Theoretical perspectives in purchasing and supply chain management: an analysis of the literature

Abstract

The research presented in this paper is work-in-progress and aims to investigate to what extent purchasing and supply chain management (SCM), as a relatively new area of academic enquiry, is ready or able to join the select group of modern scientific disciplines. The analysis indicates that the discipline lacks coherence and exhibits significant and increasingly interdisciplinary breath and is some way off becoming a natural science. Furthermore, it is argued that SCM research has diverse agendas and therefore it is unlikely that one dominant paradigm will emerge.