The problem statement within the supply chain management is the short description of the issues that needs to be addressed to improve the level of efficiency. In order to conduct essential qualitative research on supply chain management, it is essential to identify the exact issues within the logistics operations.
In order to deal with the challenges of modern business, it is essential to mobilize the suppliers and producer better quality of customer service. Sufficient amount of information are also necessary for smooth function of the operations. This is highly necessary in order to gain significant competitive advantage. Nevertheless, due to lack of information flow within the operation system, the supply chain is not able to meet up the fast growing requirements. The overall cost of the customer service goes up due to poor level of communication within the supply and distribution channels.
From the analysis of Madenas et al., (2014), it is clear that the manufacturing phase, product development and product lifecycle are largely separated. The service phase also requires different level of information from the supply chain. Nevertheless, due to lack of information flow within the system of supply chain management, the overall operation is not able to flow smoothly. Different and separate level of information is required in each phase of the product lifecycle, which is mainly due to the rising complexities of modern business. Hence, lack of information flow can be a major problem within the operation department.
Within the definition of supply chain management the component of information flow plays a significant role within the entire system. According to Stadtler (2015), this information serves as the important link between all types of stage within the supply chain. This can help them to achieve better level of coordination within the delivery chain, thereby maximizing the level of profitability. It is also necessary to have accurate level of information that can help to increase the level of reliability. There is high chance of erratic shifts that are usually associated with that of the lack of information.
Proper flow of information can also help to deal with the issues of variability that occurs due to diverse range of orders from the distributors. There is also variability within the demand level of the customer. Without the proper and accurate flow of information, it is not possible to deal with the major challenges that are associated with the supply chain and thereby not able to provide the proper flow of information.
Purpose Statement – Example 1
With the increase in the rate of customer demand, this has raised the level of demand in the functioning of the supply chain. Hence, it is necessary to have advanced level of information that has the capability to increase the needs of the growing demand. The lack of technological infrastructure in the current days is believed to be one of the major issues that are preventing the smooth function of the supply chain management (Pagell & Shevchenko, 2014).
In the due course, it is essential for the future research work to focus on the issues related to that of lack of information within the operational system of supply chain. It is therefore essential to deal with the challenges. In the given regards, it is also essential to deal with the challenges by implementing the advanced level of technology. The future research will also focus on the practical application of the use of technology that includes Radio Frequency Information Distribution (RFID) (Madenas et al., 2014).
The research question is set up in order to address an issue that is specific to a subject. The primary step of the research is to set particular research questions. This will ensure that the purpose of the research is fulfilled. Specifying the research problems will help to deal with the issues related to the subject of the research. In both quantitative and qualitative research, setting up of particular research question is also quite necessary as it can help the investigators to understand the research issues. The specific objectives of the research are also set according to the purpose of the research (Dine et al., 2015).
In order to set up a specific research problem statement, it is essential to highlight upon the background of the research topic. This will help the investigators to understand the reason for the research problem. One of the essential characteristics of the good research problem is that it can help to provide the pathway for dealing with the research problem (Hund et al., 2015). It is also important to highlight upon the current solution and the reason for the same to ineffective under the current situation. The major variables within the research domain also have to be discussed within the problem statement. This is necessary owing to the fact that the future research will help to establish following link within the existing variables. The research problem will ultimately aim to generalize the research issues that are causing lack of understanding to the general public.
In case of the issue within the information flow of supply chain management, the research problem statement can help to highlight upon the need of data that can enhance the operation management. It will also help the researchers to focus upon the improvement of technology that is needed to understand the different levels of information needed in the operations of supply chain. The existing knowledge gap related to information technology in supply chain can help to understand the drawbacks of the past relevant research work.
Reference
Dine, C. J., McGaghie, W. C., Bordage, G., & Shea, J. A. (2015). Problem statement, conceptual framework, and research question. Review Criteria for Research Manuscripts, 19.
Hund, M., Behrisch, M., Färber, I., Sedlmair, M., Schreck, T., Seidl, T., & Keim, D. (2015, October). Subspace nearest neighbor search-problem statement, approaches, and discussion. In International Conference on Similarity Search and Applications (pp. 307-313). Springer, Cham.
Madenas, N., Tiwari, A., Turner, C. J., & Woodward, J. (2014). Information flow in supply chain management: A review across the product lifecycle. CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology, 7(4), 335-346.
Pagell, M., & Shevchenko, A. (2014). Why research in sustainable supply chain management should have no future. Journal of supply chain management, 50(1), 44-55.
Stadtler, H. (2015). Supply chain management: An overview. In Supply chain management and advanced planning (pp. 3-28). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.