This is the second part of our special issue comprising research from the ScientificGroup of Logistics, Association of University Professors in Management. Thefundamental goals of the Scientific Group of Logistics are the promotion of logistics inacademic research and education as well as the promotion of prospective candidatesfor scientific positions. In respect to teaching, the following activities are addressed:. development of proposals for academic logistic education as well as discussion ofthe elementary understanding of logistics;. discussion of specific syllabi that can be used in different academic studyprograms; and. Discussion and development of specific teaching models for vocational andadvanced education in logistics.Research activities focus not only on these objectives but also on the organization ofscientific conferences where recent research results and projects are presented anddiscussed. These meetings are also used for research cooperation.The following activities support these activities.. organization of regular Scientific Group Meetings, that are held twice a year(summer and winter educators' conference);. organization of the Logistics-Management-Conference (LM), every second year,where national and international logisticians from other scientific disciplines and business practice are invited. Former conferences had been held in Bremen (LM99), Aachen (LM 01), Braunschweig (LM 03) and Dresden (LM 05); and. extensive debate on research goals and research programs that go beyond theindividual member's research areas, which intensifies the active researchexchange between the members of the group.The promotion of prospective candidates for scientific positions is accomplished in apragmatic manner by integrating young researchers into the Scientific Group as youngresearchers are welcomed to contribute to the conferences. The

Group also installed aspecific board member who is responsible for these promotion activities.In this part the four articles will cover a range of issues including the use ofself-organizing maps for solving continuous routing problems by Schwardt andDethloff, the application of multivariate analysis for supplier selection and control byLasch and Janker. The issue also presents the results of two empirical studies amongstpurchasing and logistics managers in Germany and in Switzerland. An analysis of softskills of 600 German purchasing managers based on AMOS is shown by Large.Corsten and Felde make the performance effects of key supplier collaboration in Swisssupplier-buyer relationships evident.Once again we would like to extend a special thanks to the reviewers of this specialissue of the International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management fortheir invaluable assistance: Arnold, Ulli; Bentzen, Erik; Bierwirth, Christian; Boutellier,Roman; Bretzke, Wolf-Rud̈iger; Buscher, Udo; De Koster, Rene;́ Delfmann, Werner;Dyckhoff, Harald; Fleischmann, Bernhard; Fleischmann, Moritz; Foscht, Thomas;Grant, David; Gronau, Norbert; Gru ̈n, Oskar; Gru ̈nert, Tore; Haasis, Hans-Dietrich;Haldersson, Arni; Isermann, Heinz; Jammernegg, Werner; Jehle, Egon; Klaus, Peter;Klose, Andreas; Kortschak, Bernd H.; Kummer, Sebastian; Larson, Paul; Mattfeld, Dirk;Meyr, Herbert; Minner, Stefan; Natter, Martin; Otto, Andreas; Prockl, Gu ̈nter;Reutterer, Thomas; Schnedlitz, Peter; Schon̈berger, Jor̈n; Schultmann, Frank;Sinkovics, Rudolf; Souren, Rainer; Stol̈zle, Wolfgang; Suhl, Leena; Teller, Christoph;Thonemann, Ulrich; Tuma, Axel; Vahrenkamp, Richard; Wagner, Stephan; Zelewski,Stephan; Zentes, Joachim.Herbert Kopfer and Herbert KotzabGuest EditorsPreviously published in: International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Volume 35, Number 6,

2005.