60 seconds with Douglas Thomas, Penn State

Douglas Thomas
Title: Professor of Supply Chain Management, Pennsylvania State University
Location: State College, Pa.
Experience: 16 years on the faculty at Penn State
Primary focus: Integrated supply chain planning, including inventory management and demand planning.

Modern: We hear a lot about the jobs going unfilled and the competition for talent, which is hard to understand given the unemployment rate. However, research you and your colleagues have done with Deloitte found that the talent squeeze is real.
Thomas: The talent squeeze is real, especially when you talk about graduate-level training. We think there are a couple of reasons for that. One is that the number of applications into traditional MBA programs in general is dropping. The job market is good, and people are staying in their jobs. Meanwhile, banking and finance are coming back, so MBA students are going into those areas and not into operations. I think the industry hasn’t done a good job of getting across the idea that this is a great time to be in the fulfillment industry. Finally, many organizations that have talented people in operations rotate them into general management. They may have a demand planning group with talented people who have been on the job for a number of years, but there isn’t a plan to develop their careers.

Modern: Is the challenge the same for large and smaller companies?
Thomas:  Anecdotally, I think it’s more of a challenge for smaller companies. I was recently looking at our survey results and realized that 84% of the respondents were at companies with $1 billion plus in revenue, so a lot of our insights are coming from medium-sized companies on up. Those large companies come to a campus like Penn State every year and are looking to recruit a number of students. It’s harder for a small company that may only need to hire one student a year—or every couple of years—to stand out.

Modern: What are some of the things companies can do to make their organizations a place where employees want to stick around and students want to come to work?
Thomas: Let’s start with the issue of retaining talent, especially talent that doesn’t want to take time off to get a full-time MBA. Companies can find ways to make sure their employees get the continuing education they need to keep up with the pace of change. Academic institutions are addressing this by pivoting the educational offerings. There’s a big growth in online master’s programs for fully employed people, and we’re seeing growth in short, focused skills-based executive programs that offer a deep dive into a subject. For instance, online purchasing continues to grow, and offers such as free shipping have changed how consumers order things and what happens in fulfillment centers. These are problems that someone who got their MBA a while ago didn’t deal with. Let’s face it: The rate of change in ideas is so fast that you need a lifetime of education.

Modern: What are some of the ideas for raising the profile of supply chain management on campus?
Thomas: I think we have an obligation as faculty to talk about some of the great challenges and exciting problems there are to solve in this field. One of the things we do at Penn State is to have alums come back who have gone on to high-level positions where part of their path was supply chain.

Modern: How can companies raise their profile for recruiting on campus? 
Thomas: They need to promote their brands so they’re on the minds of students when they recruit. Every student knows Apple, Dell, Amazon and the big consulting firms. Companies that don’t have recognized brands but may have great supply chain organizations need to make sure they have a presence. They can do that by doing some of the things that someone like Deloitte does to have influence on the program and to find students.