Global Competition Fosters Supply Chain Education Partnerships

Global Competition Fosters Supply Chain Education Partnerships
(Industry Week – Dr. Matthew B. Myers, Director of Global Business, University of Tennessee)

Most business schools simply have not provided a meaningful emphasis on advanced supply chain strategies whereas the need for managers who are savvy in this area has increased exponentially.

The trend in modern supply chain management, and supply chain education, is to seek educational partnerships to improve both the company's and the university's competitive position. Intuitively, we would assume that such educational partnerships could help improve a firm's efficiency, assist in learning innovative processes, and remain current relative to front-line supply chain thinking. For universities, the benefits of such partnerships range from an institution's ability to use partner firms as 'living laboratories' and provide a platform for leading-edge research. Not to mention a gateway for the hiring of its graduates.

While educational partnerships between businesses and business schools have a long history, supply chain partnerships are rather new to the scene, this due to the fact that multiple firms are often involved and supply chain thought is still in a relatively early stage of development. There are several reasons, however, why this growing trend is critical to both businesses and business schools, and increasingly the most competitive members of both have strong collaborative relationships relative to supply chain education, As we will see, the trend is due to changes in the competitive landscape for companies and educational institutions, and can only be expected to continue for the long term. …

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