orcid.org/0000-0002-2125-1920

Current research projects

Research focus:

I am interested in coordination: how it works and how it can be improved. I look at this especially in complex project settings such as international supply chain management, project management and innovation management.

Current projects:

Digitalisation of DHL Supply Chain’s Warehouse Operations: A Case Study
 Irma Lindt, Roman Bartnik, Tim Tetzlaff, Vinay Pala, Kristin Szekat and Sophie Schulte-Langforth, **Under review**
 In 2018, DHL Supply Chain started its digitalisation program to roll out technologies such as collaborative robots and wearable devices to its approximately 2000 warehouse sites world-wide. In this case study, we will report what made DHL Supply Chain start this program, which parts of the operations were addressed in the digitalisation efforts, the lessons learned during this journey, how success was measured, and what was achieved five years later by mid of 2023. The data used in the case study is based on documents and statements from the program team. In addition, interviews were conducted with different DHL Supply Chain employees to reflect on the program’s impact on customers, investors, and the workforce.

Communicating with Japanese partners in multinational corporations: A systematic literature review of barriers and enablers
 Roman Bartnik, Masoud Mirzaei, **Under review**
 What interventions should we choose to improve communication with Japanese partners in multinational corporations? To find answers to this, we review 52 papers on communication and language in Japanese multinational corporations in the period of 2000 to 2023. To structure the comparison, we use the CIMO framework for systematic reviews (Denyer et al., 2008). This distinguishes evidence on context factors (C), management interventions (I) the theoretical mechanisms (M) which make interventions work or fail, and relevant outcomes of interventions (O). We combine these factors into three sets of design propositions to highlight patterns that the empirical studies show and point to three ‘blind spots’ that studies largely fail to cover, including ways to reduce and not improve communication, the neglect of functional language and the lack of integrative frameworks.

What do project buyers do? How firms and employees define it.
 Roman Bartnik, Masoud Mirzaei, Hg.: Working paper, preparing submission by 04/2024
 We increasingly work in projects. How do purchasing organizations reflect this trend in their job descriptions? How do firms characterize the tasks of project buyers? How do these specific tasks align with generic task frameworks of purchasing and supply management (PSM) and project management (PM)? And finally: How do these tasks vary across industries and business types (i.e. different supplier-buyer relationships)? We analyze these questions empirically in our paper by looking at job advertisements and LinkeIn profiles. We analyze which PM tasks are most important in the job descriptions and propose an integrative framework that combines PSM and PM tasks.

Project purchasing: A systematic literature review of what we know about purchasing in project settings
 Roman Bartnik, Masoud Mirzaei, Working paper, preparing submission by 05/2024
 Buyers often work in projects: Whether for new car models, new production lines, pharmaceuticals, IT systems, or building construction. Yet, the PSM and PM communities do not seem to talk much to each other: Projects in purchasing and supply management (PSM) are frequently not managed in accordance with professional project management (PM) standards, and neither the professional nor academic communities appear to interact much to share lessons learned on what works and what does not in purchasing projects. This systematic literature review aims to bridge these functional islands by systematically analyzing scientific findings on PSM activities in project settings. We find three dominant clusters of PSM, PM, and innovation management literature studies. We highlight several typical problems for PSM projects. Following the CIMO framework for systematic reviews (Denyer et al., 2008), we look at the evidence on context factors (C), management interventions (I) the theoretical mechanisms (M) that make interventions work or fail, and relevant outcomes of interventions (O). To integrate the findings and shine a light on some blind spots in the literature, we propose a theoretical framework that pragmatically links the lenses of different adjacent disciplines to deal with typical problems of PSM projects, notably using concepts from operations management (waste, variability), cognitive sciences (cognitive overload, simple rules), megaproject management (planning fallacies and strategic misrepresentation) and new additions to institutional economics (limited reliability).

Recent publications and working papers:

Editorship: 

Older publications

 Book and journal publications

 Working papers and recent conference contributions

 External research projects

  Others

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