Nowadays, companies are facing ever more rapidly changing economic conditions: The current competitive environment is characterized by globally operating companies, shortening of product life cycles, higher demands for individualized products, closer interconnectedness of companies as well as new information technologies. This dynamic change forces individual companies no longer acting alone but facing competition by bundling sources in supply chains. A supply chain is a network of integrated organizations, whereof each organization is involved in the value-adding processes and activities of the product or service at different stages, from raw material extraction to the end customer. Supply chain management aims to increase the competitiveness of all supply chain partners by increasing the overall supply chain efficiency. While logistics solely focuses on the flow of materials and information, supply chain management also includes financial flows among the supply chain.

Next to strategies, concepts and methods of supply chain management, our research focuses on the development of concepts to improve the market situation as well as competitiveness for companies. Furthermore, our research encompasses contemporary sustainability concepts and initiatives in supply chain management.