A Supply Chain Talent “Perfect Storm?”

This is an excerpt of the original article. It was written for the January-February 2014 edition of Supply Chain Management Review. The full article is available to current subscribers.

January-February 2014

With the demands for more skilled supply chain professionals, the silver tsunami of retiring workers, and a shortage of supply chain students and instructors, a perfect storm may be brewing. Penn State authors Kusumal Ruamsook and Christopher Craighead outline the factors that may limit the pool of supply chain talent and offer five strategies to help weather the storm. Get this issue to learn more.

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In The Perfect Storm, Sebastian Junger chronicled the story of the six crew members on board the Andrea Gail, a swordfish boat out of Gloucester, as they battled a once-in-a-century meteorological cataclysm off the coast of Newfoundland in October 1991.
The devastating storm was created by the confluence of three extreme meteorological forces: an icy cold high pressure system, a low pressure system, and the remnants of tropical Hurricane Grace. It was a colossal winter-summer collision of an Arctic storm and a tropical hurricane. When the low pressure system met the high pressure system, they formed a non-tropical Atlantic storm that later absorbed Hurricane Grace. Such events are rare, but when they happen, they bring forth enormous amounts of destructive energy. During

The Perfect Storm, gale force winds “blasted over the ocean at more than 100 mph. Ocean waves peaked at 100 feet, the height of 10-story buildings,” wrote Beth Nissen, a reporter for CNN.com. As anyone who has read the book or seen the movie knows, the ship and crew succumbed to the power of the wind and waves.

Based on our research, which was supported by the Center for Supply Chain Research (CSCR) at the Smeal College of Business, at The Pennsylvania State University, we believe a supply chain talent perfect storm could be in the offing. Our conclusions were drawn from a review of the literature, reports from key organizations, and a Supply Chain Leaders Forum (SCLF) sponsored in October 2012 by CSCR. The Leaders Forum brought together more than 70 top supply chain and human resource professionals from a variety of companies and industries to address the challenges stemming from supply chain talent.

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