Acquiring and developing talent for an uncertain future: Reimagining supply chain education
Abstract
In today’s fast-evolving business terrain, the supply chain management (SCM) field faces growing importance as a major competitive differentiator in the market for many companies. The required skills and capabilities of supply chain personnel, however, are rapidly changing due to the development and application of advanced technologies. As a result, the field faces mounting challenges including acute talent shortages, rapid digital transformation, global disruptions, adoption of artificial intelligence tools in SCM decision making, and shifting workforce expectations. Effective talent management has therefore become not just a human resource concern but a strategic imperative for organisations seeking resilience and growth in logistics, procurement, inventory management, demand management, and overall improved organisational performance. This paper presents a comprehensive summary and examination of traditional and innovative talent management and development strategies that are specifically applicable to the SCM field, based on a synthesis of industry panel discussions, academic research results, and practitioner reports. It defines the individual roles that academic programmes and industry professionals play in effective SCM talent management strategies and suggests major changes that both groups should consider with respect to how they develop the contemporary workforce. The paper explores effective approaches to attract, retain, and develop skilled professionals, examining how leading global organisations and industry disruptors are tackling skills gaps, adapting to digitalisation, and reimagining workforce management in supply chains; and it advocates for a collaborative effort to address these challenges. These approaches demonstrate the agility that companies as well as academic programmes must cultivate to maintain an effective pipeline of SCM talent to meet the fast-changing landscape of business requirements. This article is also included in The Business & Management Collection which can be accessed at https://hstalks.com/business/.
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Author's Biography
Matthew J. Drake, PhD, CPIM-F, CPF, CLTD, CSCP, is an Associate Professor of Supply Chain Management in the Palumbo-Donahue School of Business at Duquesne University. Matthew earned his PhD in industrial engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2006 and has been a faculty member at Duquesne University ever since. He has published several dozen articles in leading peer-reviewed journals such as European Journal of Operational Research, Omega, International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications, Naval Research Logistics, Business Horizons, Journal of Business Ethics, and OR Spectrum. Matthew’s main research interests are in supply chain collaboration and ethics as well as the advancement of supply chain management pedagogy. He currently serves as co-editor of the ‘ASCM Supply Chain Dictionary’.
Dr Paul Pittman, PhD, CPIM-F, CSCP-F, is a Professor of Supply Chain Management at Indiana University Southeast and has recently served as the Board Chair for the Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM). He also has an extensive consulting career working with companies around the world in executive leadership development and decision making, as well as supply chain management and process improvement. Paul has led and served on several ASCM committees and councils and presented at numerous North American and international conferences and events. He has published articles in multiple journals in the areas of supply chain complexity, systems thinking, applications of artificial intelligence, and project management, and was a co-editor for several editions of the ‘ASCM Supply Chain Dictionary’. Paul is a graduate of the Terry School of Business at the University of Georgia.
Dr Robert Stoll, CPIM, CLTD, CSCP, is an Associate Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management at the Dauch College of Business and Economics at Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio. Dr Stoll earned his Doctorate of Business Administration in Operations and Supply Chain Management from Cleveland State University. He has a Master of Science Mechanical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University and an MBA from Rochester Institute of Technology. Dr Stoll has over 30 years’ experience in engineering and operations/supply chain management. He has been a plant manager overseeing three different facilities both domestically and internationally. His experience lies in enterprise resource planning systems, quality, government regulation, international design standards, plant safety, logistics, and supply chain management. Dr Stoll has been a faculty member at Ashland University since 2012. He has researched and published in areas such as strategy, supply chain, collaborate planning forecasting and replenishment, blockchain, and education, among others.
Citation
Drake, Matthew J., Pittman, Paul and Stoll, Robert G. (2026, September 1). Acquiring and developing talent for an uncertain future: Reimagining supply chain education. In the Journal of Supply Chain Management, Logistics and Procurement, Volume 9, Issue 1. https://doi.org/10.69554/XZPK2004.
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