| Chapter 1: | Objectives, methodology, approach and definition of terms |
In this sense, the study tests the structure of the model and asks whether it can be considered to be “suitable and correct” (entirely or partly). This is particularly pertinent as, in the years since the “breakthrough” of the model’s inception, it has been greatly diffused throughout North America and Asia, although in this respect Europe currently lags slightly behind. This continuously expanding field makes such a study more necessary than ever.
Having said that, the work in no way wishes to lay claim to performing a universally valid examination of the SCOR model. It is not, moreover, an attempt to examine the SCOR model as such, but to strive for a respectively compiled illustration, or model operationalization, in order to make an exploratory contribution to research. It is, therefore, not primarily about the examination, verification, or falsification of theses, but about an exploratory attempt at gaining initial – and consequently provisional – results. A step-by-step accumulation of knowledge stands in the foreground that must, under all circumstances and even after conclusion of the work, be continued through further focused examinations built upon its findings.12
Within these parameters, however, and by use of the answers to the above-mentioned research questions, it is nonetheless possible to identify potential areas for improvement, and also to make recommendations accordingly. Such recommendations are made on the understanding that the accumulated knowledge is relative to the developed illustration of the SCOR model, whereby factors like a possible “mis-match” between theoretical model and empirical reality or the quality of the applied data can play a role.13 In addition to this, it must be borne in mind during transposition of conclusions onto the actual SCOR model that such a practice can only be carried out within certain given limitations, which will be introduced below.14
1.1.2 Methodical approach to the work
The core of this study consists of an examination15 of the SCOR model in respect of the Supply Chains of selected companies. For this purpose empirical results, accumulated via the use of quantitative questionnaires, are used.