Job Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - PhD candidate, vacancy “Assessing the gain of sharing demand forecasts in FMCG supply chains”

PhD candidate in project “Assessing the gain of sharing demand forecasts in FMCG supply chains”

Forecasting demand provides important information for inventory control, ordering, and production and distribution planning throughout the supply chain. Retailers use this information as input for sales, inventory and order decisions, suppliers for production and procurement decisions, and distributors for capacity allocation decisions. However, errors in demand forecasts can have serious consequences for the optimality of upstream decision making and for the supply costs as a whole. Sharing demand forecasts has been advanced as a way to reduce these costs, but only to the extent this information validly reflects the behavior of consumers and supply chain members. The aim of this research project to empirically assess the value of sharing market demand information for decision making by manufacturers, suppliers and distributors in a fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) supply chain. The research project includes the development and evaluation of different forecasting methods, with a specific interest in autoregressive demand patterns and in dependencies among product categories sharing common resources.

The research project is part of the 4C4More project, which is part of the Dutch Institute of Advanced Logistics in Breda (Dinalog, http://www.dinalog.nl/). The 4C4More-project aims to promote economies of scale and scope through inter- and intra-supply-chain collaboration. The project as a whole involves nine firms that are active in the fast moving consumer goods industry (e.g. Unilever, Kuehne Nagel, but also logistics, IT and financial companies) and four universities. Research collaboration between universities and companies is one of the core ideas of 4C4More, and will also be a typical aspect of the currently proposed research project.  Moreover, the composition of the supervisory team reflects the cooperation between universities, i.e. TU/E and RSM.

In the four-year ERIM PhD program, all PhD candidates follow a state-of-the-art PhD course program which fits their academic background and research interest. During the project, senior ERIM Research Fellows and Members coach the PhD candidate.

Required education/skills: A Master's degree with excellent results in one of the following areas: Econometrics, Business Administration, Information Management, Operations Research/Management, Economics. Affiliation with Econometric Modeling, Logistics, and Statistics is required. Candidates should also show explicit interest in and motivation for scientific research. Applicants should have excellent study record and are required to enclose a GMAT (or GRE) test score.

Salary per month: Between €2042 and €2612

Employment basis: Full-time
Duration of the contract: 48 months
Maximum hours per week: 38

Additional conditions of employment:
Salary in accordance with the collective agreement (CAO) of Dutch universities: €2042 (year 1), €2379 (year 2), €2492 (year 3), €2612 (year 4).  All amounts mentioned are fixed and gross amounts per month.

Working at Erasmus University:

Erasmus University Rotterdam offers a professional environment in which your growth and development are encouraged by means of an active career and mobility policy. We further offer a flexible pension scheme, a contribution to medical insurance, advantageous group insurance and a home PC scheme. Employees are welcome to use our facilities, such as the sports centre and the library.

Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM)

ERIM is the research institute in the domain of Management at the Erasmus University, founded by RSM Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics and Business Economics. The level and international character of their research and teaching programmes has put both schools at the academic forefront. They offer a diversified portfolio of accredited teaching and research programmes, ranging from pre-experience M.Sc. to postgraduate Master and executive development, and from fundamental research to applied research and business support, which are renowned throughout the world. RSM Erasmus University is one of the few schools that hold a triple accreditation from the Association of MBA's, EQUIS and the AASCB and is positioned among the top five of European Business Schools. The scientific staffs of both schools play a major role in the interaction of the schools with the international business community.

The application form and more detailed information about the project and the required application documents can be found on the website: http://www.erim.eur.nl/doctoral. The application deadline for the project is March 10, 2011.

Details about the project content can be obtained from dr. Jan van Dalen, Associate Professor of Statistics, Erasmus University Rotterdam (phone: + 31 (0)10 4082370; email: jdalen@rsm.nl) , prof.dr. Ton de Kok (TU/E), professor of quantitative analysis of logistics control problems. Technical University Eindhoven, email: a.g.d.kok@tue.nl, or prof.dr. Leo Kroon, professor of Quantitative Logistics, Rotterdam School of Management / Erasmus University Rotterdam, email: lkroon@rsm.nl.

Further information about the application process can be obtained from:

Ms. Miho Iizuka, Doctoral Programme Assistant
Telephone number: + 31 (0)10 4082259
E-mail address: phd@erim.eur.nl

http://www.erim.eur.nl/doctoral