Supply Chain View from the Field

Category Archives: Supply Chain Talent

1. Creating an analytics organization for supply chain

   May 31, 2013
   by: handfield
   categories: Supply chain analytics, Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Talent

   I’ve been leading a few calls for the International Institute of Analytics, as a faculty lead for the manufacturing group.  We are preparing for the Chief Analytics Officer meeting coming up in Chicago in June.  One of the issues that comes up is where the analytics function should reside – in IT or in the [...]

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2. For supply chain managers to become a trusted advisor, talent management is key

   May 29, 2013
   by: handfield
   categories: MBA Supply Chain Programs, Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Talent, Supply Chain Talent Management

   A CPO in the financial services industry also noted that a need to redefine procurement’s role in the enterprise is happening, driven by the recognition that a new type of procurement capability is needed: Prior to our transformation, the ONLY metric by which our performance was measured is how much money we saved for the [...]

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3. Easy steps for supply chain students to ensure they remain unemployed…

   May 21, 2013
   by: handfield
   categories: MBA Supply Chain Programs, Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Talent, Supply Chain Talent Management

   I recently visited with a large services company, and learned a few things talking to their supply chain recruiters that provided some great insights for students to think about. First, the managers I spoke with talked about things every student who is serious about finding a job should do before an interview: -       Be prepared [...]

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4. Hey Mr. President, Why Can’t We Be More Like Germany?

   May 8, 2013
   by: handfield
   categories: German supply chain, Global Distribution, Logistics, Supply Chain Talent

   For those of you who follow international sports, you know that the king of sports is soccer, and the Superbowl of soccer tournaments is the European’s Champion League.  And what teams are playing in this year’s title game?  Germany vs. Germany.  Two German clubs, one from Dortmund in the Ruhr Valley and the other from [...]

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5. A Great Meeting – Insights on the Future of Procurement from BP, Caterpillar, Duke Energy, and others

   April 30, 2013
   by: handfield
   categories: Strategic Cost Management, Strategic Sourcing, Supplier Relationship Management, Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Talent

   We had a series of great presentations this week at the SCRC meeting. Bill Knittle from BP first presented his experience on building a supplier performance measurement system, and how this has evolved into a true supplier relationship management system.  He talked about the importance of segmenting the supply base, and building out a small [...]

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6. Do We Need More Lawyers in Procurement? Or Do Lawyers Need More Procurement Managers?

   March 29, 2013
   by: handfield
   categories: Contract Management, MBA Supply Chain Programs, Supply chain Relationships, Supply Chain Risk, Supply Chain Talent

   As I’ve continued with my research on the future faces of procurement, a consistent theme that has come up again and again is the need for increased interaction between the legal and procurement groups in organizations.  Today, this interaction is often poorly handled, with clumsy templates being exchanged between the two groups, and in some [...]

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7. College grads – trouble finding a job? Think welding….

   March 5, 2013
   by: handfield
   categories: Commodities forecasting, Strategic Cost Management, Strategic Sourcing, Supplier Relationship Management, Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Talent

   We recently worked on a study examining the market for pipeline construction services.  Across North America, projects like Keystone are only the beginning of growth for pipelines in oil and gas.  The market for pipeline construction is growing, and there will continue to be competition for capable suppliers in the marketplace.  In areas such as [...]

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8. Is the Chinese manufacturing engine waning?

   January 5, 2013
   by: handfield
   categories: BRIC Supply Chain, China Supply Chain, Global Supply Chain, Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Talent

   A recent post in the UCLA blog features an interview with the former COO of Walmart-China, who makes some very interesting observations on the state of manufacturing in China. Edwin Keh notes that “Net export from the Pearl River Delta has declined over the last few years. The number of foreign-owned factories, the pool of [...]

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9. Newest Partners to Join the SCRC: Avaya, John Deere, and Stop Hunger Now

   December 13, 2012
   by: handfield
   categories: Supply chain Relationships, Supply Chain Talent

   Today the SCRC office received confirmation from Avaya that they will be joining the SCRC effective January 2013. Our staff will be meeting with their representative early next week to work out the details of their partnership agreement. In addition, John Deere has joined and will bring with them projects that will focus initially with [...]

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10. Talent Management Insights from SCRC Meeting

    May 1, 2012
    by: handfield
    categories: Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Strategy, Supply Chain Talent

    A number of great presentations from today’s SCRC meeting focused on how different organizations are thinking about managing their talent supply chain.  I helped to set the stage by applying Peter Capelli’s “Talent on Demand” model and thinking about the four key elements that drive talent management.  Many of these focus on utilizing common supply [...]

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11. SCM Talent Management: Creating the Next Generation of Superheroes!

    April 25, 2012
    by: handfield
    categories: Category Management, Forecasting, MBA Supply Chain Programs, Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Talent

    Our upcoming SCRC meeting  (April 30-May 1 in Raleigh, NC) is one that I am sure will peak a lot of interest in today’s supply chain professional.  The theme of this meeting focuses a topic that is at the top of almost every company I speak with today – supply chain talent management.  As organizations [...]

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12. The Future Role of the Chief Procurement Officer

    February 9, 2012
    by: handfield
    categories: Supply Chain Management, Supply chain Relationships, Supply Chain Risk, Supply Chain Strategy, Supply Chain Talent

    I had an interesting discussion with Stephen Hall from the Procurement Leaders Group this morning. Stephen is putting together a feature for Procurement Leaders Magazine on ‘The End of the CPO’ and we had a quick chat about this idea. Stephen is essentially looking at where the procurement chief role is heading in mature functions. [...]

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13. P&G slashes marketers in lieu of free social media

    February 1, 2012
    by: handfield
    categories: Business Process Outsourcing, Customer Relationship Management, Supply chain analytics, Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Talent, Supply Market Intelligence

    A recent article in business insider portends bad news for marketing folks.  Procter and Gamble’s prodigious CEO, Robert McDonald, announced that he is going to lay off 1600 marketing people in order to “moderate” his ad budget because Facebook and Google can be “more efficient” than the traditional media that usually eats the lion’s share [...]

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14. Applying supply chain thinking to the supply chain talent problem

    
    by: handfield
    categories: Global Supply Chain, MBA Supply Chain Programs, Supply Chain Management, Supply chain Relationships, Supply Chain Talent

    In a recent white paper published in October 2010, Jim Rice from MIT argues that there is a potential crisis for supply chain talent brewing.  A speaker from a large global manufacturing company spoke in my MBA Supply Chain Relationships class today, and shared his views on if this talent shortage really exists, and if [...]

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15. Regional government policies have raised problems for Chinese talent-seekers

    January 4, 2012
    by: handfield
    categories: China Supply Chain, Global Supply Chain, Logistics, MBA Supply Chain Programs, Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Talent

    In this on-going blog theme on China, we explore some of the challenges experienced by companies seeking talented individuals for supply chain roles as they expand in Asia. Much of my thinking here is based on a joint paper I am working on with Yanghong Shi, a visiting scholar from the Shanxi University of Finance [...]

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16. Logistics Education in China

    January 3, 2012
    by: handfield
    categories: China Supply Chain, Global Supply Chain, MBA Supply Chain Programs, Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Talent

    Though the advancement of higher education in China has produced more graduate students for entering level positions in foreign logistics companies, locating qualified candidates is a real challenge. Several of the recruiting personnel we interviewed from Western companies who expressed their frustration at finding the “right talent” for their supply chain roles. In general, the [...]

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17. Why is supply chain employee turnover in China so high?

    August 30, 2011
    by: handfield
    categories: China Supply Chain, Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Talent

    A company we spoke with noted that the turnover rate for their Chinese employees working in their logistics operations is higher than any other facility in the world (>10%). Why? There may be many possible reasons for this phenomena. China is a different culture and many Western companies go in without really understanding how powerful [...]

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