 Clicked over to the top of the hour here, so I'd like to welcome you all to this webinar on leading the digital supply chain, an executive program in collaboration with SMU Cox School of Business and the Digital Supply Chain Institute. Dave Kurz, I'm a research fellow at DSCI, the Digital Supply Chain Institute and also a professor in the Management Department at Drexel LeBeau. I'd like to introduce you as well to my colleague. Amit Bisou, a professor and the chair of the Management Department, Management Information Sciences Department at Cox School of Business. Amit, say hello to folks if you're unmuted. So we have a program this morning designed to... Oh, hello Amit. Sorry about that. Hello everyone and good morning and welcome to this webinar. Thank you, thank you. So the two of us really wanted to share a few things about this program with you this morning. So I'm going to advance our slide here so we can take a look at our objectives. So the objectives this morning, we want to talk about supply chain leadership and why supply chain leadership now. Obviously we have a crisis situation going on, not just in supply chain, but in many aspects of our lives. So we want to address directly why supply chain leadership is something we need to be talking about and learning about at this stage, implications around that. And basically what we feel is a leadership imperative driving need for change in supply chains to be able to meet the needs of customers and improve or at least help our organizations survive this situation. So to do that, we want to describe a little bit about the program. So what is this program we've developed and what would it look like and how would it help you in your organizations and in your careers right now? So that's really the point of the program itself. And then to that effect, what program outcomes should you expect? We want to be able to give some time over in this 30 minutes webinar to answer any questions that you might have about the program itself. So with that, let's kick things off again. Welcome everyone to this webinar. And so I think when we were planning this webinar, we realized that, okay, we've got a little bit of feedback from maybe one of our panelists that might need to need themselves. But that companies are really in a tough situation right now. And maybe Amit, could you share a little bit of your thinking about just the current environment that leaders in organizations, supply chain leaders in particular, what are your thoughts on the environment that we're facing right now? Absolutely. Frankly, if anybody in a management role in any company in the United States was not familiar with the term for supply chain management, I think they are today. And this current crisis has really brought to the fore the enormous challenges that companies face, not just in terms of producing what products they make and even what services to provide, but having done so, how they reach their markets. A great example of the challenges is as we look at companies like Ford and GM, trying to get to where they can restructure their processes to make ventilators instead of automotive products, everybody thinks about, we certainly realize the challenges of restructuring the assembly line, but there's also enormous challenges in terms of the resources, the components, et cetera, that go into a different product line or even a modified product line. And I think that those are really important challenges in these times. And then one of the sort of thought that is gonna be interesting how it plays out over the next few months is that we might in fact see over the next few months and even years a potential drift in terms of supply chain and firm strategies towards greater levels of vertical integration, which would be a huge change from the trend over almost the past half century. So I think these are enormous changes that will impact companies both big and small. And I think it's a very timely topic for a management discussion today. Absolutely. And so again, disruptions everywhere in the supply chain, really straining leadership, I would say, in many ways. So we felt that developing a supply chain program not just focused on the technical aspects of it or the digital aspects of it, but really the leadership and organizational challenges that go along with some of these challenges, these issues would be very timely and needed. So there are lots of reasons why we need a program. For some of you that are joining us, maybe and you have not had the chance to experience a digital supply chain institute and some of its work, maybe wondering what we mean by the digital supply chain. So very quickly, just to set the stage, when we say leading the digital supply chain, we're talking about a supply chain that is focused on the front end, the customer side. It's customer centric and that it uses new sources of information and data to try to really improve performance of the supply chain, but at the same time, it lower its cost. So it's that nirvana, the intersection of improving customer satisfaction, getting things that they want, customers need and want when they need it, but doing it at a cost that's more managed. And in some cases under the current environment, just getting it to them without losing money. So really digital is one of the key frames for how we have been thinking of improving supply chain performance for some years, but it requires leadership, it requires changes. When we look at what some of the leading thinkers and writers have been saying about digitalization of supply chains, it's really the organizational side of the transformations that have been most problematic for many organizations. Many times they're neglected or postponed. We realize that supply chains, and more than ever, I think right now, supply chains are really showing how complex they really are, how integrated they are around the world. They're technical, they're social, and to improve them and change them, it requires much more than just technical expertise. It requires leadership and the ability to create collaboration across different sides of the organization. We've found that there has not been a lot of focus on the people side. However, many firms say that this is key and really important. So we're trying to find a way to really focus on the people side and recognizing that it's the organization's needs that are really around integrating technology, management of data and information, the people and the organizational side, and then at all times managing the risk as well. So to meet these needs, we've developed a program that we recognize right away had to be practical. It has to do more than just teach theoretical leadership concepts or theoretical opportunities. We have to make it practical. We have to make it front facing and integrated across different functions, recognizing that supply chain is not just about one function, but it's about the enterprise and integration alongside of sales and marketing and product development as well. How that cross functional aspect of improving the supply chain is so critical and then developing solutions that are advancing our ability to meet those customer needs at lower costs. So we feel that a program like this, not being theater theoretical but really focused on results, we're gonna try to bring together experts from the Digital Supply Chain Institute as well as some of the terrific faculty from our colleagues at SMU, Cox. So we'll focus on how to really develop these strategies, these plans that will help you advance your own organizational needs around supply chain. We need to quickly advance some of these challenges forward. So we'll develop, we'll focus on those capabilities. So what does the program look like? And so I'd like to just describe what the overall design of the program looks like. What would this experience actually be for you as a participant in this program? And I wanna start by saying right away that we recognize completely that an in-person one day program at the SMU campus in June may not be possible. So we're focused on creating two experiences and we'll make a decision very soon, probably in mid-April about which version of the program will be running but we are ready and able to deliver an in-person experience focused on an online opening module and an online closing module but really with this in-person experience. We're hopeful that this is a possibility but recognize completely it may not be so we have a virtual version and online version of the exact same program with the same outcomes planned that would be a 100% virtual program. So I would like to focus on the content of the program now and just recognizing that the delivery method of the course of the program will have to make a call on that probably by mid-April about which way we go but either way we go, we're gonna be talking about these topics. So let's jump in and describe what this program is all about. So first of all, we wanna level set with our participants. What is the digital supply chain? What does it look like in your organization right now? A little bit about the maturity level of your own organization. What are the opportunities and challenges that it poses for you? Then we wanna focus on the demand side of the equation I mentioned earlier that digital supply chain is about meeting customer needs. We've talked at length recently in our research about what is the new demand that is being created by customers and how do we meet that? How do we adapt our supply chains to meet new expectations of customers and how does supply chain leadership become more involved in delivering better performance by understanding demand and data more effectively? We also recognize that we have to focus on talent. So talent planning, what are the new needs and skills that we have in our organizations to be able to execute on these integrated ideas around digital supply chain. Technology obviously is a huge important, hugely important part of this equation. So we'll look at the technology enablers from a strategic perspective and a planning perspective, not just on the technologies themselves, but how they can actually improve performance, maybe unlock new business models, new value. And then risk, not just risk itself, but how risk management can open up opportunities and create some competitive advantage. The outcomes of this are very clear. We want you to develop action plans. We don't want this just to be a learning program for the sake of learning. We want it to be actionable. We wanna help you develop new management practices. We wanna help you develop insights about how data and analytics could deliver new value for your supply chains, unlocking that value. Look at how new technologies might be applied to create new business models that supply chain supports to create competitive advantage. And then focus on the leadership aspects of creating collaborative supply chain. Those are really the actions, but the outcomes should be action plans for you in your organization, not just the idea of an action plan, but actual plans that you could use to advance your own function, your own organization, and perhaps even your own career in digital supply chain. Who is it for? Well, certainly if you're involved in supply chain transformation, if you're a leader of supply chain transformation, then we need you in this course. This is, we need folks that are actually dealing with this that can bring their experience and collaborative learning to this program. If you're in charge of a function like plan, source, make, or deliver or are leading aspects of those functions, we need you in this course because we want those perspectives coming from plan, source, make, and deliver. And we need senior managers as well as folks that are involved in functions other than supply chain, recognizing that supply chain is not just an island in and of itself anymore. It's actually integrated across the enterprise. So people that are involved in sales and marketing and finance that maybe are impacted by something like demand planning, global demand planning, we need you in this course as well. So we wanna create a learning opportunity for people in organizations to really be coached through each one of these different frames, these different modules, and come away with action plans that they can then bring back to their organizations and make some impact. So I'm gonna pause here for a second. I just wanna make the point that this course is ready to be delivered in this format with an online upfront module, a one-day in-person experience on-site at SMU with a dinner the night before, a collaborative experience together, and then a follow-up online module as well as, and we all hope that things improve quickly, but by mid-April, we'll make a decision of whether we deliver this version, which is an online version of six modules delivered about once a week in 90-minute segments with some work in between. Same audience, same content, different format, but basically delivered in a way that we can stay remote, we can stay in our homes if we have to, but still learning collaboratively and learning powerfully. These will be online modules that are live using this type of platform technology where we'll meet 90 minutes a week, but then you'll have a chance to do some, own your own work in between those modules. So let me take a pause here and just say that if you do have questions about the program design or our plans around this, please go ahead and use that the Q&A function, the chat function to communicate with us and let us know what questions you might have. So we do have one question that came in, so let's take that quickly. This is from Theo. Thank you, Theo. This is given the recent developments around the world, notably the widespread shutdown of retail, what would be some suggestions for B2B players to enable B2B or integrate with customers to enable B2B to see via e-commerce? Well, Theo, I don't think we can answer that question on this program webinar right now, but that is exactly the kind of question that you could bring to a program like this and actually try to uncover action plans for the answers that would be useful for you and your organization. So that's a terrific question. And I think the answer to that would be very dependent upon what organization you're in, the context and your competitive environment and capabilities. But I'm glad you asked that because it is exactly the kind of question that we are encouraging and asking our program participants to bring to the program so that they can apply this knowledge to that kind of a strategic question and bring answers back to their company. Yeah, Dave, I can jump in here for just a moment. Of course. Thank you. I was going to ask you too. I think Theo's question is a great one. And as it turns out, we will actually, we will in the program bring into the discussion some recent research we have done on how essentially B2B companies can use technologies such as social media, IoT and mobile to reach through the value chain, supply chain and engage with consumers and leverage that for whether it's B2B to C or even other business models. So there's a lot of interesting stuff happening with regard to leveraging digital technologies to restructure the value chain and certainly that'll be part of the discussion. Terrific, thanks Amit. And Venkai has a question about what readings are recommended. And so I would say again, that's a terrific question. We're researchers at the DSCI as well, of course as Amin and his faculty. So one place you can take a look initially is on the digital supply chain institute website, which I have the contact information for. I'll share with you in a minute. And there are some white papers, many white papers and tools can kits there that you can take a look at that can help you in your digital supply chain education journey. It also looks like an industry sector benefits from adopting industry 4.0 technologies. We'll call that digital supply chain technologies. So Amin, I'll ask you that one. So one attendee is asking if you feel there are certain industry sectors which may benefit from a digital supply, digital strategy over another. Well, I think it's not as much that there's specific industries that will benefit from them, but rather that different industries will benefit in different ways. So in some cases, it may be very significant in terms of upstream interactions, in terms of sourcing in other cases, it may be more in terms of demand planning and tapping into new and emerging markets. So I think if there's no single industry that's gonna be ahead of everything else or unique in that sense, I think it's the effects are and the potential impact is a broad, but it will be indeed different and part of what I guess the program will do is help people develop action plans that are specific to their industry and priorities. Great, thanks, Abit. And then here's another question. How much time will the online version take each week? I think that's a great question. So it's a little bit more than the 90 minutes for the actual live sessions each week. So we would be asking participants to budget maybe another hour in addition to the 90 minutes. So we designed it that way so that you could do this program and still keep things rolling in your job, right? So this is not a full-time course. We're trying to spread it out over a number of weeks so that you could experience the online collaboration together but then maybe do a little bit of work on your own, do some readings and investigate some of these issues and of course develop your action plans for your own digital supply chain ideas. So about two and a half hours a week would be the answer to that question. One more maybe, Amit, your thoughts on this one as well. So I'm a functional leader in sourcing. Is this program relevant for me? So how do we address the integration across the functions? What are your thoughts on that, Amit? Well, I think partly from taking this so the demand, poor perspective that implicitly, I would imagine brings in multifunctional perspectives and priorities into the supply chain planning and execution process. So I think, again, it goes back to where somebody lies in that both the internal value chain of the company and the larger value system, you will find that depending on what your priorities are and what your functional role is, there will be different opportunities to leverage the program. Yes, yes, yes, absolutely. And I would emphasize to add to what Amit was saying that it's most important to realize that these are collaborative executive education programs. So you're not an isolated individual. You're actually part of learning teams that are collaborating with each other. We have some participants already signed up for the program that are coming in pairs from their own organizations. And they'll be able to maybe work together as well as work with other people in the group as we go through this experience to try to uncover where there are opportunities to collaborate across functions most effectively. But for sure, it's not just about one function. It's about the beautiful idea of integration. It's a great idea. How do we execute it? Well, turns out that leadership is one of the key aspects of making that actually work. So that's, again, why the program is trying to focus on the leadership aspects. So Amit, if I can jump in again. I think in terms of bringing in multiple people, I think when you get into digital strategy, there's an implicit interaction between technology and functions. And so it's also not a bad idea to have folks who can have some conversations even during the program within the context of specific companies as to that interplay that'll happen as you look at supply chain innovation. Absolutely, absolutely. So we're winding down here. I wanna make sure that if we get any more questions coming in, we wanna answer about the program itself. I won't go through the details of the program. We have for each one of these modules, we have areas that we would focus on where you would be able to answer certain key questions about new sources of information, practical ways that your team could implement those ideas. In the talent side, it would be how to create that new source of talent that could improve your company's ability, your talent brand is something we've been focusing on and developing plans that can really tackle those new skills. In technology, we wanna try to help our participants really understand which technologies are most effective for what type of segment they're dealing with. Not just broad questions about it, but more specifics about the technologies and data that you could use to improve your supply chain performance. And then with, of course, risk. Risk management practices must be updated as we become more digital and more of this more sharing of information and data across the value chain. So we want you to be able to emerge from the program with an updated digital risk assessment and maybe some new processes to go along with it. And then finally ending on this idea of your action plan. So you're going to be looking at an action plan that will help you be a more effective leader in your organization around change and transformation, especially during this time of crisis, and then help you really think through what your role might be in the transformation effort and how you can apply the principles of the course. So that's it in a nutshell. We're running out of time in this particular webinar, but we wanna encourage you to keep thinking about this experience and send in your questions You can send in your questions to the following contacts here. We've got the the SCIinstitute.org has a source for information to find out a little bit more about the research that we've been working on. And then Lisa Tran here at SMU also can help you with questions about information or if you'd like to enroll in the upcoming course. So thank you guys so much for joining us today. I wanna make sure you understand that we're ready to go with this course, regardless of what the situation is, we recognize that these are challenging times in supply chain and in organizations. So we want to create an experience that's relevant, will drive performance improvement, give you confidence to really take a seat at the table in driving transformation in your own organizations. So we'll keep it practical, we'll keep it on target and really looking forward to hearing from you guys if you have any questions at all about the program or about the experience and we'll keep you up to date on the decision about going online, full online or face to face. The team involved in this course is very experienced in both formats. We're very comfortable. We love face to face, we love online. We think that they both have their strengths and we'll make sure that the program experience really takes advantage of whichever platform we go forward with. So with that, I'll say goodbye. Amit, any closing thoughts as we wrap up this afternoon's webinar? I think you did a great job, Dave. I just want to mention that our goal is to combine the great ideas and framework coming out of the digital supply chain institute with thought leadership based on our research here at the Cog School. I think it'll make for a great combination in terms of value add. Yeah, terrific point. And the combination is something special. So the fact that we've got this terrific faculty, world-class faculty from SMU Cox combined with the industry research side of the ASCI, we think that creates something very special. So looking forward to hearing from you all. We need a great cohort for this program and we're looking forward to working with you all. So have a great morning or afternoon wherever you are and stay safe. Yeah, bye-bye. Bye-bye.