Transcending Boundaries

Lisa Ellram - Lisa is currently engaged in several complementary research projects that specifically focus on the circular economy. While she was a Fulbright Professor at Hanken University in Helsinki, Finland (Spring 2023), she led a Ph.D. seminar on Circular Economy. She is currently working with Doctoral candidates and faculty who attended that class on case-based research exploring companies who are using or implementing CE principles. Traditional emphasis on maximizing financial outcomes doesn't recognize many of the sustainability benefits of the circular economy, such as increased product durability, increased product reuse, repairability and recyclability and reduced use of scarce virgin resources. The goal of this research is to understand the paradoxical nature of the circular economy and its many conflicts and provide insights into balancing the conflicts to help organizations apply CE appropriately and improve CE outcomes. 

She is working on another project with colleagues at Hanken University in Helsinki, FI that explores the challenge of packaging circularity. This project comprehensively reviews the literature from both a business and environmental perspective, understanding the focus of each discipline, highlighting its strengths and weaknesses, and the opportunity for synergies among business and environmental researchers that could advance practice.

With co-authors at Miami University, (Monique Murfield and Matt Schweiterman) she is researching CE consumer packing opportunities, specifically exploring reusable consumer packaging. The researchers are talking to consumer products companies and retailers in the US and Europe. The goal of this research is to develop an understanding of the consumer and supply chain adaptations that are needed to make reusable consumer packaging a viable alternative to single-use plastics.

Lisa is also doing exploratory research on regenerative supply chains with a team from the US, Canada, and Finland. The idea of regenerative supply chains are supply chains that leave the world better on some aspect of sustainability.

Nicolò Masorgo, Ph.D., University of Arkansas - is a Supply Chain Management Assistant Professor in the Farmer School of Business at Miami University.

His dissertation entitled: “Sharing Economy Last Mile Delivery: Three Essays Addressing Operational Challenges, Customer Expectations, and Supply Uncertainty” received the 2023 Doctoral Dissertation Award at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) Academic Research Symposium.

The CSCMP is a leading worldwide professional association, with over 9,000 members dedicated to education, research, and the advancement of the supply chain management profession. The CSCMP Doctoral Dissertation Award is conferred to doctoral students who demonstrate significant originality and technical competence in supply chain function. His dissertation, supported by a Fortune-100 company, develops three essays focusing on the growing space of crowdshipping deliveries and empirically investigates major challenges related to delivery drivers' behaviors, delivery performance, and customer outcomes.

His dissertation committee consisted of Dr. David Dobrzykowski and Dr. Brian Fugate (co-chairs – University of Arkansas), Dr. Iana Shaheen and Dr. Rodney Thomas (internal members – University of Arkansas), Dr. Christopher Tang (external member – UCLA), and Mr. Brent Cunninngham (retail supply chain expert).