NOFOMA is the network of Nordic researchers within the field of Logistics and Supply Chain Management and each year they host a conference on the latest research in logistics and supply chain management. NOFOMA 2011 will be hosted in Harstad, Norway, June 9-10, 2011. It may be a bit early, but the deadline for paper submission is only some two months away. While supply chain risk issues are not mentioned as a particular topic in the call for papers, I am sure that logistics risks and related subjects will be covered nonetheless. I have many times considered submitting a paper, and maybe this time, since the conference is on home turf, I should really do it. So, what are the hot trends for logistics and supply chain management research in 2011?
Call for papers
NOFOMA is the place to pick up the most recent trends in logistics and supply chain research, and my posts on the trends from the NOFOMA 2009 conference has remained one of the most visited posts on this blog ever since. A particular theme of the NOFOMA 2011 conference is ‘logistics and supply chain management in a high north perspective’, including maritime logistics. In the years to come, with the possible opening of the Northern Sea Route, it is only fair to assume that there will be increased activity levels in supply chains involving firms in the High North. Needless to say, the Northern Sea Route has its own set of challenges, and risks…
Topics for NOFOMA 2011 include the following:
- Maritime logistics in the High North
- Operations management and manufacturing logistics
- Logistics modeling and simulation
- Transport and distribution
- Purchasing and sourcing of services
- Logistics services and third party logistics
- Value chain organization and design
- Reversed logistics/closed-loop logistics
- SCM/humanitarian logistics
- Research methodology
- IT Strategy
- Costing and performance measurement
- Innovation
- Sustainability/CRS
- Demand management/marketing
Please not that selected papers from the NOFOMA 2011 conference will be published in a special issue of the International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, thus testifying to the solidity and academic excellence of the conference.
Why Harstad?
I have to admit that I am somewhat baffled as to the choice of location for the NOFOMA 2011 conference. Not geographically, but institutionally. The host is Harstad University College (or HiH as it is abbreviated in Norwegian), and I have hitherto never considered them as a college that offered anything related to logistics and supply chain management. That said, I just discovered that HiH does offer a Master degree course in Logistics and Cross-Cultural Business. The college next door to me, Molde University College, which calls itself a Specialized University in Logistics, is the only academic institution in Norway offering BSc, MSc and PhD programs in logistics and supply chain management, and thus regarded as the leading academic institution in the field of logistics in Norway. However, in a globalized world, logistics and supply chain management are becoming more and more important, and it is only natural for colleges offering business degrees (as HiH does) to include logistics in their course offereings.
Link
- nofoma.net: NOFOMA 2011
Download
- nofoma.net: Call for Papers – NOFOMA 2011