China-related POM research: Literature review and suggestions for future research

Abstract

This study investigates trends in China-related production and operations management (POM) research over the past 10 years (2006–2015). Descriptive statistics analyses are used to identify trends in topics, data, and contributions. We also identify representative examples from the literature to illustrate topics and contributions. Due to China's economic success, there has been a remarkable growth of China-related POM research in the past 10 years. Supply chain management, performance measurement and productivity, regulatory and environmental issues in operations, and purchasing/sourcing systems are the four most prominent research areas, which is a different pattern from the publications on other emerging economies. The number of articles adopting novel frameworks and approaches has increased, while the number of descriptive articles has decreased. This literature review offers an overview of previous China-related POM articles and provides several areas for future research. It also provides a better understanding of how China-related POM research has evolved and of new research topics that are emerging, which will help researchers to identify key POM issues in China.