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The field of supply chain management is rapidly changing.

Not only do today’s supply chain leaders need to be able to source, produce, and deliver products and services, but they also need to leverage innovative technologies to align firm strategy and their supply chain.

The faculty in the Department of Supply Chain Management (SCM) at Michigan State are global industry leaders and are considered the voice of the SCM field. We hold the prestigious reputation of offering the top-ranked undergraduate and graduate offerings in the country.

We equip graduates with a competitive edge. Through an integrative educational approach, we prepare students for the next era of SCM and careers in areas such as procurement, manufacturing, inventory management, warehousing, logistics and transportation.

Department Information Sheet

  • 1
  • Undergraduate & Graduate Programs in Supply Chain/Logistics
  • (U.S. News & World Report, 2024)
  • 1
  • in Empirical Publications
  • (Supply Chain Management Journal List, 2024)
  • 1
  • Industry Value Leader
  • (Gartner Supply Chain Top 25, 2020)
  • 1
  • Supply Chain School
  • (IndustryWeek, 2017)
  • 1
  • School for Supply Chain Talent
  • (SCM World, 2016)
Associate professor Jason Miller in the Minskoff Pavilion

Jason Miller

Pushing the Envelope in Supply Chain Management

Welcome to the Department of Supply Chain Management at MSU’s Broad College. Our team comprises about 40 individuals: tenure-stream professors, fixed-term instructors, academic specialists, staff and doctoral students, each with a passion to push the frontier of supply chain management research and educate the highest quality students that would make a difference in practice. The collective outcome is that the department is very well recognized for its expertise in empirically oriented research and our undergraduate and graduate programs have been ranked as No. 1 in SCM education.

I joined MSU in June 2016 and am serving as interim chairperson till August 2024. My research centers on understanding employment dynamics, safety, and market behaviors in the for-hire trucking sector. I engage extensively with the practitioner community through webinars and LinkedIn commentary, in addition to serving as a source for various media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, NBC News, The Washington Post, and Reuters.

The SCM Department offers three levels of degree programs: a bachelor’s in supply chain management, a master’s in supply chain management and two distinct doctoral programs, in logistics and in operations and sourcing management. Our faculty also teach in the Full-Time MBA, Executive MBA and any number of SCM-related certificate programs. We focus on teaching our students at every level how to improve supply chain operations, take the cost out of the supply chain, reduce supply chain failures and mitigate supply chain risk. While our research is at the forefront of supply chain, we aim to make sure that the training we offer prepares our students for working environments challenged by Industry 4.0.

Mission Statement

Our mission is to be the global leader in creating and disseminating integrative supply chain management knowledge.

We are the leading developer and disseminator of supply chain knowledge:

  • Top-ranked global leader in supply chain management research, education and outreach
  • Integrative MSU flagship program impacting civic organizations, industry and society
  • World-renowned faculty

We serve transformational thinkers and doers in an interconnected world:

  • Students who will become supply chain leaders in industry
  • Firms that are committed to collaboration with us in research and education
  • Top-notch doctoral candidates who will become SCM thought leaders in academia
  • Highly motivated and engaged alumni in a lifetime relationship

We maintain a high-performance culture that leverages our integrative business model:

  • Human resource strategy that attracts, nurtures and retains the best talent
  • A culture of collaboration with internal and external academic and industry partners

We contribute strategically balanced supply chain management knowledge for students, practitioners and academia:

  • An integrated perspective that blends theory with practice
  • Knowledge leadership focused on emerging strategic issues
  • Societal impact through research, outreach, students and alumni
MSU Supply Chain Management faculty member Steven Melnyk instructs an SCM class.

Top ranked in SCM education. Year after year.

MSU leads the way in developing tomorrow’s supply chain leaders. For more than half a century, students have been taught by nationally and internationally renowned faculty in strategic end-to-end supply chain management: procurement, operations and logistics.

Links traditional areas of logistics research with topics including demand management and forecasting, logistics operations and modeling, logistics strategy and relationship management.

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Specializations in either operations management or sourcing management, with research focusing on empirical analysis, theory development, new product development and sustainability.

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The nation’s #1 program teaches strategic supply chain management in a unique online/on-site blended format. Designed for working professionals, this program provides deeper knowledge of ever-changing supply chain practices and technologies.

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Broad’s top-ranked supply chain management program integrates topics from manufacturing operations, purchasing, transportation and physical distribution into a unified program. The program offers integration among these critical, value-adding components to enhance global competitiveness.

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All nine master and advanced master certificate offerings are offered 100% online.

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Supply chain management seminars and certificate programs developed and delivered by our top-ranked faculty are offered through Broad’s Executive Development Programs.

Explore Programs  
MSU Supply Chain Management Faculty member Sriram Narayanan poses against a backdrop of green glass.

Our Faculty

We have achieved our position because of the unique approach our SCM faculty take to research and teaching. Our focus is to bridge the gap between theory and practice — to identify and explore issues of current and future importance to managers using the methodological and theoretical rigor of the academic environment. This is one reason that we are consistently ranked highly — we do research that is not only done well but that has high impact.

profile photo of Shawnee Vickery

Shawnee Vickery

  • Demmer Legacy Professor
    Supply Chain Management
profile photo of Tobias Schoenherr

Tobias Schoenherr

  • John Hoagland - Richard Metzler Professor in Purchasing and Supply Management
    Supply Chain Management

Research and Education Specializations

Analytics

Network Optimization

Risk Management

Sustainability

Cyber Security

Talent Retention

Carrier Safety

Omni-Channel

Innovation

Process Improvements

Project Management

Healthcare Operations

Professor in Supply Chain Management Judith Whipple delivers instruction to a supply chain management executive development seminar at the Henry Center at MSU.

Supply Chain Management Council

The Supply Chain Management Council consists of approximately 40 leading companies in the supply chain industry that have dedicated time and resources to support teaching, research and business involvement of MSU faculty and students. A selection of SCM Council members can be found below.

Corporate and Student Relations

The Corporate and Student Relations Office (CSRO) supports undergraduate education beyond classroom learning. The activities of the office are an integral part of the excellent supply chain management program for which Michigan State University is well known and respected, and provides a mutual benefit to students, department faculty and companies.

Visit the CSRO

The Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University has developed a strategic relationship with Sabanci University (Istanbul, Turkey), focused on executive and professional education. The Broad College has jointly conducted customized corporate education programs in Turkey on supply chain management and global strategy topics.

Visit Sabanci  

The Broad College of Business at Michigan State University has developed a strategic relationship with the SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), focused on faculty collaboration, student collaboration and management development.

The relationship includes a number of supply chain management linkages, including faculty traveling to Mumbai, India, to present at SPJIMR conferences, students from SPJIMR traveling to East Lansing for supply chain and business analytics study tours, and executive and professional development opportunities with businesses in India.

Visit SP Jain  
We’ve partnered with Michigan State because we have common educational values. They are also global leaders in supply chain expertise with a great deal of experience of working with blue chip companies. There’s a lot we can learn from them, and, in return, we can help globalize their own research.
Chee Yew Wong
Leeds University Business School, UK
MSU Supply Chain Management faculty member Dave Close poses in a corn field with a truck bed full of groceries.

What Is Supply Chain Management?

Supply chains are the institutions and processes that move raw material, works-in-progress and finished products from the fields, mines and oceans to our homes and workplaces to satisfy our daily wants and needs. Without supply chains, there would not be the products that society relies on, such as food, clothing, shelter and entertainment. The institutions or organizations involved in supply chain operations include material suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers and service providers such as transportation firms.

Supply chain professionals source raw materials, manufacture B2B and consumer goods, manage inventory, run sophisticated warehouse operations, transport goods between businesses or to the final consumer and keep the world greener by developing better ways to use, return and recycle both manufacturing and consumer waste.

For example, one would expect the local grocery store to be stocked with all the products available from anywhere in the world. This includes cereal from Battle Creek, wine from France and sushi from Asia. While one may think that any grocery store maintains a large amount of product, it is only about a three- to four-day supply for many items, particularly those that are perishable. Grocers rely on just-in-time supply chains to make sure that shelves remain stocked with the products that consumers want.

With that background, one might be asking “What do supply chains do for me?” As suggested, effective and efficient supply chains provide three types of value to the average consumer. First, they facilitate the sourcing and delivery of products manufactured in many places around the world to a location where the consumer can purchase it. Second, efficient supply chains reduce the cost of the products that one purchases through lowered sourcing, manufacturing, handling and transportation cost. Third, high-performing supply chains can reduce risks related to weather, congestion and natural disasters.

Supply chain management is strategic in orientation and recognizes that the competitive strength of a firm is not only determined by its products but also by the operations and activities that place the products into customers’ hands and provide supporting services. The efficient supply chain controls the flow of information, products, services, funds and knowledge. From the supplier network to market distribution, the supply chain enables efficient manufacturing and capacity planning, develops and enhances the flow of data, supports financial analysis and meets the needs of a global marketplace.

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