Supply chain degrees pay off
ASU M.B.A. grads start at $92,459.
By -- Purchasing, 12/8/2000 2:00:00 AM
First offered in 1995, Arizona State University's full-time supply chain management M.B.A. program gives students a lift-off right after graduation. According to ASU, the average starting salary for Supply Chain Management graduates, including base salary, signing bonus and guaranteed performance bonus, is $92,459. The reason the average starting salary is so high, the school says, is because many companies are realizing that supply chain management professionals have knowledge about all corporate functions and understand how all of the individual components of a company operate as a whole. Many companies are requiring that their top executives have experience in supply chain management, regardless of their functional backgrounds.
Lisa Ellram, professor of supply chain cost and design issues at ASU, says, "Most M.B.A. students are in their late 20s to early 30s. They are returning to change careers and/or enhance their careers. We get a good mix of people with engineering and business backgrounds, including IT, accounting, purchasing and logistics." Students tend to have, on average, five years of work experience. Ideally they also have supply-chain-management-related experience, but that is not always the case.
The curriculum:
"We have a true supply chain orientation. Our students have classes that focus on everything from purchasing to supply chain design, to cost management, systems, negotiations, logistics, e-business and operations management. Counting the two first-year classes, they have 11 classes in supply chain management. The classes are very integrated, giving the students a holistic approach to the supply chain," says Ellram. She goes on to say that, "We have a curriculum committee that meets regularly to ensure that we are as up-to-date as possible. We also hold regular focus groups with leading companies that do and do not recruit our students to find out what they are looking for and how students that have been hired in the past meet their needs."
Larry Smeltzer, an advisor to the ASU M.B.A. supply chain Future Consultants Group, adds, "Many of our faculty spend extensive time with companies on research and consulting projects. This enables us to get a good feel for the current industry issues. An important point is that the curriculum emphasizes integration of purchasing, logistics and operations. Integration is the key. The faculty works together to assure that each course in the program emphasizes integration."
ASU Internships
The "supply chain management specialization internship'" between the first and second academic years serves four main purposes. Internships allow the students to use real-world applications for academic experience, establish themselves as supply chain management professionals, market themselves more effectively upon graduation, and also enhance their second-year studies.
Ellram says, "The internships help tremendously in providing focus for the second academic year when students concentrate on supply chain issues. We have companies that come and recruit from a variety of industries (high-tech, service, old-line manufacturing, etc.) and disciplines. Our students are hired for everything from logistics, to consulting, to e-business to commodity management. Our program is excellent for people who would like to focus on strategic supply management issues, such as alliances, setting strategy, determining applications of e-business in purchasing, etc. It is broad enough that the student understands the interface of purchasing/supply with the rest of the organization, and can rotate in and out of a number of disciplines with ease."
Supply chain management specialization applied project
Students work for host companies in small teams of three to four people on business problems and/or opportunities. The student teams work with a manager of the sponsoring company and prepare written and oral presentations utilizing spreadsheets and project planning software.
Smeltzer says, "Previous projects have involved logistics scheduling, contracting with third-party providers, reverse auctions, supplier selection, warehouse site selection, analyzing global logistics issues, development of comprehensive negotiation plans, and the list goes on and on. During the projects, the students must make an interim briefing to the faculty in which various faculty members will make suggestions. In addition, the student team makes interim and final reports to the management team that sponsors the projects. Each student is expected to work approximately 20 hours per week on the project for about 15 weeks. Therefore, it may be seen that they have the opportunity to make a significant impact for the host company. During the past year, many of the projects have emphasized some aspect of e-commerce."
With starting salaries for graduates approaching $100,000, clearly Arizona State University's M.B.A. program is having a lot of success. "The job market is great for these students, says Ellram. "I think it reflects organizations' realization of the potential contribution of supply and supply chain management, and the need to elevate this function, hiring skilled M.B.A.s, as they have done in finance and marketing for years."
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