Evaluation of research methodologies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Evaluation of research methodologies - Essay Example The supply chain is a vital topic for most of the practitioners and researchers. However, the main concerns constraining the full and complete use of the concept of supply chain management research has been the construct taking its own meaning that depends on the subjectivity of an individual and the different points if views. Therefore, there is a need for most of the researchers to operationalize and measure what actually supply chain integration means (Clarke 2005). Over the past years, one of the major themes in the supply chain literature has always been the integration as a key factor in achieving improvements. The general idea, in this case, is that the integrative practices and the high level of integration have a great impact positively on the performance of corporate and supply chain. Recent empirical work shows evidence that is convincing for the relationship between performance and integration. Although some of these studies might come under criticism for using a limited description of integration, more problems are more fundamental in both the empirical and the theoretical integration work. In future researches, there is the need for coming up with sound constructs and methodologies that are adequate to help us understand the existing relationship between the performance of supply chain and the integrative practices2. When choosing the best method for research strategy, there are several tradeoffs that are in control, realism, and the generalizability. Quantitative methods of research optimize control and generalizability that s external validity, whereas the qualitative method of research maximizes on realism, which is the internal validity. Scholars of logistics do agree that supply chain management and logistics are steeped in the paradigm of positivism, and the past research is primarily normative and quantitative (Mangan , Lalwani , and Gardner 2004).