"Trends in Supply Chain Management: 2010 & Beyond"
Workshop Series
Evidence indicates that supply chain management is undergoing a significant and fundamental transformation. To better understand this transformation and the growing significance of SCM, Michigan State University has launched a series of Trends Workshops which brings together leading-edge SCM practitioners and academics to determine the nature of this transformation and more importantly, the subsequent implications for the practice and theory of supply chain management.
Phase I of this study took place at Michigan State University in September 2006. The results of the Phase 1 surveys and focus groups identified 6 top trends:
- Achieve strategic visibility & alignment and information integration
- Acquire exemplary supply chain talent and leaders
- Use supply chain optimization models for risk and cost
- Process orientation with the appropriate measures for AoS and quality
- Relationship building and trust both between and within companies
- Align and realign supply chain architecture/structure
Following the success of this first phase and realizing that the results are greatly influenced by the location and the general background of the participants, Phase II was designed to replicate and build on the findings of Phase I while identifying differences and similarities in SCM Trends in Europe and the US. Phase II took place at IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland in June 2007 with the majority of the participants from European industry and academia. When comparing Phase I and Phase II survey results, we discovered the following:
- Greater European emphasis on communication, trust, relationship management and customer issues
- Greater American emphasis on IP protection, visibility and control, supply chain governance and risk sharing
- Need for better supply chain frameworks, terms, constructs & models
- Future supply chain will be primarily customer driven and oriented
- Successful transition requires effective talent, knowledge, process & risk management and performance measurement
Phase III of this study was hosted by the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia on October 10-12, 2007.
Phase III survey results indicate that in the future, the most critical factors affecting the supply chain will be:
- Disruptions & Risk
- Redesign for Customer
- Timely Delivery
- Structuring Relationships
- Communications & Connectivity
- Information technology
The survey identified Governance as the least important future factor. Additionally, while Confidentiality and Intellectual Property were rated as relatively non-critical future factors, these factors had the greatest deviation.
Comparing "what's important now" to "what will be important in the future," Environmental Performance made the biggest jump and interestingly, the academic survey takers anticipate more focus on environmental issues than practitioners.
Phase III participants identified and discussed 4 Essential Key Topics that must be addressed by both academia and management to ensure future supply chain success:
- Talent & Leadership Management
- Risk & Disruptions
- Relationship Management
- Competitive Differentiation
Phase IV was held on April 24-25, 2008 and was hosted jointly by the Business School of the University of Alberta (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) and the Alberta Institute PMAC (Purchasing Management Association of Canada). It was decided to explore in depth the supply chain challenges and issues facing one specific industry – the Petroleum and Energy sector of Alberta.
Phase IV survey results indicated that the issues facing this sector were more complex and interrelated. Initially, the survey identified that in the future, the 5 most critical factors affecting the supply chain will be:
- Labor supplies and labor costs
- Leadership
- Oil and sand development
- Talent management
- Process improvement
From this workshop, the following major findings were uncovered:
- The traditional models of supply chain management do not easily apply to the problems and challenges facing firms involved in the petroleum and energy sectors. .
- In this industry there are numerous, very different types of supply chains (i.e. terminating supply chains that deliver a specific type of outcome; non-terminating supply chains that are involved with facilities such as refineries that are expected to work on an on-going basis; and, (3) service supply chains that exist to service and support both the terminating and non-terminating supply chains.
- The petroleum and energy supply chain is a global supply chain that happens to be located in Alberta. There is global competition for the resources needed by Alberta’s petroleum and energy supply chain.
- The challenge facing the Alberta petroleum and energy supply chain is that of how to take a product that is essentially a commodity and convert it into something that competes on a basis other than price.
- The problem with China (and other similar emerging economies) is that because they are new and growing at a very fast rate, they constitute a major source of demand. This increasing source of demand is causing increased competition for energy and driving up the price of oil and gas.
- Risk is a critical element in the supply chain and affects three elements of supply and demand: P (Price), Q (Quantity), and T (timing).
- Leadership is a critical and on-going issue.
- The future of supply chain management has to focus on better process management.
- There is a need for “best practice” benchmarking within the industry.
- Efficient vs responsive supply chains - It would be useful to know when and where to use each type.
- The need for closer and more on-going relationships between industry, researchers, and educators.
When combined, the insights from these four phases should result in a more comprehensive and insightful analysis of the current and future state of supply chain management and how firms can successfully make this transition.
Participating Companies and Academic Institutions:
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If you are interested in learning more or participating in the study, please contact Jamie Sanchagrin at sanchagrin@bus.msu.edu.