In Search of Research Ideas? Call a Professional

• Date: 01 March 2017
• Published date: 01 March 2017
• Author: Thomas J. Goldsby,Walter Zinn
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jbl.12160

Editorial

In Search of Research Ideas? Call a Professional

Walter Zinn and Thomas J. Goldsby

The Ohio State University

The fields of Logistics and Supply Chain Management face several inflection points, significant changes in thought and practice that are

laden with high-stake risks and opportunities. This editorial highlights specific problem areas in need of focused research attention. The

topics are gleaned from the inputs afforded by the JBL Practitioner Panel, a body of senior supply chain managers and executives from a

diverse array of companies—shippers, logistics service providers, consultancies, and industry associations. Our intent is to direct research

energy to areas the panel deems critical to current and future business practice.

Keywords: logistics; supply chain; technology; disruption; Internet of Things; Physical Internet

What a great time in history to be contributors to the fields of

logistics and supply chain management!Whether you are a stu-

dent taking your first logistics course, a seasoned practitioner, or

a teacher and researcher, you awake almost daily to a new

advent or situation that can potentially influence the ways we

support business and society through effective and efficient logis-

tics and supply chain provisions. While delivering on the “rights”

that we often cite (right product, right place, right time, and right

cost) remains constant, the rules of the game are constantly

changing. Our “optimal solutions”are fleeting. While exciting,

for sure, this rate of change must be sustained by a continued

and state-of-the-art research output.

In previous editorials, we appealed to Logistics and Supply

Chain scholars to examine contemporary issues of immediate—

perhaps critical—importance to the practitioner community

(Goldsby and Zinn 2016a,b). We find our discipline facing sev-

eral inflection points, laden with high-stakes risks and opportuni-

ties for our brethren in industry. As an example, supply chains

are becoming increasingly consumer centric and focused on pro-

viding an ever expanding assortment of goods and services to

consumers and end users. Strategies embodying new technolo-

gies and divergent economics await. Such a circumstance pre-

sents immense opportunities for the community of scholars to

propose and test paths forward.

To assist in identifying promising avenues for impactful,

timely research, we unveiled the JBL Practitioner Panel in our

last issue (Goldsby and Zinn 2016a). The panel consists of senior

supply chain managers and executives from a diverse array of

companies—shippers, logistics service providers, consultancies,

and industry associations. We are tapping into the minds of these

seasoned professionals to isolate particularly pressing issues call-

ing for focused research attention.

We asked the following question to get the conversation

started: Which two or three issues are of greatest concern to you

regarding current and upcoming changes to the fields of logistics

and supply chain management? A quick rundown of the most

common observations from our panel iterates the “greatest hits”

of practitioner quandaries:

•Supply chain talent: Attracting, developing, and retaining to

the profession and its organizations;

•e-Commerce: Understanding the comparative economics, oper-

ational stresses, and market outcomes associated with compet-

ing last-mile models and policies (e.g., returns);

•Omni-channel distribution: Determining how to serve con-

sumers equally well (and profitably) through multiple channels;

•Supply chain risk, security, and resilience: Finding balance in

strategies that mitigate risks while not wastefully deploying

resources;

•Analytics: The effective conversion of “data lakes”into rich

insights for implementable solutions;

•Government action on infrastructure and logistics related regu-

lations: Navigating uncertainty presented by both newfound

freedoms, restrictions, and changing trade policies; and

•Disruptive technologies and revolutionary business models: The

potential of technologies like 3D printing, artificial intelligence,

automation, and shared-economy models (or “Uber-ization”).

Identification of these topics should help to focus research on

high-priority opportunities. In fact, we will use the panel input to

identify subjects for future Special Topic Forums (STFs). To that

end, we are dedicating an STF to one of the most debated topics

among the panelists: the Internet of Things (IoT). The network-

ing of physical objects is a disruptive technology met with con-

siderable curiosity by our panel. Within the broad domain of IoT

technology, we hope to receive deep examinations of the Physi-

cal Internet (PI), a provocative business model gaining wide-

spread attention in Europe, in particular. Blockchain is similarly

met with curiosity within the broad class of IoT technologies.

We are pleased to have a strong cohort of guest editors in place

for this STF: Eric Ballot, Benoit Montreuil, and Zach Zacharia.

The submission deadline for the IoT STF is June 30, 2018.

While that is more than a year away, it is time to give the

topic some deep consideration. What are the driving research

questions that determine the feasibility and competitiveness of

Corresponding author:

Thomas J. Goldsby, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH

43210, USA; E-mail: goldsby.2@osu.edu

Journal of Business Logistics, 2017, 38(1): 4–5 doi: 10.1111/jbl.12160

© Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals