Mommy, Daddy, I want to study Supply Chain Management!
Many college students majoring in the field of Business have a relatively easy time explaining to mom and dad what their careers will entail. For instance, people seem to understand quite easily what Finance, Marketing, Accounting, and Management professionals do. However, a growing choice among aspiring business people makes parents wonder what their child will really do to earn a living. Supply Chain Management? What is that? Do you mean you will be driving a truck? Are you going to be packing boxes? Questions pour unabated, as many students struggle at first to understand what Supply Chain Management (SCM) is, and even more to explain it to their parents searching for guidance. Therefore, in my time as faculty in the Supply Chain and Information Systems Department at the Smeal College of Business, I have tried to distill the explanation of what SCM is in the plainest language possible. So, if you are one of those students contemplating the possibilities that a career in SCM offers, please read on.
SCM is the management of the chain of activities that result in supply meeting the demand. Any organization offering a product or a service succeeds when they can give their customers what they want, where they want it, when they want it, in the quantities they want, at the price they are willing to pay, and with the level of quality they expect. However, most companies will not achieve this purpose in isolation. Look around you; everything that surrounds you is the result of the efforts of multiple organizations linked together to provide raw materials, transform materials into components and finished goods, and make those goods available to end customers. This also requires that materials and goods be transported, stored, sorted, packaged and delivered. These efforts must be coordinated and, as much as possible, synchronized to ensure all the participants in the chain (of organizations) reach their goals. SCM professionals have the challenge of thinking about what it takes to provide a product or deliver a service, by optimizing the interactions along the supply chain. A career in SCM could entail being involved in the procurement of what a company needs, or perhaps in the actual production of goods or services. You could also be involved in ensuring that a company can fulfill the demand from its customers. The exciting part is that SCM expertise is applicable to all sectors of industry and all levels of an organization. The possibilities abound, and the potential for future growth in the field looks more than promising.
I enjoy tremendously when students discover what our field is about, and begin to share the passion for it that fuels my desire to teach the related subjects. The next time mom and dad ask you, “what is Supply Chain Management again?” – share the basic message that everything around them came from a supply chain… or tell them to come see me!
-Felisa Preciado, Clinical Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management
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