In fact, from course distribution in school, we can easily understand the problem. There are various professions for college students, but have you ever had such a class about supply chain management; is there any teacher teaching you how to produce product, distribute goods or quality control? This lack of training of supply chain talent makes most practitioners rookies without any experience, leading to time waste, more problems occurrence.
Once, I read a blog high paying, a cost-effective method for enterprise by Zhang Guoxiang, business process management specialist, he always advocates high wage for employees to increase enterprise profit. In terms of lower cost generating more margins, the idea puzzles most people. Cheng Xiaohua, supply chain management and inventory control specialist gives the explanation in his blog. Cheng points out supply chain management is high-risk; and usually, more staff engages in supply chain, larger risk faces a company, because one more planner brings one more chance to stop production line; one more buyer, one more lack of material, so, hiring a talent or senior worker with higher paying largely reduce risks.
However, despite the useful suggestion, a lot of companies still fill their supply chain sector with large number of personnel. Of course, accepting the idea opposite to normal way needs time; but the shortage of supply chain nonmaterial resources is the main cause. With supply chain management moving from a "necessary evil" to a "core competency", demand for supply chain expert stands out, which gives a birth to supply chain management course.
To meet the growing demand, more than a half-dozen universities, including Bryant University, Rutgers Business School, SAP AG, Portland State University and Texas Christian University, have recently introduced undergraduate majors, M.B.A. concentrations and even entire degree programs dedicated to procurement, inventory management and global supply-chain strategy.(See
The Hot New M.B.A.: Supply-Chain Management)
These programs target at the broken links of supply chain, giving confidence to employers. Teresa McCarthy, director of Bryant's global supply chain management program said “Employers don't want cobbled-together courses; they want a real, content-laden supply-chain program."
In addition, the increasing salaries also benefits offsetting the risk of lacking nonmaterial resources. A survey by Logistics Management found 60% logistics and supply chain professionals see salary increase last year. Even students with supply chain major can get a good paying. These all above changes undoubtedly encourage more students to take supply chain management as their major while offering more jobs.
Maybe, the shortage of nonmaterial resources for supply chain will not be a risk in the future, let’s look forward.
Tags：
nonmaterial resources, supply chain, risk, supply chain management