Department of Operations Management
BOLD IN IDEAS, STRONG IN PRACTICE
About the department (Panel content)
Who we are
140+ Employees
50+ Partners
CBS Maritime
“ At the Department of Operations Management, we work together across different areas to find new ideas that help solve real problems in how companies operate. ” Carsten Ørts Hansen
Head of Department
Our department
Strategy
Our vision is to be bold in ideas and strong in practice! It is our ambition to question and debate the boundaries of our many disciplines. This plurality allows for an unparalleled level of cross-disciplinary exchange of research ideas and in this interaction foster a strong, visionary intellectual environment.
Click here to explore the department’s strategy in more detail.
Events
The Department of Operations Management at CBS hosts a wide range of academic and professional events — including PhD defenses, thematic forums, workshops, and conferences within supply chain management, sustainability, pricing, and operations. These events foster knowledge sharing, networking, and collaboration between researchers, students, and industry partners.
History
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We make a difference: Making an Impact Across CBS, Industry, and Beyond
At the Department of Operations Management, we turn rigorous research into practical solutions that address complex operational challenges. By collaborating with other CBS institutes, such as CBS Maritime, engaging with businesses, and participating in international research networks, we create knowledge that drives innovation, supports decision-making, and inspires positive change locally, nationally, and globally. Our teaching and research prepare students and organizations alike to navigate complexity and make a meaningful difference.
Our focus areas
Event carousel
Research and publications (Panel content)
Our research
The Department of Operations Management explores the managerial and operational challenges of decision-making and economics. With a vision to be bold in ideas and strong in practice, we challenge the boundaries of our disciplines and foster a dynamic, cross-disciplinary research environment.
Our work is grounded in strong empirical analysis and shaped by a balance between academic research and close collaboration with corporate and institutional partners. This ensures that our insights remain both rigorous and relevant.
Our research spans Managerial Economics, Performance Management, Supply Chain Management, Innovation Management, and Operations Management. We examine how managers make decisions, how organizations measure performance, how supply chains function, how innovations unfold across companies, and how production systems are organised and aligned with business strategy.
Through this integrated approach, we aim to contribute new ideas while strengthening practical solutions for the challenges organisations face.
Publications
See all publications12 November 2025
Managing Urban Nights
Night Mayors, Commons Creation, and Bodily Interconnectedness
Go to publicationExternally funded projects
Inkubationslegater til Maritime Iværksættere ved Copenhagen Business School (CBS)
Type: Private (National)
Funder: Den Danske Maritime Fond
Department: Department of Operations Management
Status: Running
Start Date: 01-04-2025
End Date: 31-07-2026
Blue Denmark
Abstract: No description available.
Type: Public (National)
Funder: Innovationsfonden
Department: Department of Operations Management
Collaborative partners: University of Southern Denmark, Danmarks Rederiforening, Technical University of Denmark
Status: Running
Start Date: 01-05-2014
Blue Denmark - Inno+ projects
Abstract: No description available.
Type: Private (National)
Funder: Den Danske Maritime Fond
Department: Department of Operations Management
Status: Running
Start Date: 01-09-2014
Finished projects
Innovative Sustainable Urban Last Mile: Small Vehicles and Business Models (i-SMILE)
- A public, international project funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers and conducted in collaboration with Hanken School of Economics.
- Hosted by the Department of Operations Management, it focused on advancing research within its thematic scope. The project ran from September 2020 to August 2023 and has now been completed.
Supply Chain Resilience in Small and Medium-Sized Danish Production Firms
- A national, privately funded project supported by Industriens Fond with partners from the University of Southern Denmark and Universität Bremen.
- Based in the Department of Operations Management, it addressed key challenges within its research focus. The project ran from April 2021 to March 2023 and is now completed.
Visiting Professorship – Vinit Parida
- A national, privately funded project supported by Otto Mønsteds Fond and anchored in the Department of Operations Management.
- It contributed to advancing research in its designated area and strengthening academic capacity. The project ran from November 2022 to November 2024 and is now completed.
Visiting Professorship – Elena Giovannoni
- A national, privately funded project supported by Otto Mønsteds Fond and hosted by the Department of Operations Management.
- Its work focused on advancing research and strengthening academic collaboration in its field. The project was active from November 2022 to November 2024 and is now completed.
Managing Organizations at Night as a “State of Exception”
- A public, international project funded by Vetenskapsrådet and conducted with Lund University, hosted by the Department of Operations Management.
- It explored managing organizations at night as a “state of exception,” examining hospitals, production, service industries, and city management. The project ran from January 2022 to December 2024 and is now completed.
Our strategic initiatives
Strategic Initiatives (Panel content)
About our Strategic Initiatives
To support and strengthen coherence between the CBS strategy, the OM strategy, and ongoing research activities, the department actively organizes and advances research through strategic initiatives. These initiatives ensure that our research agenda remains aligned with broader institutional priorities while addressing contemporary challenges within Operations Management. At the same time, they serve as platforms for collaboration, enabling faculty to work across projects, themes, and expertise areas. Through these focused efforts, the department fosters a stronger research community and amplifies the visibility and impact of OM scholarship at CBS.
AODM (Panel content)
Accounting, Organizations and Decision-Making
About the initiative
AODM is a research hub at the Department of Operations Management that brings together faculty working on management accounting and decision-making. Our research explores how financial and non-financial measures—such as productivity, quality, innovation, sustainability, risk, and services—shape organizational practices and decision-making.
We use qualitative methods like interviews and ethnographies and draw on insights from the social sciences. Our work focuses on how management accounting interacts with broader management practices across organizations.
AODM unites researchers studying performance management, AI, risk, and creative industries, sharing a curiosity about how accounting influences managerial work. We are among Europe’s largest centers for qualitative management accounting research, organizing conferences, workshops, and hosting visiting scholars.
For inquiries or collaboration, please contact Christian Huber (chu.om@cbs.dk).
Research Theme
1. Decision-making and the future: We explore how management accounting directly and indirectly influences decision-making in organizations.
2. Valuation and justification: We study the social and organizational processes through which management accounting shapes the valuation and justification of entities and efforts.
3. Economizing and organizing: We research how management accounting defines the ideals and qualities of economic actors and entities and helps connect and coordinate organizational activities
4. Risk and decision-making: We research how risks are (re)constructed for decision-making and how organizational attention is distributed through risk and accounting measures.
More information about our research themes will follow in due course.
Activities
Members of AODM organize a number of conferences and workshops both at CBS and internationally. Below is a selection of our activities.
Seminars at the Department of Operations Management
- Every two weeks, a brown bag seminar on management accounting is held. This is primarily targeted at OM faculty with an interest in current research in management accounting. The seminar alternates between presentations of early research drafts and open sessions which discuss current developments in the field of AODM.
- Guest researchers are invited for presentations.
Workshops & Conferences
- Annually, the GMARS (Global Management Accounting Research Symposium) conference is organized together with the University of New South Wales and the Michigan State University. In 2021, CBS functioned as principal host, and we plan to do so again in 2024. Jan Mouritsen, Christian Huber, Allan Hansen are members of the organizing committee.
- The MASOP (Management Accounting as Social and Organizational Practice) workshop is co-organized by Allan Hansen. The location of the workshop circulates between locations of which CBS is one. The 2023 event is hosted by the University of Innsbruck, Austria.
- In July 2022, a workshop on Risk and Decision-Making, which is also the inaugural event of the Organizing Risk Group was organized by Anestis Keremis and Christian Huber.
Adjacent Workshops
- AODM is involved, via Christian Huber, in the organization of the biannual PreGov (Predictive Governance) workshop series, which is an interdisciplinary workshop on artificial intelligence, governance, and decision-making.
- AODM is involved, via Christian Huber, in the organization of the biannual QMARG (qualitative management accounting group) workshops, a network event for qualitative management accounting researchers in the northern countries in advanced career states.
Selected Publications
Ahmad Abras; Muhammad Al Mahameed / The Rise and Fall of Institutional Entrepreneurship in Islamic Financial Reporting Standardisation Projects
In: Accounting Forum, 10.4.2022
Allan Hansen / The Purposes of Performance Management Systems and Processes : A Cross-functional Typology.
In: International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Vol. 41, No. 8, 2021, p. 1249-1271
Anatoli Bourmistrov; Jan Mouritsen / Guest Editorial : Accounting for Sustainable and Smart Cities.
In: Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, Vol. 34, No. 5, 2022, 6 p., p. 577-582
Aziza Laguecir; Bernard Leca; Élise Berlinski / Souveraineté et évaluation académique : Une histoire de virgule en sciences de gestion.
In: Revue Francaise de Gestion, Vol. 48, No. 305, 2022, p. 103-117
Brian Anthony Burfitt; Jane Baxter; Jan Mouritsen / Separating and Integrating Non-financial and Financial Measures : A Case Study of a Sporting Organization Playing the Value-in-kind (VIK) Game.
In: Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Vol. 33, No. 8, 2020, p. 1871-1907
Christina Boedker; Kar Ming Chong; Jan Mouritsen / The Counter-performativity of Calculative Practices : Mobilising Rankings of Intellectual Capital.
In: Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Vol. 72, 10.2020
Christian Huber; Nadine Gerhardt; Jacob Reilley / Organizing Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic : The Role of Accounting in German Hospitals.
In: Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Vol. 34, No. 6, 2021, p. 1445-1456
Christian Huber / Whereof One Cannot Speak ... A Comment on Vollmer (2019)
In: Qualitative Research in Accounting and Management, 5.7.2022
Christopher S. Chapman; Anja Kern; Aziza Laguecir; Gerardine Doyle; Nathalie Angelé-Halgand; Allan Hansen; Frank G.H. Hartmann; Céu Mateus; Paolo Perego; Vera Winter; Wilm Quentin / Managing Quality of Cost Information in Clinical Costing : Evidence across Seven Countries.
In: Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, Vol. 34, No. 2, 2022, p. 310-329
Dane Pflueger; Martin Kornberger; Jan Mouritsen / What is Blockchain Accounting? : A Critical Examination in Relation to Organizing, Governance, and Trust.
In: European Accounting Review, 15.12.2022
Elise Berlinski; Marianne Strauch; Quentin Plantec / Hyperloop, une mythologie de marchés
In: Revue Francaise de Gestion, Vol. 48, No. 304, 5.2022, p. 65-88
Ivar Friis; Allan Hansen; Tamás S. Vámosi / Digitalisering og performance management : Om Big Data og algoritmers betydning for performanceevalueringer.
In: Revision & Regnskabsvæsen, Vol. 91, No. 12, 12.2022, p. 12-19
Ivar Friis; Allan Hansen; Tamás S. Vámosi / Performance management og sustainability : Design af økonomisk bæredygtige incitamenter for klimaet.
In: Revision & Regnskabsvæsen, Vol. 8, No. 2022, 8.2022, p. 17-23
Ivar Friis / Preservation of Incentives Inside the Firm : A Case Study of a Quasi-market for Cost-based Transfer Pricing .
In: Journal of Management Accounting Research, Vol. 32, No. 2, 9.2020, p. 137–157
Jacob Reilley; Nathalie Iloga Balep; Christian Huber / Making the User Useful? : How Translation Processes Managerialize Voice in Public Organizations.
In: Financial Accountability & Management, Vol. 36, No. 4, 11.2020, p. 401-419
Jan Mouritsen; Isabel Pedraza-Acosta; Sof Thrane / Performance, Risk, and Overflows : When Are Multiple Management Control Practices Related?.
In: Management Accounting Research, Vol. 55, 6.2022
John K. Christiansen; Jan Mouritsen / Learning from the Ambiguous Past with Project Reviews
In: International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, Vol. 14, No. 1, 2021, p. 179-204
Katrine Schrøder-Hansen; Allan Hansen / Performance Management Trends : Reflections on the Redesigns Big Companies Have Been Doing Lately.
In: International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 7.3.2022
Kim Soin; Christian Huber / Compliance and Resistance : How Performance Measures Make and Unmake Universities.
In: Organization, 30.12.2021
Lars Balslev; Sof Thrane; Ivar Friis / Information Technology Systems Implementation and Processes of Integration and Disintegration : Case Study Evidence from Air Greenland.
In: Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change, Vol. 18, No. 3, 2022, p. 419-439
Lichen Yu; Jan Mouritsen / Accounting, Simultaneity and Relative Completeness : The Sales and Operations Planning Forecast and the Enactment of the ‘Demand Chain’.
In: Accounting, Organizations and Society, Vol. 84, 7.2020
Lukas Löhlein; Christian Huber / The End of Audit : Spectacle and Love in the Audit Society.
In: Qualitative Research in Accounting and Management, 13.7.2022
Martin Jarmatz; Sof Thrane; Giulio Zichella / Kontrol af prisfastsættelsen via udvikling af prispolitikker
In: Revision & Regnskabsvæsen, Vol. 89, No. 1, 2020, p. 52-57
Michael Güldenpfennig; Kim Sundtoft Hald; Allan Hansen / Productivity Improvement and Multiple Management Controls : Evidence from a Manufacturing Firm.
In: International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Vol. 41, No. 6, 2021, p. 991-1017
Muhammad Al Mahameed; Ataur Belal; Florian Gebreiter; Alan Lowe / Social Accounting in the Context of Profound Political, Social and Economic Crisis : The Case of the Arab Spring.
In: Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, Vol. 34, No. 5, 2021, p. 1080-1108
Muhammad Al Mahameed; Umair Riaz; Lara Gee / From Unrequited Love to Sleeping with the Enemy : COVID-19 and the Future Relationship between UK Universities and Professional Accounting Bodies.
In: Accounting Research Journal, Vol. 35, No. 3, 2022, p. 427-445
Yves Habran; Jan Mouritsen / Making Intensity of Efforts the Same : Commensuration Work in Target-setting Practices.
In: European Accounting Review, Vol. 31, No. 3, 7.2022, p. 603-627
Yves Habran; Satoko Matsugi; Jan Mouritsen / Mediating Relations between Financial and Operational Concerns when Structural Interdependencies Are Significant : The Development of Pseudo Micro-profit Centres at Kitanihon.
In: Management Accounting Research, Vol. 53, 11.2021
Participants
Allan Hansen (Associate Professor), Christian Hendriksen (Associate Professor), Christian Huber (Associate Professor, Organizer), Ivar Friis (Professor, PhD), Jan Mouritsen (Professor), Kai Inga Liehr Storm (Associate Professor), Katrine Schrøder-Hansen (Assistant Professor), Poalo Trevisan (Assistant Professor) og Sof Thrane (Professor with Special Responsibilities)
AI and DM (Panel content)
Artificial Intelligence and Decision-Making
Approaches and Goals
We take a perspective from interpretative accounting research, critical management studies, and the sociology of quantification to investigate the relation between AI and decision-making. This initiative aims at relating the specificities of contemporary AI quantifications – which can be equated to machine learning, a set of quantification algorithms that produce predictive scores on some future possibilities. The initiative aims at understanding how AI quantification influence managerial decisions modify organizational structures.
Research Themes
We divide our work in three related sub questions:
(1) How are the data collected and processed in relation to their subsequent use? What type of representation of the quantified entities do they offer.
(2) How are these quantifications made sense of in practice? How are they handled, and what beliefs do different actors invest in them in practice? How does the practice impact back the quantifications.
(3) What is the relation in between the hopes that led to the adoption of such local decision-systems based on quantifications and the modifications that organizational actors perceive?
Key Activities
- Co-organization of the workshop series on Predictive Governance (PreGov), joint with the Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg, Weizenbaum Institute Berlin, Bielefeld University.
- Co-organization on subthemes at the Annual Colloquium of the European Group of Organizational Studies (EGOS). For this year’s subtheme, please see: https://www.egos.org/jart/prj3/egos/main.jart?rel=de&reserve-mode=active&content-id=1658501434997&subtheme_id=1637466365714
- Including a wide network of researchers outside CBS (e.g. Martin Kornberger https://www.wu.ac.at/eim/team/martin-kornberger/, Matteo Ronzani, Elena Giovannoni
- Ongoing research activities such as empirical data collection, and presentation of working papers at international research conferences such as EGOS and the annual forum of the European Accounting Association.
Selected Publications
Anatoli Bourmistrov; Jan Mouritsen / Guest Editorial : Accounting for Sustainable and Smart Cities. In: Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, Vol. 34, No. 5, 2022, 6 p., p. 577-582
Aziza Laguecir; Bernard Leca; Élise Berlinski / Souveraineté et évaluation académique : Une histoire de virgule en sciences de gestion. In: Revue Francaise de Gestion, Vol. 48, No. 305, 2022, p. 103-117
Dane Pflueger; Martin Kornberger; Jan Mouritsen / What is Blockchain Accounting? : A Critical Examination in Relation to Organizing, Governance, and Trust. In: European Accounting Review, 15.12.2022
Élise Berlinski / Debate: The Multiple Paradoxes of Meta and Mark Zuckerberg Paris : The Conversation Media Group 1.3.2023 Net publication - Internet publication
Elise Berlinski; Marianne Strauch; Quentin Plantec / Hyperloop, une mythologie de marchés In: Revue Francaise de Gestion, Vol. 48, No. 304, 5.2022, p. 65-88
Élise Berlinski / The Multiple Paradoxes of Meta and Mark Zuckerberg In: Irish Examiner, 15.3.2023 Contribution to newspaper - Comment/debate
Huber, C. & Scheytt, T. (2018). Pitfalls of algorithmic control and their implications for support systems: Algorithmic control as a threat to accountability. In: Weidner, R. & Karafillidis, A. (eds.) Konferenzband (Proceedings) zur Dritten Transdisziplinären Konferenz Technische Unterstützungssysteme, die die Menschen wirklich wollen, Hamburg, 205-212.
Participants
The Accounting, Organizations and Decision-Making initiative is driven by a team of experienced professors.
The team includes:
Christian Huber, Associate Professor (Principal Organizer) - Department of Operations Management
Elise Berlinski, Assistant Professor - Department of Operations Management
Jan Mouritsen, Professor - Department of Operation Management
Reimagining SCM (Panel content)
Reimagining Supply Chain Management
Involvement in the Initiative
The team includes:
Andreas Wieland - Associate Professor
Philip Beske-Janssen - Assistant Professor
Christian Hendriksen - Assistant Professor
As part of the research, the team regularly has talks or presentations.
Above all, the Initiative is a space for collaboration and creativity. The aim of the Initiative is to develop supply chain management theory.
Approach and Goals
To challenge conventional approaches in supply chain management, the team is pursuing a research agenda that combines theoretical rigor with practical, societal, and ecological relevance. The team aims to make new theoretical contributions that can better capture the complexity of supply chains and how they interact with the rest of the world, as well as to conduct empirical studies that refine supply chain theory. Our ultimate goal is to contribute to the development of sustainable supply chain management practices.
Activities
Several article recently coauthored by Andreas Wieland reinterpret supply chains as social-ecological systems and resilience in terms of persistence, adaptation, and transformation. One of our recent achievements is the publication of an article by Amanda Bille and Christian Hendriksen that relates to the Initiative. The article entitled “Let us get contextual: Critical realist case studies in supply chain management” presents a novel framework for understanding the dynamics of supply chains and offers insights into how they can be managed more effectively. In the future, we plan to continue our research and to share our findings through talks and presentations at conferences and other events.
Selected Publications
Bille, A., & Hendriksen, C. (2022). Let Us Get Contextual: Critical Realist Case Studies in Supply Chain Management. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal. https://doi.org/10.1108/SCM-03-2022-0119
Wieland, A. (2021). Dancing the supply chain: Toward transformative supply chain management. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 57(1), 58–73. https://doi.org/10.1111/jscm.12248
Wieland, A., & Durach, C. F. (2021). Two perspectives on supply chain resilience. Journal of Business Logistics, 42(3), 315–322. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbl.12271
Wieland, A., Stevenson, M., Melnyk, S. A., Davoudi, S., & Schultz, L. (2023). Thinking differently about supply chain resilience: what we can learn from social-ecological systems thinking. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 43(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-10-2022-0645
Sustainability as a Service Offering (Panel content)
Sustainability as a Service Offering
About the Initiative
Understanding the multifaceted, integrated nature of products, services, and data has become essential for competitiveness. Leveraging capabilities and insights into P+S+D integration enables firms to configure value systems and resources that skillfully combine and integrate products, services, and data.
In a world where service is the norm these capabilities present opportunities to embrace new competitive priorities. In particular, firms are embracing sustainability as a service differentiator in response to the UN Compact Goals and the ESG agenda, and in recognition of their societal responsibilities. Similarly, there is an increasing interest in subscription- and outcome-based business models as alternative payment options. “Sustainability as a Service Offering” present major growth opportunities for Danish firms. The strategic initiative is based on a desire to understand how “Sustainability as a Service Offering” can successfully be leveraged as a competitive response in a changing world, which raises important questions for managers and researchers.
Related research disciplines include (but not limited to):
- Servitization and product service systems
- Modularity
- Pricing
- Ecosystems
- Platforms
- Business model innovation
- Circular economy
- Service operations management
Activities
We hold a wide range of activities, such as:
- Research seminars
- Visiting professors and scholars
- Research collaborations with international universities
We hosted the exciting EurOMA Service Operations Management Forum 2025, March 13-14, 2025, at CBS.
Recent Publications
1. Raja, J., Neufang, I.F., and Frandsen, T. and Golgeci, I. (2024) “Working through frame incongruences: A process perspective on (re)framing for digital servitization,” Technovation, Vol. 129, 102891. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2023.102891
2. Shen, L., Shi, Q., Parida, V. and Jovanovic, M. (2024) “Ecosystem orchestration practices for industrial firms: A qualitative meta-analysis, framework development and research agenda,” Journal of Business Research, Vol. 173, 114463. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2023.114463
3. Burin, H.P., Fogliatto, F.S. and Hsuan, J. (2023) “The electricity market in Brazil: A multilevel perspective of sector agents for liberalization to residential consumers,” Energy for Sustainable Development, 76, 101289. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.esd.2023.101289
4. Davies, P., Bustinza, O.F., Parry, G. and Jovanovic, M. (2023) “Unpacking the relationship between digital capabilities, services capabilities, and firm financial performance: A Moderated Mediation Model,” Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 115, p. 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2023.09.005
5. Engås, K.G., Raja, J. and Neufang, I.F. (2023) “Decoding technological frames: An exploratory study of access to and meaningful engagement with digital technologies in agriculture,” Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol. 190, 122405. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2023.122405
6. Jovanovic, M., Bustinza, O.F., Davies, P. and Glenn Parry, G. (2023) “The interplay of product modularity, service types, and servitization depth on firm performance: A moderated mediation model,” Production Planning & Control. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537287.2023.2286276
7. Karatzas, A., Papadopoulos, G., Stamolampros, P., Raja, J. and Korfiatis, N. (2023) “Front- and back-end employee satisfaction during service transition,” International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Vol. 43, No. 7, p. 1121-1147. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOPM-06-2022-0352
8. Karlsson, C. and Frandsen, T. (2023) “New product development by extending the business model,” in: The PDMA Handbook of Innovation and New Product Development. Eds. L. Bstieler. and C.H. Noble, Oxford: Wiley, p. 477-495.
9. Kim, M.J., Lim, C.H. and Hsuan, J. (2023) “From technology enablers to circular economy: Data-driven understanding of the overview of servitization and product–service system in Industry 4.0,” Computers in Industry, 148, 103908. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compind.2023.103908
10. Thomson, L., Sjödin, D., Parida, V. and Jovanovic, M. (2023) “Conceptualizing business model piloting: An experiential learning process for autonomous solutions,” Technovation, Vol. 126, 102815. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2023.102815
11. Yurt, O., Sorkun, M.F. and Hsuan, J. (2023) “Modularization of front-end logistics services in e-fulfillment,” Journal of Business Logistics, Vol. 44, No. 4, p. 583-608. https://doi.org/10.1111/jbl.12354
Involvement in the Initiative
Juliana Hsuan, Professor
Thomas Frandsen, Associate Professor
Marin Jovanovic, Associate Professor
Jawwad Raja, Associate Professor
Magnus Persson, Associate Professor, Chalmers University of Technology
SPI (Panel content)
Sustainable Procurement Initiative
About the Initiative
The global society is increasingly engaged in endeavors to transition into a greener future, and this builds pressure on companies in terms of playing an active role in achieving the new ambitious environmental objectives. However, as the environmental impact of a company reaches far outside its own local production, reducing this impact is a complex and challenging task that involves the active participation of many supply chain actors. Specifically, the purchasing and supply management function plays a fundamental role in dealing with the environmental impact in the supply network. Our research focuses on exploring, in practice:
How purchasing and supply management processes are designed and practiced to transition the supply network to higher levels of environmental sustainability. Our focus is dual as we are interested in understanding the practices and decision-making that take place inside the buying organization, but also in how the purchasing and supply management function engages with and are dependent on suppliers to push the green agenda upstream in the supply network.
Our research is mainly qualitative and case-based and we collaborate with many different companies.
Our main objective is to develop and publish new research-based knowledge of a high international standard. In order to do so we engage with and help develop a community of companies interested in sharing knowledge and data on their sustainable procurement practices. We also involve master thesis students in our work and research and disseminate our results in our teaching.
Research Themes
Our research is concerned with how purchasing and supply management processes are designed and unfolded in practice with the ambition to transition the supply network to higher levels of environmental sustainability. The current research themes inside this scope are:
- Measurement and reporting of the supply networks’ sustainability impacts
- Supplier selection and evaluation and sustainability
- Buyer-supplier relationships and environmental sustainability
- Sourcing of eco-innovations from suppliers
- Development of circular procurement
- Maturity in sustainable procurement practices
- Justice in sustainable procurement practices
- Obstacles and paradoxes in implementing sustainable procurement practices
- Developing sustainable procurement capabilities
- Understanding the unique practices and challenges in transitioning to sustainable procurement in different industrial contexts (e.g. Financial service)
Activitites
Members of the SPI, organize and participate in a number of conferences and workshops both at CBS and internationally.
Workshop with Companies
- We organize and facilitate events between the research team and case companies. The purpose is to disseminate research findings, identify research opportunities, and facilitate knowledge sharing among the participating companies. Currently, we are running on average two workshops per year.
Seminars with Master Thesis students
- We facilitate a network of master thesis students that writes their final master thesis project in close collaboration with researchers from the strategic SPI-initiative. The students develop their research-based master thesis by exploring one of the central themes in the research initiative. The students are often engaged in one or more of the case companies that participate in the initiative. In the previous two years, 28 master thesis students have been collaborating with the research initiative.
Presenting our research at research conferences
- To develop our research ideas further we engage with the international research community. One of the activities is to present our work at international research conferences.
Participants
Kim Sundtoft Hald - Professor with Special responsibilities (Organizer)
Christian Hendriksen – Assistant Professor
Philip Beske-Janssen - Assistant Professor
Sofia Wiik – PhD Fellow
Thomas Johnsen – Visiting Professor
Former Initiatives (Panel content)
Former Strategic Initiatives
CBS Servitization
PRODUCT + SERVICE + DATA INTEGRATION
The main challenge facing industrial firms in Denmark is the continuous and simultaneous integration of physical products, services and data in which many firms are facing situations in which they must concurrently operate product (P), service (S) and data (D).
As part of the Servitize.dk program, this CBS research investigates how the integration of the three elements, product, service and data is best utilized by companies for corporate success. We call it “The P+S+D Integration Challenge”.
The Servitize.dk program aims to further strengthen the competitiveness of Danish organizations within the area of servitization. The Servitize.dk program is a national effort, funded by the Danish Industry Foundation, in which CBS collaborates with FORCE Technology, Aarhus University BTECH, the Danish Technological Institute, and Alexandra Institute.
The CBS research in the Servitize.dk program builds upon the two earlier research projects at CBS: “Driving Competitiveness through Servitization” and “From Big Data to Big Business (BDBB): Understanding data- driven business development”.
Research team:
Juliana Hsuan, Professor (mso), Department of Operations Management, CBS jh.om@cbs.dk
Thomas Ritter, Professor, Department of Strategy and Innovation, CBS
Thomas Frandsen, Associate Professor, Department of Operations Management, CBS tfr.om@cbs.dk
Jawwad Raja, Associate Professor, Department of Operations Management, CBS jr.om@cbs.dk
Carsten Lund Pedersen, Postdoc, Department of Strategy and Innovation, CBS
Shaping our urban furture
The research project REFLOW sets out to offer a new approach to circular economy in urban areas. Currently, our urban environments follow a process characterized by a linear product in/waste out model. Such traditional configuration leads cities to consume more than they produce and, consequently, creates an unsustainable amount of waste. In circular and regenerative cities, waste becomes a resource that helps building wealth rather than reducing it. Active citizen involvement and systemic change are needed to re-design products, re-locate production, and re-think urban spaces, which in turn will enact this new form of managing resources.
To ensure that circular economy principles are anchored in citizens’ vision and expectations, the project has as active partners six pilot cities: Amsterdam, Berlin, Cluj-Napoca, Milan, Paris, and Vejle. In each of the six pilot cities there are makerspaces where citizens can prototype, develop, and test circular products, software, and business models for their cities. It is the ambition of REFLOW that its results can offer guidelines and tools that other cities can adopt in their transition to becoming circular and regenerative.
REFLOW brings together 27 partners from 10 European countries. REFLOW combines the competences and approaches of very different partners, including universities, grassroots organizations, municipalities, research institutions, designers and developers.
The project is led by Cristiana Parisi, Associate Professor at the Department of Operations Management, Copenhagen Business School (CBS). It received 10 Million € funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme for its 3-year duration, starting June 2019.
The CBS REFLOW team:
Cristiana Parisi, Associate Professor, Project Coordinator of REFLOW
Jan Mouritsen, Professor, jm.om@cbs.dk
Juliana Hsuan, Professor MSO, jh.om@cbs.dk
Leonardo Santiago, Associate Professor, ls.om@cbs.dk
Lotta Lichtenberger, Project Administrator
Zartashia Ahmed, Research Assistant
Anestis Keremis, Assistant Professor
Justyna Bekier, PhD Fellow
Andrea Beye, PhD Fellow
Education (Panel content)
Our contribution to programmes and courses
Through our broad portfolio of courses, we develop the next generation of leaders and specialists across Economics, Management, Supply Chains, and Digital Transformation. Our teaching is closely connected to five primary research areas: Operations Management, Managerial Economics, Performance Management, Supply Chain Management, and Innovation Management.
Our courses combine foundational disciplines such as Accounting, Finance, and Performance Management with emerging topics like Business Analytics, Digital Business, Sustainable Supply Chains, and Innovation in Healthcare and Bio-Business. In this way, we integrate research-driven insights with practical applications to prepare students for impact in organizations and across global value chains.
We provide students with both theoretical insights and practical tools to analyze, design, and transform organizations and global value chains. By combining strategic perspectives, operational know-how, and sustainability considerations, our teaching empowers graduates to create value, drive organizational change, and manage complex international contexts. In addition, our vibrant PhD community plays a key role in advancing research and enriching our learning environment, fostering collaboration and innovation across academic and industry boundaries.
In this way, our programs not only reflect the strengths of our research but also equip students to meet today’s business challenges and prepare them to lead tomorrow’s transformations.
Being a PhD student at our department
“ Joining the Department of Operations Management has been one of the best decisions I’ve made. I’m grateful for the continuous support from my supervisors, colleagues, and our inspiring PhD community — all of whom have helped me grow and reach higher goals. ” Yanan Li
PhD Fellow at Department of Operations Management
Department of Operations Management Diploma Programmes
The Department of Operations Management contributes with both teaching and supervision to several diploma programmes at CBS, ensuring that students gain practical and research-based insights into key areas of operations and business management.
Department of Operations Management Bachelor Programmes
The Department of Operations Management contributes with both teachers and course supervision to a wide range of bachelor programmes at CBS’ Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, providing students with a strong foundation in operations, supply chain management, and business processes.
Department of Operations Management Master Programmes
The Department of Operations Management contributes with both teaching and thesis supervision to multiple master’s programmes at CBS, supporting advanced learning and research within operations management, performance management, and related fields.