After the IPSERA Conference - back in New Zillan

After the IPSERA conference my family and I enjoyed a nice holiday at the KariKari peninsula.  Our Honnipon, our old 4WD Honda had some long rides over white and very empty beaches which were covered with sea shells and other things two boys will enjoy. We probably enlarged or sea shell collection by at least 2 kilos. (What to do with them…). The boys also caught two snappers which we fried battered. For me it went down well with a local beer; the boys had their Australian Bunderberg. 

 We visited the Northern-most point of New Zealand, Cape Reinga. Although it rained and was foggy we did not feel the mysterious Maori souls going up to heaven. But then the boys loved sand surfing from the high dune tops. A good family holiday.

Getting back into the normal rhythm of AUT campus life proved somewhat more difficult. The IPSERA was a past highlight and then one has to focus on new goals. In part these were hidden in the literature: (1) on quality: how to ensure academic rigour and managerial relevance, and (2) on the content: how to further delineate the topic and improve the conceptual model. This took re-reading and additional lit review and (I hope) will strengthen my research proposal.

In parallel with much re-reading our joint Dutch research on purchasing within SMEs went into the empirical phase with cross-case studies conducted by a number of graduating bachelor students. At the same time we designed a Dephi study. These activities are all closely related to my own PhD research and help me on research content and on research methodology.

What also greatly helps is the fact that our IPSERA competitive paper has been shortlisted as an article for the Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management.
Asterix & Obelix would have said Hurray! 
Being shortlisted gives us some proof on the relevance and quality of our paper. In parallel Gert Walhof and I have been working on a paper discussing four purchasing case studies in Dutch SMEs in 2013. This all means writing, reflecting and re-writing.

Quite another strand of work has been preparing four sets of Master Classes for the Facilities Management association in New Zealand, the FMANZ. This builts on work of Hanze FM-graduate Herma Schutte. Developing these classes was done with some highly-motivated FMANZ & AUT people and some colleagues from my Hanze university. The Master Classes will run from September – December 2014. Moreover, we will try to get some Hanze graduates to NZ for an FM traineeships within NZ companies.

My research proposal now focusses on entrepreneurial construction firms and how they I purchase (procure / acquire) non-incremental 'green' innovations. I plan to defend my proposal in September, after having obtained some valuable feedback from people in Holland and in New Zealand. My empirical phase will then start with interviewing a number of experts and innovative entrepreneurs in the NZ construction industry. This promises to be a dynamic and interactive phase of my research.

Some work – Master classes and the IPSERA Purchasing Conference in South Africa

Preparing the post-grad supply management master-classes at the University of Pretoria was some hard work. Amazing that while lecturing this course for the 3rd time it still needed modifications on course contents and process. In the previous two years my colleague Marius van der Woude and I flew together from Amsterdam. This year my procurement professor Gert Walhof flew in from the Netherlands, and I flew all the way from Auckland. A horrible 24 hours flight. At least I can tell that saw the huge ice-masses of the Antarctic.

For me it was the third time to visit South Africa, a country with all the contrasts of a rainbow. On the streets one sees poverty and richness in one wink of the eye: beggars and BMWs. During the master-class we had a good discussion on ethics and fraudulent behavior. (See also PWC reports).  In fact at the IPSERA one week later, some presentations covered the same topic.  The highlight of the course was a tri-party negotiation game on trying to divide money between three football associations.

Gert and I were very happy with the hospitality of Mr. Wesley Niemann and his colleagues. We tasted some excellent wines over two excellent diners.

Rewarding work over the last months for meeting IPSERA deadlines for both my PhD proposal for a doctoral workshop and for our competitive paper. At the IPSERA conference it was nice & inspiring also to meet my research colleagues of Windesheim University: Geoffrey Hagelaar and Richard Holman. And of course lots of other nice people.
One of my areas of interest: innovation and procurement  is on the rise compared to a few years ago. The conference had some interesting presentations. Last year Spina et al. (2013) did a literature review and found that innovation is still in the second position, and costs are still leading. Let’s hope that in future our profession will not only the famous cost-cutter but can also bring new stuff to the table via e.g. supplier innovation. And increase top and bottom line relevance.

Modestly I must admit that my IPSERA presentations went smoothly but at the same time feedback from IPSERA attendants yielded in extra months of work. The informal networking over a glass of wine or a cup of coffee proved almost as valuable as the ‘formal’ feedback during the two presentations. Moreover, I feel that participating in other people’s presentations is very useful for an early-career researcher like me. The setting in the African wilderness was ‘awesome’ and for me IPSERA was a great success.

Wet and cold work. Our two boys Edsard and Sibren also experienced some hard work when they went surfing at the west coast near Auckland. (Tip top beaches in Bethels, Muriwai, and Piha). It was late in the season and the see was already quite cold. But the higher the surf, the more our boys enjoy their encounter with nature. It's good then that Aletta and I can enjoy the stunning & empty views with warm cups of coffee and sandwiches (with sand). Amazing that one can see this nature only a 30 minutes drive away from Auckland. New Zealand (to be pronounced ‘New Zillan’) is an amazing country. (Please click on the specific NZ dialect and the use of the hyperbolic word awesome).