Industrial Engineering and Management researchers presented new work at IPSERA 2026 in Helsinki-Espoo
Researchers from the Unit of Industrial Engineering and Management (mostly from OSCG) participated in the 35th Annual IPSERA Conference, held on 19–22 April 2026 in Helsinki-Espoo, Finland. The conference took place mainly at the Aalto University campus in Espoo, under the timely theme “Less is More”. This theme invited the purchasing and supply management community to think about how organisations can become more sustainable, resilient, and impactful in a world shaped by resource scarcity, climate change, and geopolitical uncertainty.
For our unit, IPSERA 2026 was not only a place to present research, but also a space for conversations, collaboration, and reflection on where purchasing and supply management research is heading. A clear message from the presented papers was that the field is moving strongly toward questions of artificial intelligence, resilience, public procurement, supplier relationships, and antifragility.
One of the papers presented by Ella Koivisto, Elviira Saarelma, and Aki Jääskeläinen focused on how artificial intelligence can support more proactive supplier performance management. Their competitive paper, “Natural Language Processing for Proactive Supplier Performance Management,” examined how qualitative information can be used more systematically in supplier performance measurement. Instead of relying only on traditional numbers and indicators, the study shows how Natural Language Processing can help organisations make sense of interviews, reports, and other textual information. Based on 38 interviews, the paper highlights how AI can support purchasing professionals in identifying early signals, understanding supplier-related issues better, and moving from reactive monitoring toward more proactive supplier management.
Artificial intelligence was also at the centre of the paper presented by Matin Taheriruh, Ella Koivisto, Alireza Safarpour, Aki Jääskeläinen, and Noora Nenonen. Their working paper, “AI-Enabled Dynamic Capabilities for Supply Chain Resilience: From Disruption Preparedness to Antifragility,” explored how AI can help organisations prepare for and respond to supply chain disruptions. The paper uses the idea of dynamic capabilities to explain how organisations can sense risks, seize response opportunities, and transform their practices when facing uncertainty. The study suggests that AI, especially Natural Language Processing, can support organisations not only in recovering from disruptions, but also in learning from them and becoming stronger over time.
Another AI-related contribution came from Abul Khair Jyote, Aki Jääskeläinen, Ella Koivisto, and Vincent Delke, who presented the working paper “AI Adoption Dynamics in Purchasing and Supply Management: Accelerators and Decelerators.” The paper looks at why AI adoption in purchasing and supply management moves forward in some situations and slows down in others. Based on 55 expert interviews, the study shows that AI adoption is not a simple yes-or-no decision. Rather, it is a gradual process shaped by different forces. Fragmented systems, data problems, and integration challenges often slow adoption down, while regulations, sustainability pressures, and organisational interest in learning can push it forward. Jyote described his first IPSERA presentation as a special experience, especially because the session created space for engaged discussion, thoughtful questions, and new ideas for developing the research further.
The topic of resilience was extended further in the working paper “Surviving in a ‘Not-as-Usual’ Future: An Evolutionary Perspective on Capabilities for Supply Network Antifragility,” by Carolina Belotti Pedroso and Matin Taheriruh. This paper asks an important question: what if returning to “business as usual” is no longer enough? In purchasing and supply management, resilience often means recovering after disruption. However, this paper argues that organisations may need to go beyond resilience and develop capabilities for antifragility. In simple terms, this means learning how supply networks can grow, adapt, and become stronger when facing turbulence. The paper uses ideas from evolutionary theory to explain how supply networks can evolve in a “not-as-usual” future.
The unit was also involved in research on public procurement and public buyer–supplier relationships. Matin Taheriruh, Hannu Torvinen, Zsuzsanna Szalkai, and Carolina Belotti Pedroso presented the competitive paper “Interaction Within Constraints: A Systematic Literature Review of Public Buyer–Supplier Relationships.” The paper reviews 81 peer-reviewed articles and examines how public buyers and suppliers interact within procurement systems shaped by regulation, accountability, and formal procedures. The study shows that public procurement relationships are often constrained, but not passive. Even within strict rules, relational practices such as cooperation, adaptation, social interaction, and conflict management still emerge. This paper contributes to a better understanding of what makes public buyer–supplier relationships different from private-sector relationships.
Reflecting on the conference, Matin Taheriruh described IPSERA as a community that has accompanied his academic journey from the beginning of his doctoral studies to his current postdoctoral phase. For him, IPSERA 2026 was especially meaningful because it was held close to home in Finland and because he was involved in three presentations. His reflections also show how conferences are more than presentation venues: they are places where researchers continue conversations, start new collaborations, plan research visits, and develop future ideas.
Elviira Saarelma also highlighted how interesting it was to see the development of AI topics in purchasing and supply management compared with the previous year. This was visible across several papers presented by our unit’s researchers. AI was discussed not as an abstract technology, but as a practical and organisational issue: how it can support supplier performance, supply chain resilience, adoption processes, and managerial decision-making.
Overall, the participation of Industrial Engineering and Management researchers at IPSERA 2026 showed the unit’s active contribution to current debates in purchasing and supply management. The presented papers addressed some of the field’s most pressing questions: how to manage suppliers more proactively, how to use AI responsibly and effectively, how to prepare for disruptions, how to move toward antifragility, and how public procurement relationships work under institutional constraints.
