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The purpose of this research is to develop an understanding of how purchasing can become meaningfully involved in complex business-to-business service purchases.

A single in-depth case study method of an exemplar organization was applied to better understand the purchasing function’s role in adding to the value proposition in complex, non-traditional business-to-business service purchases.

Powerful allies or advocates can mediate purchasing involvement in service procurement. However, once the involvement is initiated, purchasing must make a positive contribution with respect to the specific needs and expectations of the budget owner to retain its influence.

This research extends institutional theory to show how powerful allies or advocates can mediate purchasing involvement in the complex services spend.

This study describes the potential impact of purchasing’s involvement in complex services spend and highlights the opportunities for purchasing managers to improve supplier management and drive out additional costs.

For the business practitioner, this research provides evidence regarding how individual functions can gain influence in the organization. A conceptual model describes the meaningful involvement of purchasing in complex business-to-business service purchases.

This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/EUM0000000000348. When citing the article, please cite: Lisa M. Ellram, Bernard J. La Londe, Mary Margaret Weber, (1989), “Retail Logistics”, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Materials Management, Vol. 19 Iss: 12, pp. 29 - 39.

Interest in reverse logistics (RL) as a critical component of supply chain management (SCM) is gaining more traction with both practitioners and academics. Because of RL’s growing strategic importance, it is imperative to conduct a timely and comprehensive literature review and to identify associated opportunities for future research. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

In this paper, the researchers conduct an extensive bibliometric analysis of published academic articles on RL for the period of 1992-2015. Specifically, the CiteSpace software is utilized to conduct document co-citation analysis and burst detection analysis on 912 selected RL articles and their 22,642 references.

This research identifies the most influential RL research publications/citations in each of the five periods and their research contribution. Using co-citation analysis, the authors are able to identify and illustrate major research themes, knowledge groups, and future research opportunities in the RL field.

In contrast to existing literature review studies in the logistics field, the study uses impact factor as a key article selection criterion. The influential articles identified in this process well represent the core literature and RL body of knowledge and have important implications for future research.

A circular economy perspective embraces a systemic, cradle-to-cradle notion that everything is designed to be reused as long as possible and then recaptured and repurposed when reuse is no longer possible. Designing for a circular economy ecosystem requires a holistic, integrative viewpoint, spanning all aspects of design and development and considering many supply chain actors, far beyond that of traditional supply chains. This edited book adopts a biomimetic lens, highlighting the need for cross-industry flows and need for different actors (beyond producers and consumers) in circular value cycles. Enablers such as incentives and/or legislation are also discussed. While biomimicry provides the structure for organizing this book, individual chapters build on other theoretical lenses and concepts, such as stakeholder theory, etc. The intent is to move beyond a dyadic (buyer–supplier) view, embracing a holistic network or ecosystem view, to consider a cross-industry system perspective, where there is a diversity of actors (covering four actor groups: producers, consumers, scavengers, and decomposers) needed for a working ecosystem. This edited book offers a comprehensive overview of system components and actors, including how the circular economy adds value, the role of producers and consumers, the spectrum of recovery possibilities to return products back to the consumption supply chain, and the essential role of information management.

International purchasing partnerships are becoming an increasingly common and attractive way to procure goods and services in the global marketplace. Yet these complex relationships may require special effort and attention in order to be successful. A review of the relevant literature and case studies of firms actively involved in international purchasing partnerships is used to highlight and discuss the key factors which contribute to international purchasing partnership success and failure. The implications of these factors for purchasing managers are also discussed.

Many firms have experienced significant benefits from engaging in supplier alliances. However, alliance relationships do not evolve in isolation. Support factors for supplier alliances include purchasing’s accountability for their actions, the use of information technology, the perceived importance of the purchasing and supply management (PSM) function, and the degree of participation in strategic purchasing activities. In addition, PSM engages in cost and price‐related activities associated with supplier alliances, including total cost of ownership, understanding specific supplier costs, target costing, and market monitoring. Empirical results from a survey indicate that significant relationships exist between support factors, cost and price activities, and supplier alliance involvement by the PSM function. The exploratory findings suggest that support factors must be in place and continually improved to facilitate purchasing’s involvement in alliances. PSM involvement in cost and price activities is also strongly related to supplier alliance participation. For purchasing firms to obtain long‐term benefits from alliances with suppliers, purchasing professionals must continually provide valuable input into these relationships through their corporate influence, use of information technology, and participation in various proactive purchasing activities.

The use of a life‐cycle framework is explored as a means of describing the evolution of partnership relationships between industrial buyers and sellers. Based on case studies of eight manufacturing firms, industrial buyer‐seller partnerships evolve through four stages: development, commitment, integration and dissolution. In addition to exploring a “traditional” life‐cycle pattern, case studies are used to illustrate and support examples of variations on the traditional partnership life‐cycle pattern. The life‐cycle analogy is useful to both practitioners and theorists in developing, understanding and influencing the patterns which industrial buyer‐seller partnerships may follow.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate research trends observed in the International Journal of Logistics Management (IJLM) during its first 20 years of publication.

A content analysis was conducted of the IJLM's first 20 years of publication (330 articles in total) to identify changing trends in subject matter, use of theory, type of research methodology, and author, institution, and country contributions.

IJLM has evolved in every dimension evaluated. Specifically, content follows macro‐economic world events and reflects the emergence of supply chain management as an interdisciplinary domain. Recent research demonstrates a greater emphasis on theory development as well as more rigorous methods. Importantly, the increased theoretical grounding and rigor provides greater confidence in research that continues to be highly managerially relevant. Author, institution, and country findings are also discussed.

The study is limited to an analysis of IJLM's publications.

The research provides valuable insights into the evolution of articles published in IJLM. For managers, the findings suggest that readers can place greater confidence in the findings and recommendations proposed by current research published in IJLM. For researchers, the findings provide guidance regarding the types of research that are likely to be accepted for publication in IJLM. The findings also represent a call for more forward‐looking research.

The comprehensive review of IJLM's publications provides a longitudinal perspective on the evolution of research in IJLM.

This impact pathway manuscript motivates and guides operations and supply chain management (OSCM) researchers to deeply consider the role of suppliers in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction. It prompts a reconsideration and update of their understanding of climate change in their research and the positive influence that research could have, specifically on reducing GHG emissions and slowing climate disasters.

The authors use qualitative research methods, including a literature review, interviews with NGOs, focus groups with purchasing professionals and in-depth case studies.

The results provide insights into purchasing’s role in the engagement of suppliers in GHG emissions reduction efforts as organizations begin to advance the sustainability journey toward suppliers’ emissions reduction and their contribution to improvements in supply chain GHG emissions. The paper calls for more actionable academic research that can contribute to theory and practice.

This impact pathway article discusses how the topic of GHG supply chain emissions reduction is viewed in both research and practice. The current dire state of the environment and purchasing and supply chain involvement in GHG emissions reduction initiatives points to the need to develop impactful research. The paper closes with guidance on potential future research opportunities.

The pressure on companies to reduce their GHG emissions has never been more significant, and companies have never before made as many public commitments to reduce their GHG emissions both internally and across the supply chain as they are making today. Managers must truly understand their role in reducing GHG emissions and their supply chain implications.

GHG emissions reduction and associated climate change are top issues on the global climate agenda. Reducing emissions (and related climate change) has important positive implications for human health. This is especially true among underrepresented communities, which tend to be disproportionately impacted by living and working in weather-exposed climates with poor air quality.

The authors aim to stimulate new research and discussion through this pathway paper. The climate crisis is real, and the world is missing its GHG reduction targets. If companies limit their efforts and continue to make excuses, the world will continue its path to climate disaster.