PhD thesis: The supply chain of enterprise software

Douwe Postmus researched the supply chains of enterprise software. The main purpose his thesis is to provide concepts and tools for describing and analyzing the more organizational and managerial facets, such as how software companies structure their supply chains and how they manage the relationships with their suppliers and customers.

Supply chains of physical goods have been studied elaborately since the mid 1980s, which has resulted in a comprehensive framework for describing and analyzing these phenomena. The supply chain of enterprise software, however, has not been studied in the same rigorous way. Although the term supply chain is occasionally mentioned in the computer science literature, most authors focus on technical aspects, such as interoperability between software components.

First, some of the existing concepts from the field of operations management are adapted to the specific characteristics of the software industry to arrive at a theoretical framework for the analysis and design of the supply chain of enterprise software. Subsequently, the framework is applied to explore how the industry-specific properties enable and/or constrain the supply chain management initiatives of software companies, and to develop quantitative models for assisting software companies in making appropriate design decisions.

Curriculum Vitae

Douwe Postmus (Idaarderadeel, 1982) studied BSc Econometrics and Operational Research in Groningen and conducted his PhD research at SOM research school of the Faculty of Economics and Business. He will be awarded his PhD on 24 September 2009 (1:15pm). His thesis supervisors are prof. dr. J.C. Wortmann en prof. dr. J. Wijngaard and the thesis title is: The supply chain of enterprise software. Strategy, structure, and coordination . Postmus currently works as a postdoc at the Medical Sciences Faculty of the University of Groningen.