PhD journey on procuring innovations - moving into 2016

In 2015 I succeeded in getting my research design and my ethical application approved. I combined this with lecturing a procurement paper and sustainability paper here at the Auckland University of Technology and continuing with teaching FMANZ master classes and a paper in Built Asset & Facilities Management. Lecturing again was great fun. I appreciated the student interactions and was lucky to read some really good reports. But then of course, when one does a PhD the learning & reading never seems to stop.

My PhD topic on how construction SMEs (small and medium enterprises) procure their green-tech innovation keeps fascinating me.  As does our Dutch research on how SMEs conduct their procurement(purchasing) activities. This research will enter its 3^rd year, now focusing on developing procurement tools. Meanwhile Melissa de Rijk from Hanze University has almost successfully finished her master research on how Dutch construction firms (main contractors) procure innovations.

The synergy between these two streams of research and my PhD may seem obvious. However this synergy is limited by the variety of SMEs and the exact research questions. There is much we have yet to learn about SME procurement, let alone how SMEs procure innovations, let alone how (SME) construction firms procure green-tech innovations. I see green-tech innovations quite broadly, for example product innovations used in New Zealand Prefab construction, or innovations from companies who are member of the NZ Green Building Council.

Writing conference papers related to my research has been prolific during 2015. In October I presented my research design at the conference Understanding Small Enterprises (USE 2015) which was hosted by my Dutch Hanze University of Applied Sciences. In February 2016 I will present a paper at the conference Australian Centre for Entrepreneurship Research Exchange (ACERE 2016) in Brisbane on how to design procurement management tools for SMEs. The ACERE again promises to be a relevant and an interesting conference.  (Both papers will also be published via the AUT researchgateway.ac.nz in FEB 2016).

For my PhD I am currently conducting interviews with experts & professionals here in Auckland. These interviews so far reveal some interesting procurement practices one would not always expect in relatively small companies. But then these companies are perhaps front-runners in how they manager their suppliers for successful innovations. Such topics will be discussed with more experts and professionals during a round-table discussion at the AUT. This discussion will be done in a specific setting, also called world(research) café. The planning is to organize this in the 4^th week of February 2016.  

But for now: A Merry X-mas and a Happy New Year. Cheers, Anne Staal

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).

Kia Ora!

The X-mas (summer) break was good. We visited almost all the beaches at the Hauraki Gulf and had some nice BBQs (in NZ: barbies) with newfound friends and colleagues. Our two kids had a three-day sailing course in small sailing boats called Optimists (in NZ: opties). Our English is improving and every day we hear Kiwi slang with a pronunciation far removed from the Queen’s English we learnt at school.

My research proposal for the PhD workshop at IPSERA in South Africa got accepted. (Hurray!) At the same time I need to further define the exact research subject and the related research design. Luckily I have a bunch of bright people around me (in the Netherlands and here in New Zealand) to help me with that. And Google Scholar can provide me with loads and loads of literature on all aspects of construction management, purchasing, disruptive innovations and sustainability. Sometimes I feel like a kid lost in a candy store. My subject circles around:

The role of purchasing in small construction firms when they want to introduce discontinuous waste-reducing (green) innovations. This focuses on the New Zealand situation but I will use international material for a better assessment.

Some say that the building industry is conservative and resists innovations. That however depends how you look at it (Sexton, 2004, 2006). In most countries the building industry is project-based and works in a complex setting. On a daily basis one sees incremental and day-to-day improvements on construction building sites. My current research proposal states that the construction industry could need discontinuous (or disruptive, or radical) innovations for drastic improvements. (For innovation info, please see the book of Christensen, 1997). I will focus on innovations with a technical nature and that can e.g. be protected by patents. These innovations relatively uncommon but when successful will make a big impact.

These discontinuous innovations I want to investigate complement the more incremental improvements. Definitions differ somewhat, but I see these as new or existent technologies not earlier applied in construction and new to the market or customers. Often the success lies not in the technologies per-se. Rather the success lies in new business models: how companies use these innovations in the market. I hope my research helps to give a better understanding on successfully introducing (absorbing / adopting) green technology. After all we all want good quality houses and buildings which are reasonably priced and can be built with little impact on our environment. Currently however building and living in houses has a huge negative impact on the environment as we use heaps of water and energy and material, and produce too much waste.

Disruptive innovations often come from small firms (Baumol, 2004; Manley 2008; Hardie 2011; Lambert 2010) from outside the industry or at the beginning of supply chains. These innovations must be purchased and adopted into such chains. For instance: innovative building materials that would work in a country without any earth quakes will not be immediately suitable in New Zealand. Just the other week there was a major (6.2) earth quake in Wellington but most buildings have only minor damage. The biggest thing that came down was the Hobbit eagle at display on Wellington airport.

When a small construction firm buys a new technology or product it has to be clever and purposeful and convince several stakeholders before this technology is successfully adopted by his customers, partners and building codes. I think that purchasing has a big role in this. At least that is the case in bigger companies (see e.g. research of Picaud and Johson). Smaller companies purchase their products and services differently (see e.g. research of Ramsey, Morrissey, or Paik). We know from e.g. Manley (2006) that manufacturers do sell technical innovations into construction supply chains. We know from Sexton that small construction firms focus on incremental improvements. Currently I do not know adequately how these small construction firms would successfully purchase and implement disruptive technologies. Let alone green technology. In the next few weeks I hope to find out more about this. Stay tuned on this blog!

BTW: Want to live in a grand mansion on the Dutch countryside? Just follow this link.

BTW: for some fresh family pictures, please visit our Staaltjesdownunder blog.

BTW: Please pose your questions and write down your remarks on this blog!

Starting my PhD - departing harbour, fine weather with sunny spells

TO ALL:
with either an interest in New Zealand; purchasing/procurement; disruptive innovations; or managing a PhD; to all good friends, good colleagues, professionals/researchers.

Where to begin this blog?

My family and I are making a journey. We started from a cosy village in Northern part of The Netherlands, flew around the globe and settled in Auckland New Zealand. We love the climate and the relaxed way of living. What would we want more:  a nice & clean (though small) house, a bay view with only 200 mtrs from the Takapuna beach & cliffs & islands, and the stunning  Hauraki Gulf.  

Kiwis are a friendly folk, and Auckland is full of friendly folk from all over the world.  Not a bad place to live and to study.  We hope to make many trips with our old Honda 4WD (nicknamed Honnepon, which means sweetheart in Dutch) and long strolls along the beach.

Parallel to this physical journey I started my journey on my PhD.

In fact this journey had started much earlier, somewhere in 2009. At that time I was lecturing undergraduates at Stenden University on what we had coined “Green Logistics”. When our students calculated the milage of an average food basket, we realised that big improvements on sustainability would take a long time. A step-by-step approach seemed most feasible (and more convenient).

Later-on at the Institute of Facility Management of Hanze University I became more involved in applied purchasing and supply research supervised by Professor Gert Walhof. My focal area was (and still is) on:  How small firms (SMEs) can improve their purchasing capabilities.

We conducted some interesting case-studies, read some articles and soon realised that this purchasing research area was both relevant to business and new to academics. (See publications of Paik, Ellegaard, Ramsey, Pressey, Morressey).

In 2012 I attended the IFPSM PhD Summer School in Salzburg. (As a matter of fact: now listening to Mozart while writing this blog). This was a mind-breaking experience with a good mixture of experienced professors and ambitious PhD students. I had prepared a powerpoint presentation on “How do small firms (SMEs) purchase innovations”.

However my most important two slides where the famous quote from Alice in Wonderland:  If you do not know where you are going – any road will take you there. And the poem of Robert Frost on Two roads diverged in a wood … And I did not know which one to take….

I came back in Holland exhausted, but then knew I wanted to start a PhD.

I received a good lot of support from many people within the Hanze University. In late November 2012 my wife Aletta and I flew to Australia & New Zealand where I discussed PhD possibilities at a number of great universities.  Nice weather, interesting people, good discussions.

My subject was by then narrowed down to: “How do SMEs purchase patented innovations”.  My research proposal was later reviewed at the WION, the annual Dutch workshop on academic purchasing research. (People were more enthousiastic than I was at the moment, my proposal arriving at its 10th version). The WION is a wonderful environment to discuss research with colleagues.

In May 2013 Professor John Tookey of the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) invited me to submit a (yet amended) research proposal more focused on sustainable innovations in the New Zealand construction industry, which got accepted. My research will [somehow] relate to current SME purchasing research conducted at Hanze University and Windesheim University as sponsored by the Dutch Purchasing Association NEVI.

Meanwhile (still somewhat to my own surprise) the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle came together as my Hanze dean mr. Ron van der Weerd arranged funding by Hanze University, and as John Tookey arranged a scholarship. Together with the family savings this allowed the four of us to walkabout to New Zealand. (Kiwis: sorry for this nice Australian phrase).

We have said good bye to all our good friends, family, colleagues. Departed our save Dutch harbour and landed up North Shore. The academic weather is fine; with some good sailing winds for e.g. editing our South Africa IPSERA paper and reading interesting stuff. Lots and Lots of PhD-things to do in the coming 36 months.  My (current) research question:

“What is the role of procurement on disruptive waste-reducing innovations in

small New Zealand construction firms?”

With this research I hope to give a better understanding of the adoption of radical innovations in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs). The context is the currently booming New Zealand construction industry.  After my literature research I intend to conduct a survey amongst SME owners/users of (non)-patented radical waste-reducing innovations.  Being mode II innovations I will also scan other stakeholders and hope to conduct (action-research) case studies. Meanwhile I will draw parallells to NZ and e.g. Dutch practices. I plan to conclude my PhD in the end of 2016.

 

My next 400-word blogs could cover some thoughts & ideas on:

Dec: Rigor and relevance in academic research.

Jan: Purchasing in Small firms / SMEs.
Feb: Purchasing in Holland; versus procurement in New Zealand.
Mch: Procurement in Construction Industry.
Apr: Innovation with(out) procurement.
May: On IPSERA in South Africa.
Jun:  Purchasing / Procurement Education.
etc.

In parallel we run a Dutch language family blog called Staaltjesdownunder.
Hope you enjoy reading my blog. Look forward to your comments!

Best regards
Anne Staal