Supply chain’s solemn moment

According to Google Trends, U.S. search volume for the term “Supply Chain” has never been higher than it was in Fall 2021, and is higher now than at any point since 2004. The discipline has been powering business for decades but as supply issues became part of the national conversation during the early stages of the pandemic, how the supply chain works (and doesn’t work) has been a major talking point — and a major factor in the global economy.

Whether it’s toilet paper, vaccine shipments, or computers, because supply chains cover so much about how business gets done around the world, it can be either a cause or an effect of how prices, labor, and stock have shifted in the past two years.

“It’s like pushing a pig through a python. It’s just an imbalance of supply and demand at the moment,” says Hitendra Chaturvedi, supply chain management professor of practice at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.

Chaturvedi is just one of the many supply chain experts on the faculty of the W. P. Carey School. One of the leading supply chain schools in the nation, its supply chain programs are ranked No. 2 for best undergraduate supply chain management/logistics programs by U.S. News & World Report, 2022, ahead of MIT, University of Michigan, and University of Texas, while the school’s MBA supply chain program ranks No. 3, ahead of Stanford, UC Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon.

With multiple bachelor’s degree majors in the field, as well as MBA and specialized business master’s degrees focusing on the many aspects of supply chain and logistics, W. P. Carey is a prime destination for corporate recruiters looking to meet the surging demand for emerging supply chain leaders.

In courses and through its numerous research centers and labs, the W. P. Carey Department of Supply Chain Management teaches, studies, and consults on a variety of issues and trends, including supply, sourcing, and procurement, sustainability, the health care supply chain, and intersections of the internet and physical systems. W. P. Carey faculty diagnose everything from labor shortages and their impact on scarcity to border regulation issues to establishing supply chains in emerging economies and humanitarian crises to reverse logistics, the return of goods from customers back to suppliers.

That’s something Dale Rogers — professor of supply chain management and ON Semiconductor Professor of Business at the W. P. Carey School — literally wrote the book on. “Going Backwards: Reverse Logistics Trends and Practices,” which Rogers published with co-author Ronald S. Tibben-Lembke in 1999, predated the widespread acceptance of e-commerce.

His work in that field is particularly relevant during the holiday shopping season, examining how returns impact the supply chain (and what ultimately happens to products once you return them).

And as the country battles through a period of rapid inflation, Rogers says that, too, is a byproduct of supply chain disruptions. “Inflation is related to supply shortages. They can’t get the components and finished goods they need. So, they’re increasing the price of the stuff they have,” he told Marketplace in September.

With the world focusing and relying on supply chain management, this is the best time to explore the many degree options available through the highly ranked W. P. Carey Department of Supply Chain Management. Learn more and apply today at wpcarey.asu.edu/supply-chain.