Dissertation Proposal Case Study of Retail Sector

Question: Discuss about theDissertation Proposalfor Case Study of Retail Sector. Answer: Impact of Technology on Supply Chain Management: A Case Study of Retail Sector Introduction: In the present globalize business environment, logistics and supply chain management has emerged as one of the prime factors that can have serious impact on the business performance of retail sector. Several retail organizations have opened their retail across geographical boundaries, which have induced to include different advance technologies for ensuring required amount of products reach to its desired destination (Christopher 2016). In this study, the focus would be on evaluating the kind of impact introduction of advance technologies can have on the complex supply chain management process in retail sector. The study would also focus on recommending the best possible way to use advance technologies to improve present logistics management process. Research Context: In the present time, technological evaluation has changed business process of the retail sector completely. Specifically, it has allowed retail organizations to use lean supply chain management procedure that has helped to minimize the costs associated with the operational process. Moreover, increasing demand in the retail sector has induced organizations to focus on introducing advance technologies in the business process (Monczka et al. 2015). Now, retail sector includes varieties of products that needed to be transported with extreme care and precisions. For that reason, utilization of manual process with the supply chain management has become impossible. As a result, almost all the prime retail sector organizations have focused on using advance technologies for fulfilling all the requirements effectively. However, Stadtler (2015) have highlighted the fact that introduction of advance technologies have influenced organizations to change the entire operational procedure. As a resul t, organizations will have to invest huge amount for utilizing advanced technology based supply chain management process (Green Jr et al. 2012). Therefore, it can have negative impact on the overall revenue level of the retail organizations. Thus, retail organizations will have to take lot of risks at the time of introducing advance technologies for supply chain management process. For that reason, organizations dealing in the retail sector will have to be extremely careful for handling all the requirements of the supply chain management process. Moreover, it would also have to identify the trends related to logistics and supply chain process for creating maximum impact with the introduction of advance technologies. Research Gap: The above discussion has highlighted the fact that introduction of advance technologies within the supply chain process has become necessary for the retail organizations. In fact, advanced technologies have helped organizations to focus on several concepts including lean management and green logistic management for ensuring continues success in the market. However, introduction of advance technologies in the supply chain sector is relatively a new concept. As a result, not many studies have been conducted on assessing the exact amount of impact advance technology base supply chain process can have on overall business process of the logistics sector. Research Aim: The study aims to analyze the kind of impact advance technologies can have on the effectiveness of the supply chain management process within the retail sector. Research Questions: Primary research question: How advance technology base supply chain management process can enhance the overall business process of the retail sector organizations? Secondary research questions: What are the possible challenges associated with the business procedure of advance technology base retail sector organizations? How can advance technology help retail sector organizations to minimize the required lead-time associated with supply chain process? Research Methods: As highlighted by Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault (2015) appropriate selection of research method is extremely essential for fulfilling all the aims and objective of the research topic. Therefore, in order to analyze the kind of impact advance technologies can have on the effectiveness of the supply chain management process, the study would focus on positivism research philosophy. It would help the study to include different theoretical aspects related to the technology based supply chain management process. On the other hand, the study would also select deductive approach for assessing different existing concepts appropriately. It has been assessed that proper utilization of existing concept would help to add value to the research study. Thirdly, the study would focus on descriptive research design for covering all possible factors in an appropriate manner (Panneerselvam 2014). For analyzing the impact of advance technology on supply chain management, the study would consider secondary data collection technique. In order to capture information related to advance technology based supply chain management, the study would consider systematic probability sampling. The secondary data will be collected from different books, journals, annual reports, blogs and newspapers and other reliable sources. Two separate set of questionnaires would be prepared for assessing the impact of advance technology on supply chain management. To collect the relevant data and make the evaluation of the data thematic analysis will be conducted in the study. Significance of Research: As highlighted by Tayur, Ganeshan and Magazine (2012) retail sector is growing all across the world, which has increased the pressure on logistics and supply chain management in a great way. Therefore, introduction of advance technologies have become necessary for all the organizations dealing in the retail sector. For that reason, it is also necessary for the organizations to understand the best possible way to use advance technologies. Thus, proper assessment regarding the kind of impact technology has created in the supply chain management sector is necessary for handling all future challenges. Therefore, the study would allow organizations to enhance the efficiency level of the supply chain management process. Moreover, the study would also provide proper recommendations for countering all the future challenges in an appropriate way. References: Christopher, M., 2016.Logistics supply chain management. Pearson UK. Green Jr, K.W., Zelbst, P.J., Meacham, J. and Bhadauria, V.S., 2012. Green supply chain management practices: impact on performance.Supply Chain Management: An International Journal,17(3), pp.290-305. Monczka, R.M., Handfield, R.B., Giunipero, L.C. and Patterson, J.L., 2015.Purchasing and supply chain management. Cengage Learning. Panneerselvam, R., 2014.Research methodology. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.. Silverman, D. ed., 2016.Qualitative research. Sage. Stadtler, H., 2015. Supply chain management: An overview. InSupply chain management and advanced planning(pp. 3-28). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Taylor, S.J., Bogdan, R. and DeVault, M., 2015.Introduction to qualitative research methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley Sons. Tayur, S., Ganeshan, R. and Magazine, M. eds., 2012.Quantitative models for supply chain management(Vol. 17). Springer Science Business Media.