The Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California played host to the third annual Global Supply Chain Excellence Summit on September 11, 2015. Attended by scholars and a range of C-suite practitioners, the summit brought to light the concerns and needs of the supply chain management community. Often described as the cornerstone of global business, supply chain management has grown to be a top concern among business leaders.
“If you look back 20 years, supply chain was way down the line of command. Now the first person the board wants to talk to is the head of logistics. It has become incredibly important,” said summit participant Stefan Minder, a vice president for Swiss logistics firm Kuehne+Nagel, Inc., in a statement.
Prior to the summit, Nick Vyas, director of Marshall’s Center for Supply Chain Management and assistant professor of clinical data sciences and operations, polled participants to discover their most pressing areas of concern. The results overwhelmingly revealed that the hiring and retention of talent is at the top of the minds of this sector’s leadership.
“Part of the reason we hold this summit here at USC every year is so leaders in our industry can talk to each other—and to us,” Vyas said in a statement. “The field is growing so rapidly it’s a challenge to meet demand for strong hires.”
James G. Ellis, dean of the school, acknowledged the importance of fostering the education of the up-and-coming generation of supply chain leaders. “Our job is to create the next generation of talent,” he stated. “A lot of our students are here today. Talk to them. Hire them. They’re smart as heck.”
Sponsored by organizations including EY, Mattel and the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, the summit engaged businesses in the healthcare, media, defense/aerospace, entertainment and retail communities.