Doctoral program in Supply Chain and Operations Management

The concept of the supply chain (SC) emerged as the result of successive extensions to approaching production processes. Terminology, from the organisation of production to industrial organisation, operations management (OM) and comprehensive logistics has converged to ‘the supply chain’, and it currently refers to a network of entities that participate in the design, procurement, distribution, and when necessary the recovery, remanufacturing and recycling of certain goods and services as well as the flows of materials, finances, information and people between these entities. Thus, it is an integrative concept that reflects the actual development of the supply systems for goods and services. As a result of these developments, a growing proportion of supply chains have a global reach, which makes it difficult to optimise their design and management and shifts focus to or reinforces the importance of other concepts, such as resilience and robustness. Also, the growing concern for sustainability and respecting the environment is reflected in the increasing significance being given to research into the green design and management of these supply chains and CLSCs (closed loop supply chains, a concept that stems from the development of inverse logistics).Currently, the concept of the supply chain, which includes and exceeds logistics and operations management, centres on research into supply, production, distribution and recovery. Although, strictly speaking, the concept of supply chain management includes operations management, the joining of the two names in the title of the present doctoral programme shows which aspect of supply chain management receives more emphasis.Research staff involved in the programme have far-reaching and recognised experience with teaching, researching, and supervising doctoral theses in the subject matters involved in the programme. The participation of this staff in research projects and conferences as well as publications in high impact journals further demonstrate their research experience in matters related to the Supply Chain and Operations Management (SCOM) programme. The aim of the doctoral programme in SCOM is to promote and carry out research related to the supply chain and thus contribute to improving the economic and environmental efficiency of all kinds of organisations.This programme responds to the need to train highly qualified R&D personnel who can improve the efficiency and environmental impact of the processes of supply, production, distribution, recovery, remanufacturing and recycling. The programme is particularly valuable to a region in which industry and logistics are especially relevant, such as Catalonia. But, the needs for the training provided by the programme extend across the globe and thus, the programme has a strong international component.Because of the nature of the SC, research in the field encompasses a variety of methodologies, and the aims of this research could be to develop concepts, to build theories based on empirical evidence or to formalise problems related to the design and management of SCs (which may or may not involve creating and utilising mathematical models). The research activities performed by the academic staff involved with the programme has yielded results in all of the facets mentioned regarding the design and management of the supply chain and the operations management at its core.