Preparing business students for workplace reality: using global virtual teams in logistics and SCM education

Purpose: This paper presents and examines the use and effects of global virtual teams as a tool in the logistics and supply chain management classroom to prepare students in a simulation environment for the demands of their future careers in the profession. Design/methodology/approach: Literature of logistics and supply chain management education is combined with streams from management learning literature. The way the tool of global virtual teams was applied is explained, followed by an analysis of quantitative and qualitative participant response data. From the data analysis the effects of individual factors in the design and application of the global virtual team are isolated and recommendations are extracted for future use of the tool. Findings: The paper finds that the application of global virtual teams helped participating students to develop the management skills required for a career in logistics and supply chain management. Although students perceived the international nature and the lose frame provided by the tool as challenges, most learning effects were caused by these challenges. The paper also shows that the set up by the involved educators is crucial for the learning effect in particular towards similar weights of the assessments and the number of group members from each geographical area. Research limitations/implications: The paper does not examine all potentially amendable factors but focusses on those that were seen as relevant and practically achievable under the available resources to ensure the tool can be easily scaled up by adding further institutions and participants. Originality/value: The paper is the first application of global virtual teams in logistics and supply chain management education. It provides the theoretical foundations and rationale for its application and is relevant to educators by giving them access to this tool for improvement of their students’ career preparedness

Leaving A No-Risk 36 Percent Return On The Table: Supply Chain Finance Opportunities Managing Payables Discounts

Supply chain management has traditionally emphasized managing the physical flow of parts and finished goods. The next natural evolutionary step is developing the management of supply chain finance across multiple trading partners. One of these opportunities requires investigation of managing payment discounts. Traditionally, suppliers offer a discount to buyers to encourage earlier payment. Terms such as 2/10 n/30 allow for a 2% discount if the entire purchase is paid in full within the 10-day discount period instead of the customary 30 days. This 2% payment reduction translates into the equivalent of an annual return of 36%, resulting in the traditional rule of thumb to take the discount whenever possible. For a variety of reasons, only a small percentage of buyers actually are capturing these high returns. There is a disconnect between trading partners for using discounts for managing working capital across the supply. This paper explores the beneficial impact of participating in early payment discount programs, potential reasons for failing to capture discounts and possible solutions and offers research questions to guide future research to aid in improving this supply chain finance opportunity

Electronic Commerce and Rapid Delivery: The Missing Logistical Link

In the span of just a few short years, the World Wide Web (WWW) has emerged from the laboratories of computer scientists into the homes of millions of ordinary people. A recent CommerceNet/Nielsen Media Research Survey (http://www. commerce.net/news/press/121197.html 12/11/97), estimated that 58 million adults now use the Internet in the U.S. and Canada and an estimated 48 million people use the Web. However, it is estimated that only 10 million people (16 years of age or older) have actually made a purchase on the WWW. While there appears to be a significant trend in the growth of electronic commerce (or simply, EC), the lack of transaction and personal security, consumer uncertainty about quality of goods of services bought over the Internet, consumer inertia in general, lack of knowledge, and the often poor performance of the WWW are frequently cited as reasons why people do not shop on the Web. The authors believe that for the present and for some time into the future, a major source of customer dissatisfaction will stem from EC’s inability to deliver tangible products and services quickly and inexpensively. Consumers will come to expect not just “Next Day” deliveries, but also “Same Day” deliveries for a wide array of products in the same way that they expect to be able to make real time airline, hotel and automobile reservations today

Biomass production of herbaceous energy crops in the United States: field trial results and yield potential maps from the multiyear regional feedstock partnership

Current knowledge of yield potential and best agronomic management practices for perennial bioenergy grasses is primarily derived from small-scale and short-term studies, yet these studies inform policy at the national scale. In an effort to learn more about how bioenergy grasses perform across multiple locations and years, the U.S. Department of Energy (US DOE)/Sun Grant Initiative Regional Feedstock Partnership was initiated in 2008. The objectives of the Feedstock Partnership were to (1) provide a wide range of information for feedstock selection (species choice) and management practice options for a variety of regions and (2) develop national maps of potential feedstock yield for each of the herbaceous species evaluated. The Feedstock Partnership expands our previous understanding of the bioenergy potential of switchgrass, Miscanthus, sorghum, energycane, and prairie mixtures on Conservation Reserve Program land by conducting long-term, replicated trials of each species at diverse environments in the U.S. Trials were initiated between 2008 and 2010 and completed between 2012 and 2015 depending on species. Field-scale plots were utilized for switchgrass and Conservation Reserve Program trials to use traditional agricultural machinery. This is important as we know that the smaller scale studies often overestimated yield potential of some of these species. Insufficient vegetative propagules of energycane and Miscanthus prohibited farm-scale trials of these species. The Feedstock Partnership studies also confirmed that environmental differences across years and across sites had a large impact on biomass production. Nitrogen application had variable effects across feedstocks, but some nitrogen fertilizer generally had a positive effect. National yield potential maps were developed using PRISM-ELM for each species in the Feedstock Partnership. This manuscript, with the accompanying supplemental data, will be useful in making decisions about feedstock selection as well as agronomic practices across a wide region of the country

Biomass production of herbaceous energy crops in the United States: field trial results and yield potential maps from the multiyear regional feedstock partnership

Current knowledge of yield potential and best agronomic management practices for perennial bioenergy grasses is primarily derived from small-scale and short-term studies, yet these studies inform policy at the national scale. In an effort to learn more about how bioenergy grasses perform across multiple locations and years, the U.S. Department of Energy (US DOE)/Sun Grant Initiative Regional Feedstock Partnership was initiated in 2008. The objectives of the Feedstock Partnership were to (1) provide a wide range of information for feedstock selection (species choice) and management practice options for a variety of regions and (2) develop national maps of potential feedstock yield for each of the herbaceous species evaluated. The Feedstock Partnership expands our previous understanding of the bioenergy potential of switchgrass, Miscanthus, sorghum, energycane, and prairie mixtures on Conservation Reserve Program land by conducting long-term, replicated trials of each species at diverse environments in the U.S. Trials were initiated between 2008 and 2010 and completed between 2012 and 2015 depending on species. Field-scale plots were utilized for switchgrass and Conservation Reserve Program trials to use traditional agricultural machinery. This is important as we know that the smaller scale studies often overestimated yield potential of some of these species. Insufficient vegetative propagules of energycane and Miscanthus prohibited farm-scale trials of these species. The Feedstock Partnership studies also confirmed that environmental differences across years and across sites had a large impact on biomass production. Nitrogen application had variable effects across feedstocks, but some nitrogen fertilizer generally had a positive effect. National yield potential maps were developed using PRISM-ELM for each species in the Feedstock Partnership. This manuscript, with the accompanying supplemental data, will be useful in making decisions about feedstock selection as well as agronomic practices across a wide region of the country