28 de May de 2020
“It is time to stop and think what we want to conserve from the past and to equip ourselves with the new skills and competences that today’s world demands”.
Supply Chain is a broad field that studies and covers everything related to the planning, production and distribution process of the goods and services that a company offers its customers. Nowadays, due to technology and the impact of the pandemic, this field has become much more extensive and demand from companies has grown for Supply Chain Managers equipped to lead the dynamic world we now live in. We discuss this issues with the Director of EAE’s International Master in Supply Chain Management & Logistics, Iván Zamarrón, who, as well as sharing his in-depth insight into the importance of this interesting field, also gives us an overview of the Master and its key features.
Nowadays, the term “Supply Chain” is broader than ever before. How would you define it? What should future executives in this area be prepared for?
The supply chain is a complex system and market volatility, which is accentuated by crisis after crisis (new opportunities for development and improvement), requires modern Supply Chain Managers to be equipped with agile systems that respond quickly and effectively to unforeseen circumstance and adapt to the observed trends, with all the different players working in an integrated way. These are the three pillars that underpin our Master in Supply Chain Management program.
In today’s technological and globalized world, a Supply Chain professional has to manage supply chains, but they also need a firm grasp of the key features of e-Logistics and use information technologies. Why is it so important to have a command of these tools? How does the Master achieve this?
This is a core aspect of our Master. The virtualization of the Supply Chain, its digitization, modelling and simulation, the progressive incorporation of management software and technologies that completely change the rules of the game, such as Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Blockchain, are key features of the program. With us, students learn the central role that technology will play in the field of logistics in post-Covid 19 age and, more specifically: simulation tools (SIMIO and WITNESS), key software such as TMS, WMS, APS, ERP and CRM, and different technological e-commerce solutions (including the latest generation, with artificial intelligence).
Moreover, leadership skills and executive competences seem to be increasingly important. What is your opinion in this respect? How do students strengthen these skills on the Master?
The employment market has been turned upside down by Covid 19, but that is not necessarily a good or a bad thing. There has been an acceleration in the evolution that was already under way in terms of productivity, meeting objectives, data-based decision-making and process processes, predominantly. Modern supply chains require manages who embrace this new unexpected, unknown and uncertain scenario, which we are observing evolve week after week.
It is time to stop our profession in its tracks and think what we want to conserve from the past (probably not much) and to equip ourselves with the new skills and competences that today’s more fragmented world demands, as it moves forward in the process of de-globalization but which, paradoxically, is hyper-connected thanks to technology. Leading in this context is not something you can learn in the company. You have to learn it from the professionals who are already tackling the situation. Luckily, some of the best of these professionals form part of the faculty on the program.
In terms of employability, what are the profiles in the highest demand? Which companies collaborate on the Master?
We can detect two clear lines of employability in relation to supply chain. Firstly, professionals who integrate technique, data analysis and business intelligence, in predominantly digital environments. These professionals have a very bright future ahead of them. Secondly, professionals with strategic vision and critical thinking in the post-Covid 19 age, equipped to devise disruptive logistics models, innovators who set themselves apart from the competition in omni-channel and omni-customer contexts. Headhunters are struggling to find this profile.
The first companies involved in the program are those in which our lecturers work: MAXAM, HELLA, ALSA, MPG Logistics, LOEWE, JOHNSON & JOHNSON, etc. This program is designed to professionalize students in one of the most exciting sectors of the global economy that, alongside the financial sector, is undergoing te greatest.
This Master prepares the students to pass the level 1 examination for the SCPro 1 certification of the CSCMP. Why is this accreditation important and what is involved in the preparation to obtain it?
Supply chain is an area in which ‘professional certification’ complements or accredits the Supply Chain Manager’s capacities, particularly in English-speaking markets, Europe and OECD countries. This trend is set to stay. Five years ago, EAE Business School joined forces with the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP, USA) to facilitate the preparation to obtain the SCPro Level 1 certification, for students on the program, as the culmination of the whole year, with the aim of boosting their visibility and employability on the labour market.
The CSCMP has grown significantly over the last decade and now provides an essential professional networking platform for our alumni. The preparation consists of a course of eight 3-hour sessions led by professionals certified by the Council, with courses in English (original CSCMP material, USA) and a final test held on our campus. Students who successfully complete the course receive the appropriate official recognition, as well as entitling them to become an accredited member of the Council and make use of its wide range of resources (a crucial aspect of employability).
What about networking? What activities and experiences help to foster networking on the Master?
Our program has regularly ranked among the top postgraduate programs in Logistics and Supply Chain in the most important league tables in recent years. EAE Business School has given this strategic line of tuition maximum priority. There is no other area of the global economy that is undergoing such a degree and pace of transformation. Throughout the last decade, our students have been looking for renewal, recycling, to formalize and structure their empirical knowledge, tuition underpinned by current company case studies on, insight into Supply Chain Management techniques and technologies and. To a large extent, the power of professional networking generated by business schools like EAE, which covers all aspects of Soft Skills, Professional Careers, Business Networking events, etc.
Many of our students improve their employment position even before finishing the Master and this is often due to the ecosystem created by EAE in terms of enhancing the candidates’ visibility. In the remaining cases, they find employment through the professional connections they have made with their classmates at the School.
Lastly, why would you recommend taking this Master?
The best investment that any professional specializing in Logistics, Supply Chain, and Operations in general can make is in their own training. There are times in a professional’s life when their have to prioritize decision-making, that they have to take a significant ‘qualitative leap’ forward (‘kairos’). This will be critical in the post-Covid 19 world, which has opened up a critical gap in Logistics practices.
We cannot resolve new problems with the old mindset. Data, information and knowledge; processes, technology and people; agility, adaptability and integration; strategy, tactics and operations. These four triangles give us the key factors in achieving the end-to-end supply chain, the practical assimilation of which guarantees you ‘a special year’, beyond the day-to-day aspects of your job. I think that my recommendation is clear.
To find out more about the Master in Supply Chain Management & Logistics, just click here!