Title: Trust, power, dependence, and economics: can SCM research borrow paradigms?

Authors: Robert B. Handfield, Christian Bechtel

Addresses: College of Management, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA. ' Richard DeVos Graduate School of Management, Northwood University, Midland, MI 48640-2398, USA

Abstract: With the inaugural issue of this new journal, researchers have an opportunity to publish in a journal that is entirely devoted to the new paradigm of supply chain management. With this development as a new field, some researchers argue that it is an extension, or in some cases, a subset of operations management. We contend that neither of these is the case. In fact, the field of SCM spans multiple interdisciplinary areas, and thus must draw from a vast field or prior research in business, industrial psychology, economics, operations research, and organisational science. Researchers in this field are encouraged to broaden the span of their epistemological base to allow the field to grow in a manner that can best advance our knowledge in how to manage supply chains.

Keywords: trust; power; supplier relationships; transaction cost; economics; relationship management; supply chain management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISM.2004.004595

International Journal of Integrated Supply Management, 2004 Vol.1 No.1, pp.3 - 32

Published online: 26 May 2004 *

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