In the midst of a tepid job market, the concepts of widespread employment options, excellent salaries, and career growth seem out of place. Yet, this is the reality in the supply chain management (SCM) profession. Recent reports by the U.S. Department of Labor, the Wall Street Journal, and industry publications confirm the surging trajectory of SCM as a career field.
These elevated career prospects are fueled by newfound C-level executive interest. Company leaders increasingly recognize the value of strong, integrated supply chain capabilities for creating competitive advantage and sustained profitability. In response, SCM professionals are being elevated to highly visible roles involving corporate strategy, process integration, and financial success.
While the outlook is bright for supply chain professionals, a talent supply-demand gap is brewing. According to a recent MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Center for Transportation & Logistics study, companies are struggling to hire people with the appropriate mix of supply chain skills, general management aptitude, and relevant industry knowledge. Action is needed to maintain a pipeline of exceptional talent.
Universities can play an essential role in filling this SCM talent gap. Programs must attract and groom high-caliber students for evolving opportunities across supply chain processes. This is not an easy task, so we enlisted the help of three educators to address the topic of preparing undergraduate students for success in SCM.
Requirement #1 – Recruit Excellent Students
Attracting top students to undergraduate SCM programs requires significant effort to create awareness, accessibility, and appeal. Compared to other disciplines, students have very little awareness of SCM educational programs. Hence, raising the profile of SCM is critical to attracting students who would otherwise choose accounting, engineering, or marketing as their field of study. This can be accomplished through active promotion of the SCM program.
Innovative programs offer scholarships, internship opportunities, and professional organization affiliation to drive student interest in SCM as a major. For example, Central Michigan University established a Logistics Management Council thirty years ago. Dr. Robert Cook, professor of Marketing and Logistics, created the student association to recruit exceptional students and build their passion for supply chain careers.
Early accessibility also helps boost awareness. Too often, SCM courses are limited to students at the junior and senior level, long after they have already chosen a major. In response to this issue, a few schools now require all business students to take a basic SCM course during their sophomore year. This provides access to the students before they get deep into another program.
Dr. Terry Esper, associate professor of SCM at the University of Arkansas applauds the value of this strategy: “Getting the introductory supply chain course in front of students—early in their business school matriculation—gives us an opportunity to expose them to who we are and what we do. We are also being strategic about who teaches this course, putting our best faculty in the classroom. As a result, we’re seeing conversions from other majors.”
In the midst of a tepid job market, the concepts of widespread employment options, excellent salaries, and career growth seem out of place. Yet, this is the reality in the supply chain management (SCM) profession. Recent reports by the U.S. Department of Labor, the Wall Street Journal, and industry publications confirm the surging trajectory of SCM as a career field.
These elevated career prospects are fueled by newfound C-level executive interest. Company leaders increasingly recognize the value of strong, integrated supply chain capabilities for creating competitive advantage and sustained profitability. In response, SCM professionals are being elevated to highly visible roles involving corporate strategy, process integration, and financial success.
While the outlook is bright for supply chain professionals, a talent supply-demand gap is brewing. According to a recent MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Center for Transportation & Logistics study, companies are struggling to hire people with the appropriate mix of supply chain skills, general management aptitude, and relevant industry knowledge. Action is needed to maintain a pipeline of exceptional talent.
Universities can play an essential role in filling this SCM talent gap. Programs must attract and groom high-caliber students for evolving opportunities across supply chain processes. This is not an easy task, so we enlisted the help of three educators to address the topic of preparing undergraduate students for success in SCM.
Requirement #1 – Recruit Excellent Students
Attracting top students to undergraduate SCM programs requires significant effort to create awareness, accessibility, and appeal. Compared to other disciplines, students have very little awareness of SCM educational programs. Hence, raising the profile of SCM is critical to attracting students who would otherwise choose accounting, engineering, or marketing as their field of study. This can be accomplished through active promotion of the SCM program.
Innovative programs offer scholarships, internship opportunities, and professional organization affiliation to drive student interest in SCM as a major. For example, Central Michigan University established a Logistics Management Council thirty years ago. Dr. Robert Cook, professor of Marketing and Logistics, created the student association to recruit exceptional students and build their passion for supply chain careers.
Early accessibility also helps boost awareness. Too often, SCM courses are limited to students at the junior and senior level, long after they have already chosen a major. In response to this issue, a few schools now require all business students to take a basic SCM course during their sophomore year. This provides access to the students before they get deep into another program.
Dr. Terry Esper, associate professor of SCM at the University of Arkansas applauds the value of this strategy: “Getting the introductory supply chain course in front of students—early in their business school matriculation—gives us an opportunity to expose them to who we are and what we do. We are also being strategic about who teaches this course, putting our best faculty in the classroom. As a result, we’re seeing conversions from other majors.”
Educators must also work to increase the appeal to students who mistakenly believe that supply chain graduates have poor career prospects. To combat this misperception, SCM programs are partnering with industry to offer attractive employment opportunities. Company guest speakers, professional association engagement, and facility tours are highly effective career interest builders.
In addition to these types of networking opportunities, here at Auburn University we have biannual SCM career fairs and a professional development course to help expose students to employment options. Our career-oriented curriculum and culture are highly valued by students, who, in turn, generate exceptional word of mouth promotion for the program.
Requirement #2 – focus Content
Expansion of the supply chain discipline has created a curriculum challenge. Supply chain management programs have a finite number of courses—usually between six and eight—to cover critical content. As new topics emerge, faculty members face the proverbial problem of trying to fit ten pounds of potatoes in a five-pound sack. Strategic decisions must be made about SCM focus and the depth of coverage for a given topic.
Traditionally, SCM-oriented programs had a functional flavor. Common areas of focus included logistics, transportation, production, or procurement. In-depth coverage of principles, processes, and operations was the norm. Students developed a deep knowledge of a particular functional area that was beneficial for entry level management roles but less so for integrated SCM understanding and career advancement.
A true supply chain education requires a cross-functional perspective that transcends individual operations. Cook notes: “The supply chain environment is changing so much and so fast that operations content can become outdated very quickly. You have to teach supply chain strategies and tactics instead of operational methods.”
Esper concurs, highlighting the importance of teaching the strategic context of SCM, including its financial value to the firm. “The supply chain-finance link is becoming much more prevalent in SCM programs. Students learn the impact of supply chain performance on profitability, return on investment, and return on assets. They are now much more capable of interfacing with finance people,” he indicates.
Quantitative skills must also be emphasized. “It’s important that students are exposed to the analytical elements so critical to supply chain management,” says Roger Woody, executive lecturer at the University of Kansas. “Manyemployers desire students who have hands-on experience solving problems.”
Along these lines, Cook emphasizes the importance of teaching process improvement skills. “Students have to be able use appropriate tools to analyze an entire process and make it leaner,” he states.
The educators agree that SCM programs must also prioritize information technology. At minimum, students should understand the expanding role of technology in SCM, even better if they can gain actual experience with various supply chain planning and execution tools.
Finally, the growth of global trade drives the need to teach international logistics. It is essential for students to understand import/export processes, global transportation flows, and documentation requirements. Such knowledge can foster employment opportunities with ocean carriers, freight forwarders, and global trading companies.
Requirement #3 – Internships
Being “book smart” is not enough for undergraduate SCM students to be successful in today’s job market. A growing number of employers expect students to have practical experience on their resumes. Some companies will only consider candidates who have completed a supply chain internship. Thus, supply chain programs are working to move education beyond the classroom.
Innovative supply chain programs are responding to this demand for “real world” exposure with changes to instructional methods and expansion of experiential learning. These efforts provide students with an opportunity to apply classroom content and explore career options.
Internships have become a major focal point of experiential learning, providing students with practical experience in a low-risk environment. Employers gain temporary resources to work on projects, and in return receive a more thorough assessment of a student’s capabilities.
While most SCM programs strongly recommend internships, only a few require them for graduation. At Auburn, each student is required to complete a paid internship or a shorter, nonpaid practicum. Most end up earning three credit hours toward graduation while gaining valuable experience.
Company projects and case studies are also widely used to provide hands-on learning. In Woody’s SCM course at the University of Kansas, students are linked with business partners for a semester-long project. Students must solve a problem and prepare an executive-level final presentation. “Often, the presentation is delivered at the business partner’s headquarters,” he notes. “The preparation and experience of presenting in this venue is significantly different than a typical classroom presentation.”
Central Michigan University’s logistics management students work on a funded company project each year. They analyze an existing problem and develop improvement recommendations. Recently, program participants developed an omni-channel fulfillment strategy for Kimberly-Clark Corporation.
“We use projects and live cases with real data,” comments Cook. “There’s no more pretending. We’re no longer building hypothetical cases with old data.”
International study trips are also valuable for introducing students to supply chains in action and creating global SCM awareness. Auburn SCM students have the opportunity to complete a six-week international internship in China, Ireland, or Italy. Woody leads a group of Kansas students on a trip to Panama each year. He indicates that the concepts of global economies and supply chains really becomes clear when experienced first-hand.
Lastly, some SCM programs encourage students to pursue professional certification through one of the major associations, as another way to demonstrate professional competency and industry knowledge.
Requirement #4 – Evolve
The dynamic nature of the supply chain field means that new practices, technologies, and strategies are constantly being developed. To remain relevant to the employer base and effectively prepare students for career opportunities, SCM curricula must evolve by supplementing foundational content with industry best practices and emerging topics.
An increasingly important area is risk management. Global supply chains and lean operations intensify the risk of disruptions, so SCM programs must ensure students gain a holistic view of risk. Cook notes: “Our students need to learn how companies monitor risks, react to incidents, and rebound quickly.”
Another area that deserves more attention is the last leg or ‘one-hundred feet’ of the supply chain. Esper highlights the need to teach students the link between in-store logistics and on-shelf availability. “Given our retail focus at Arkansas, we emphasize supply chain beyond the dock, going all the way to the shelf. I don’t think that’s common in SCM education.”
As the “Big Data” promise becomes a reality, SCM students will also benefit from a more robust set of analytical tools. Programs must prepare to move beyond Excel spreadsheet- and Access database- driven analysis. More sophisticated tools and analytical techniques should be a curriculum priority.
And because SCM is taking on a broader strategic role in organizations, undergraduate programs must also help students develop general management skills. A stronger focus on holistic thinking, cross-functional decision making, and leadership development will prepare SCM students for career progression. Ultimately, SCM programs must teach students to engage in big picture thinking and act in the best interest of the firm, rather than as an isolated supply chain function.
