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The MIT/TruEconomy SCM Research Program

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) / TruEconomy SCM Research Program is targeted to bring together business professionals, academics, researchers and practitioners to develop ideas, practical principles and critical thinking in the area of supply chain management (SCM).
The research program is dedicated to delivering innovative and pragmatic solutions to supply chain issues and enables each member of the community to influence, participate and be the first to learn about new ideas for excellence in supply chain design and implementation.
Although key messages from the research will be published in journals, detailed results will only be available to the research participants. In addition, each participant will receive a benchmark report, comparing their own responses to the industry specific and the overall research results.

Research scope 2010

In recent years, quite some emphasis has been put on the importance of strategies such as just-in-time, lean manufacturing, off-shoring or frequent deliveries to retail outlets. However, with significant economic changes, rising labor costs in developing countries, huge volatility in oil and other commodity prices, and new regulations such as carbon emission caps, some of these strategies may put the supply chain in peril.
At the same time, logistics and supply chain management have been the focus of executive meetings, business columns and research institutes as never before. The importance of integrated, globally optimized supply chains is well understood and it seems that in many companies, executives have discovered the impact on business performance that can be achieved by effectively managing their supply chains.
Our objective in this MIT / TruEconomy SCM Research Program is to identify a framework that links the firm’s value proposition to its supply chain strategy. Such a framework can establish a strong connection between business strategy and SCM and will drive SCM towards the firm’s decision makers. In order to identify this framework the following questions will be answered:

• Is SCM an important topic on the agenda of today’s business leaders, in particular chief executive officers (CEOs) and chief operating officers (COOs)?
• If it is on the agenda, what specifically is included? Risk management? Cost cutting? Cash reduction? New channels?
• If SCM is not directly on the CEOs/COOs agenda, what is on their agenda? Is there a link between SCM and these topics?
   
  The research timeline

The research 2010, ‘SCM and the agenda of the CEO’, has already been prepared in 2009, with literature studies and other desk research activities by the research team.

• From June until October 2009 the research framework was established by the research team. In this phase, the business relevance in combination with the academic significance of results has been assured. MIT Professor David Simchi-Levi and the TruEconomy research team have developed hypotheses and tested these with 14 companies that are part of the SCM Research Community.
• In November 2009 the survey was distributed amongst SCM Research Community members to complete. All information received is regarded confidential.
• The preliminary research results were exclusively presented and discussed in a ‘research participant-only’ conference at Lamborghini SpA in Italy on January 14th, 2010. During this conference the generic and the industry specific results were tested and members were provided full access to the preliminary results and were the first to use the results for their own purposes.
• During February, March and April 2010 case studies will be performed by the research team in co-operation with volunteering community members to apply the research results to specific company situations. In case you wish to participate in the case study, please do not hesitate to contact the research team at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
• During April and May 2010 the survey responses will be analyzed, conclusions will be drawn and the new framework that links the firm’s value proposition to its supply chain strategy will be developed. Also the deliverables will be finalized and a generic executive summary will be prepared for worldwide publication.
• MIT Professor David Simchi-Levi and a high profile speaker will deliver the world premiere launch of the final research results. This will enable you to relate your responses to the industry specific and overall results. The official invitation for this event will be distributed in due course.
  

Status: Active.

For more information about the 09/10 MIT-TruEconomy research project, please click here.

To participate in the research survey, please click here.

Former projects under the MIT/ TruEconomy research program

A Research into European Supply Chains
In 2008, MIT and TruEconomy Consulting conducted a research to investigate and analyze the challenges and peculiarities specific to European supply chains.

Status: Closed.

To download the executive summary of this MIT-TruEconomy research project, please click here.