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To introduce the special issue focusing on the question: is supply chain management (SCM) an emerging academic discipline?

A brief discussion of the papers in the special issue.

Outlines how the papers stimulate debate on the nature and development of SCM and indicates that there is an intense research effort being conducted around the world in this field.

Provides a summary of the perspectives considered within the issue.

The personnel function in local government has tended to develop more slowly than in private industry and commerce. It has, however, received a new impetus over the last year or so with the advent of the reorganisation of local government and the publication of an influential report ‘The New Local Authorities: management and structure’. This report, which is commonly known as the Bains' Report, explicitly encourages a corporate approach to management, a concept at variance with the traditional departmentalism of many local authorities. More significantly in this context, the report also devotes a whole chapter to recommendations about the development of the personnel function in the new authorities, the only function to be discussed in this depth.

To examine management literature for guidance on what constitutes a discipline. To examine supply management publications to determine whether the field constitutes a discipline or an emerging discipline. To contribute a structured evaluation to the body of supply management theory/discipline development knowledge.

Literature review of what constitutes a discipline and an initial assessment of whether supply management is a discipline. Development of research questions used to design tests, using combinations of qualitative pattern matching, journal quality rankings, and social science citations index impact factor. Application of the tests, to evaluate field coherence, quality and the existence of a discipline‐debate, to determine whether supply management is an emerging discipline.

An initial literature review finds supply management not to be a discipline, as the field lacks quality of theoretical development and discussion, and coherence. Tests for increasing evidence of coherence, quality and impact yield positive results, indicating that supply management is progressing in its theoretical development. The test findings combined with the existence of the start of a discipline‐debate indicate that supply management should be judged to be an emerging discipline.

Drawing from the management literature, the paper provides a unique structured evaluation of the field of supply management, finding it not to be a discipline, but showing evidence of being an emerging discipline.

This research aims to extend the “collaborative paradigm” proposed by others in prior research beyond a supply chain's core operations. To date, this paradigm has generated relatively little empirical research on peripheral, non‐core areas such the natural environment. Antecedents (both plant‐level and supply chain characteristics) of green supply chain practices (GSCP) are examined. Among possible antecedents, prior research pointed to supply chain integration – both logistical (tactical level) and technological (strategic level) – as a potentially important determinant of green practices.

Green practices are defined along the two dimensions of environmental collaboration and monitoring. The empirical analysis used data from 84 plants in North America surveyed in 2002. Validity and reliability of scales for new and existing constructs were assessed through factor analysis. Hierarchical linear regression was used to test the hypotheses for the antecedents of GSCP.

Technological integration with primary suppliers and major customers was positively linked to environmental monitoring and collaboration. For logistical integration, a linkage was found only with environmental monitoring of suppliers. Finally, as the supply base was reduced, the extent of environmental collaboration with primary suppliers increased.

Greater supply chain integration can benefit environment management in operations, and the collaborative paradigm can be extended to this domain. A limitation is that the empirical analysis focused on one industry representing a single echelon.

This is one of the few studies that conceptualize and empirically test GSCP, and consider both and separately upstream and downstream interactions in the supply chain.

The field of supply chain management (SCM) has historically been informed by knowledge from narrow functional areas. While some effort towards producing a broader organizational perspective has been made, nonetheless, SCM continues to be largely eclectic with little consensus on its conceptualization and research methodological bases. This paper seeks to clarify aspects of this emerging perspective.

A total of 100 randomly selected refereed journal articles were systematically analyzed.

A number of key findings emerged: the field is a relatively “new” one; several disciplines claim ownership of the field; consensus is lacking on the definition of the term; contextual focus is mostly on the manufacturing industry; predominantly “process” conceptual framing prevails; research methods employed are mostly analytical conceptual, empirical surveys or case studies; the positivist research paradigmatic stance is prevalent; and theories related to transaction cost economics and competitive advantage dominate.

This review identifies various conceptual and research methodological characteristics of SCM. From a philosophy of knowledge perspective, it is suggested that SCM be framed as a Lakatosian Research Program, for this has the best potential to assist in the development of SCM body of knowledge in a sustainable way into the future.

The purpose of this paper is to critically assess current developments in the theory and practice of supply management and through such an assessment to identify barriers, possibilities and key trends.

The paper is based on a three‐year detailed study of six supply chains which encompassed 72 companies in Europe. The focal firms in each instance were sophisticated, blue‐chip corporations operating on an international scale. Managers across at least four echelons of the supply chain were interviewed and the supply chains were traced and observed.

The paper reveals that supply management is, at best, still emergent in terms of both theory and practice. Few practitioners were able – or even seriously aspired – to extend their reach across the supply chain in the manner prescribed in much modern theory. The paper identifies the range of key barriers and enablers to supply management and it concludes with an assessment of the main trends.

The research presents a number of challenges to existing thinking about supply strategy and supply chain management. It reveals the substantial gaps between theory and practice. A number of trends are identified which it is argued may work in favour of better prospects for SCM in the future and for the future of supply management as a discipline.

A central challenge concerns who could or should manage the supply chain. Barriers to effective supply management are identified and some practical steps to surmount them are suggested.

The paper is original in the way in which it draws on an extensive systematic study to critically assess current theory and current developments. The paper points the way for theorists and practitioners to meet future challenges.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between the timing with which decisions are made about how to control work health and safety (WHS) risks in construction project (i.e. either pre- or post-construction) and the quality of risk control outcomes.

Data were collected from 23 construction projects in Australia and the USA. Totally, 43 features of work were identified for analysis and decision making in relation to these features of work was mapped across the life of the projects. The quality of risk control outcomes was assessed using a classification system based on the “hierarchy of control”. Within this hierarchy, technological forms of control are preferable to behavioural forms of controls.

The results indicate that risk control outcomes were significantly better in the Australian compared with the US cases. The results also reveal a significant relationship between the quality of risk controls and the timing of risk control selection decisions. The greater the proportion of risk controls selected during the pre-construction stages of a project, the better the risk control outcomes.

The results provide preliminary evidence that technological risk controls are more likely to be implemented if WHS risks are considered and controls are selected in the planning and design stages of construction projects.

The research highlights the need for WHS risk to be integrated into decision making early in the life of construction projects.

Previous research has linked accidents to design. However, the retrospective nature of these studies has not permitted an analysis of the effectiveness of integrating WHS into pre-construction decision making. Prospective studies have been lacking. This research provides empirical evidence in support of the relationship between early consideration of WHS and risk control effectiveness.

Malcolm G. Slaney has been elected vice‐president of industrial products for PPG Industries' Coatings & Resins Division. He succeeds Howard J. Mather, who retired after 37 years' service with the company.

This article follows on from the interview with Will Hutton in the December 2009 issue of The International Journal of Leadership in Public Services (Davison, 2009) to give a more detailed outline of the results of Exceeding Expectation: The principles of outstanding leadership, a major piece of research undertaken by The Work Foundation and to explore the implications of this for the public sector.