Research work
In carrying out a study of this magnitude, the researcher must have had to make a lot of choices on the type methodology. The qualitative methodology is very important basing on the kind of topic in question. The researcher acknowledges that the scope of the study qualified and disqualified some of the possible approaches to be used in the study. For instance, knowing that the study scope was the entire German Manufacturing industry, the quantitative methodology would not be very applicable. Instead, the qualitative methodology was the right approach because it makes it easier for the researcher to narrow the scope when need arises. For example, the researcher realizes that it is impossible to cover every sub-section of the German manufacturing industry and therefore opts to narrow that down to four major cases. The cases include pharmacy, apparel, food and car. From the four, it then becomes possible for the researcher to apply the research techniques applicable to the qualitative research methodology. Specifically, based on the research conducted, a technique like interviewing is mainly related to the qualitative methodology. The technique relies more on the behavior of the interviewee. Secondly, the analysis of the secondary archival data was very important because it adds the value on the data collected through the interviews.
The research incorporates effective data and information collection from sources that retain these data. The study integrates vast strategies to ensure that the data collected is not bias and entails the anticipated credentials to ensure the information generated is within the range required. This is achieved through advanced mechanisms developed during the collection and analysis of the data (Judge et al, 2001). The data sources selected include the tape-recorded and transcribed data in their entirety. The researcher also employs the field notes taken during and directly after the interview as one of the key primary information source. Additionally, as part of the extra information collected from secondary data sources, that include the company reports, information that is based on the sustainability and the corporate social responsibility strategies that is sourced from the four companies’ corporate websites, from the suppliers’ codes of conduct where applicable, and from all other related material available, and also from other material in which the interview partners accepted to share with the researcher during and after the interview. The outcomes were based on achieving transparency and offering results based on the objective of the study (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe and Jackson, 2015). These results should be used to solve the problems addressed by the study. Such high stakes in the research then called for efficiency and effective data collection approaches (Easterby-Smith, Thorpe and Jackson, 2015).
Research Philosophy
The researcher is a scholar and one of the known professors in the sub-discipline of supply chain management. Therefore, in the study, when she engages in finding the sustainability of the supply chain management integration, then the reader can be sure that the professor is at the verge of beginning a scholarly revolution on how sustainable supply chains integration will be handled in the future. On the other hand, her selection of Germany is very crucial because it is one of the nations that has one of the most established manufacturing industries. The choice of the study used here indicates a very good choice in establishing the perspective the research study takes. In this study, the professor, who is the researcher in this circumstances, must have asked questions like: How to conduct the research? What the research should be about? And why the research has to be done? The answers to each of these questions are the basis for the philosophical discussion that follows each study.
In the research, focus is on the sustainable supply chain management integration in the corporate world and the study area is Germany. Supply chains management being a fairly new area of study, their sustainable integration is an even newer area and only the leaders in academia are able to do research on it. In conducting the research, the author acknowledges that the supply chain management is still a big problem area for many corporates. Currently, the best and most successful companies have put a lot of value and undivided attention to their supply chain management. The power of the supply chain still offers an unrivalled competitive advantage because it is one of the main ways of satisfying customers (Chopra and Meindl, 2007). Additionally, the supply chain management ensures that there is an integration of other arms of the company including the manufacturing, purchasing, transport, distribution. Supply chain system that ensures supply of product for almost every major player in the German manufacturing industry.
The supply chain management is based on the simple principles whereby the personnel in charge identifies the supermarkets and restaurant that need the products and they request the supply and distribution team to deliver the products based on the requests. The major flaw with the current supply chain management by many smaller scale players in the industry is that they are not equipped by the technologies that drive the modern supply chain systems (Monczka et al, 2015). Information technology is currently the fundamental requirement for modern systems (Fitzsimmons, Fitzsimmons and Bordoloi, 2006). The trucks supplying the products must have a real-time connection to the supply chain management and to the various nodes on the clients’ side. Based on the conclusion in the study, such technology help many industry players in updating the inventory on the fly and streamlines materials handling which in the ends leads to lower expenses and an improved business process. Researching and coming up with a conclusive and clear recommendation for a study such as this is based on a very clear-cut research philosophy.