: A Survey of SCM Professionals” by Paul D. Larson, Richard F. Poist and Árni Halldórsson, Journal of Business Logistics, 2007, JBL Vol 28 No 1.
This paper reports the results of a survey of senior-level CSCMP members about perspectives on logistics vs. supply chain management. Executives seem to prefer a broad, multiple function perspective on SCM, implication of which is that the process of implementation can be both difficult, expensive and slow.
Árni
Ps. send me an e-mail if you are interested in having a copy of the paper.
Categories: Supply Chain Management · management
Witches and wizards knew it coming, Harry Potter is back. And it takes some witchcraft to get the book on the shelves of retail stores at midnight this Saturday. Earlier books of the series were notorious for changing package sizes, delivery times, vehicle routings, which inspired Alan McKinnon to dubb these the “Harry Potter effect“. The effect even inspired Matthews et al. to investigate its environmental costs and write an article on the matter of just “How much did Harry Potter cost?” (and yet another on “Harry Potter and the hole in the ozone layer”.) But although they are old news, the effect is infamous and still quoted in academic articles. And it’s nice to see their repercussion on the distribution of the book. Green watchdogs are now looking closely at environmental effects, altering supplier relationships between printing houses, paper suppliers and the forestry industry (following the wood-of-origin concept - see p.53). And Potter-related products (”wiz biz”) are under scrutiny as well. And the discussion evolves. From environmental risks to the risk of stock-outs (and non-returning customers), and lately, to the risks of leaks vs. secrecy in the supply chain. The latter certainly takes a supply chain wizard.
Gyöngyi
Categories: Socks and sandals
