A longitudinal view of supply chain education. Assessing the challenge of retaining relevance in today's dynamic marketplace

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLM-07-2012-0061
• Date: 06 May 2014
• Published date: 06 May 2014
• Pages: 180-201
• Author: Stanley E. Fawcett,Stephen M. Rutner
• Subject Matter: Management science & operations,Logistics

A longitudinal view of supply

chain education

Assessing the challenge of retaining relevance

in today’s dynamic marketplace

Stanley E. Fawcett and Stephen M. Rutner

Department of Marketing & Logistics, Georgia Southern University,

Statesboro, Georgia, USA

Abstract

Purpose – The logistics and supply chain management discipline has evolved dramatically over the

past generation. The rapid pace of change has challenged education providers – e.g., universities,

professional associations, and publications – to remain relevant to various stakeholders. Relying on an

open systems design perspective, the purpose of this paper is to assess how well organizations use

constrained resources (personnel, dollars, time, etc.) to meet customers’ educational ne eds.

Design/methodology/approach – To examine how well educational providers are meeting

stakeholder goals, universities, associations, and publications are examined across time by multiple

surveys to determine if they are keeping pace in the changing business world.

Findings – The paper identifies two gaps. First, stakeholders report a g rowing gap between the

offerings of existing education providers and their educational needs. Second, the gap between

academic and practitioner perceptions is growing. Importantly, some organizations and universities

are doing a better job of responding to changing educational requirements. Finally, a shift to SCM is

further complicating the educational process.

Originality/value – This study makes two primary contributions. First, it identifies important

changes in the logistics and supply chain education market. Second, it provides updated rankings of

the perceptions of academics and practitioners regarding three education providers: professional

organizations, universities, and publications. This insight enables logistics and supply chain thought

leaders to evaluate how they can enhance education resources and thus remain relevant in a rapidly

changing and increasingly tumultuous marketplace.

Keywords Education, Supply chain management, Stakeholders, Rankings

Paper type Research paper

Introduction

In today’s dynamic, global environment, decision makers grasp more fully the financial

and economic importance of effective logistics and supply chain management. Indeed,

managing logistics and supply chain processes well is absolutely critical to corpo rate

strategies that rely on using worldwide resources to meet the distinctive needs of

global customers. Importantly, to succeed in this marketplace, organizations need

a broader range of both traditional and emerging logistical and supply chain skills.

Managers, however, often communicate that they find it difficult to find and

develop needed supply chain talent (Cottrill, 2010; Fawcett et al., 2010; Kor n, 2013c).

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

www.emeraldinsight.com/0957-4093.htm

Received 19 July 2012

Revised 26 July 2013

Accepted 30 September 2013

The International Journal of Logistics

Management

Vol. 25 No. 1, 2014

pp. 180-201

rEmeraldGroup PublishingLimited

0957-4093

DOI 10.1108/IJLM-07-2012-0061

Finally, the authors would very much like to thank all the participants that took the time to

complete a very lengthy survey instrument. Academics may have a vested or self-interest to

complete the survey; however, the practitioners were especially kind to take the time out of their

busy schedules. It is greatly appreciated by all the people that read the results of the efforts of the

participants in the study.

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To progress in their careers, supply chain managers not only need core entry-level

skills, which include inventory, quality control, transportation, and warehousing skills

but they also need a holistic, cross-functional understanding of value-adde d systems.

Davis and Spekman (2004) noted the existence of an emerging skill gap, noting, “It is

essential that we recognize that most managers do not cur rently possess the skills or

mindset needed to operate in an extended enterprise environment.”

Using the metaphor of a wheel comprised of a hub and spokes, a vice president at a

global high-tech firm explained to us today’s talent challenge. He noted that as a highly

profitable and acknowledged industry leader, his company seldom has trouble finding

and recruiting great functional experts. He identified functional managers as the

spokes of a wheel. He explained, “We can find great entry-level people, the ones with

strong functional skills. But, finding people who can bring everyone together to work

as a cohesive team is a real challenge. They’re just not out there [y]. This person in

the middle (thehub) is missing.” He addeda brief description ofthe hub manager, saying,

“Hub managers possess a holistic vision and collaborative skills, but they are rare.” He

further noted that given the nature of today’s organizational structures and performance

measurement systems, few “spoke” managers evolve into “hub” managers on the job.

Of course, in the course of this research, we came across many talent scouts who do

not share the high-tech VP’s optimism regarding the ability to find and hire entry-level

logistics and supply chain managers. They often noted that resource-constrai ned

companies find it difficult to compete for talent with Fortune 500 rivals. Indeed, they

describe the logistics and supp ly chain talent pool as quite limited – a sentiment

consistent with a recent MIT white paper titled, “Are You Prepared for the Supply

Chain Talent Crisis?” (Cottrill, 2010). Exacerbating the challenge is the fact that

recruiters expect potential hires to deal with a broader and more-complex set of issues

(e.g. corporate social responsibility, risk management, and sustainability) as well as a

more diverse skill set ranging from data analytics to empathy (Fawcett and Waller,

2011b; Korn, 2013a, b; Kovacs et al., 2012; McDonald, 2013; Waller and Fawcett, 2013).

The requirement for these various skills raises the key question, “Are our

educational sources evolving to meet the needs of the modern logistician?” To address

this important question, we build on two previous studies to evaluate three educa tional

resources: professional organizations, universities and journals/periodicals. We ask

logistics and supply chain academics and professionals to identify relative strengths

and weakness of these educational resources and rank their effectiveness accordingly.

By comparing and contrasting our finding s to previous studies, we provide a

longitudinal perspective, which provides insight into how well educational entities are

meeting today’s educational imperatives. The data reveal that logistics and supply

chain educational resources are not evolving at the pace and in the way expected by

professionals. We also identified several important instances where academics and

professionals perceive the requirements and effectiveness of today’s resources

differently. Based on these realities, we identify several opportunities for improving

educational resources so that they can more fully provide the education tomorrow’s

decision makers will need to advance the supply c hain discipline and improve their

firms’ performance in a competitive global market.

Background: developing talent to support an evolving discipline

A systems design perspective

The fact that today’s logistics and supply chain decision-making environment is

undergoing rapid change suggests a need to reevaluate the effectiveness of supply

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education