E-commerce: CSCMP announces winner of its second annual Call for Papers Competition

The Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) announced that Michelle Luu, supply utilization manager, supply chain transformation at BJC Healthcare, is the winner of its annual Call for Papers competition, sponsored by Kohler Co. Her paper titled “The Five Core Competencies for an E-Commerce Network” can be viewed on CSCMP’s web site.

CSCMP’s annual Call for Papers is open to CSCMP student or young professionals’ members, age 30 and under. The competition requires candidates to submit a one- to five-page paper written on a specific topic that answer a series of questions, which are posed by the event’s sponsoring company. Representatives from the sponsoring organization also review and grade the submissions, as well as select the winning paper.

This year’s Call for Papers’ topic was e-commerce. Candidates were required to write about the key steps that manufacturers would need to take to build supply chains that would support e-commerce and product that is difficult to ship. They also had to describe how this would impact the distributor relationship.

“We chose Michelle’s paper not only because it was well written, but because she addressed each question thoroughly,” said Brian Childs, director—fixtures supply chain, Kohler Co. “She submitted a superior paper that could easily be presented to the Kohler leadership team and understood by all. It was obvious that Michelle spent a considerable amount of time researching and writing about the topic. She did a wonderful job organizing the content.”

Luu will be formally recognized at the Annual Young Professionals’ Reception at 9:00 pm on Tuesday, October 22, 2013, at CSCMP’s Annual Global Conference in Denver, Colorado. As this year’s Call for Papers’ winner, she will receive a complimentary registration to the conference, free hotel accommodations, and an iPad.

“It is an honor to have my white paper selected,” said Luu. “I greatly appreciate Kohler Co.‘s and CSCMP’s generosity, and am excited about attending my very first CSCMP Annual Global Conference next month. I look forward to learning as much as I can about supply chain management and meeting new colleagues in Denver.”

Joining CSCMP in 2007 as a student member, Luu transitioned into a young professionals’ member three years later. Since then, she has been actively involved in CSCMP’s St. Louis Roundtable. Her current employer, BJC Healthcare, recently became part of CSCMP’s Corporate Member program.

“The second annual Call for Papers, sponsored by Kohler Co., was an excellent way for young supply chain professionals to demonstrate their knowledge and intellect when faced with a real world challenge,” said John C. Bowersox, manager—customer service operations at Kohler Co., and chair of CSCMP’s Young Professionals’ Committee. “Not only does the competition present an opportunity to engage in innovative thinking and supply chain problem solving, it also gives young professionals a chance to articulate a business challenge and present potential solutions in written format.”

CSCMP’s education coordinator and co-facilitator of the organization’s Young Professionals’ Committee, Kathy McInerney, said, “We are extremely pleased with the interest in this year’s competition from our student and young professionals’ members. We received twice as many submissions this year than we did last year representing members from organizations such as Access America Transport, Damco, Disney, Rutgers University, and Supply Chain Insights. All were well written and demonstrated a high level of knowledge and understanding about supply chain. Candidates should be very proud of the work they did.”