Students Finish High in Bowersox Supply Chain Challenge
JONESBORO – Four Arkansas State University students from the College of Business recorded the school’s highest finish ever in the ninth annual Bowersox Supply Chain Challenge hosted by Michigan State University in East Lansing last week.
Members of the Arkansas State University team that finished fourth in the Bowersox Supply Chain Management Challenge include (from left) Dr. Michelle Li, assistant professor of supply chain/operations management; Kristen Vaughn of Jonesboro; Richard Crawford of Melbourne; Josh Goldsmith of Benoni, South Africa; Travis McCloskey of Bella Vista and Dr. Shane Hunt, professor of marketing and the R.M. “Bob” Wood Endowed Professor in Sales Leadership.
A-State came in fourth of 15 teams representing MSU, Brigham Young, Ohio State, Wisconsin, Central Michigan, Duquesne, Grand Valley State, Miami, Northeastern, Texas Christian, North Florida, Wayne State, West Virginia and Western Michigan. Wisconsin was the winner, followed by TCU and Northeastern.
“It was such an awesome trip,” said Dr. Shane Hunt, professor of marketing and the R.M. “Bob” Wood Endowed Professor in Sales Leadership. “We were the smallest university in the competition, but our students were amazing. We finished ahead of several of the top 30 business schools in the world including Michigan State, Ohio State, and BYU and the other faculty at those schools could not say enough positive things about our team.”
Participating students from Arkansas State’s global supply chain management program include Travis McCloskey of Bella Vista, Richard Crawford of Melbourne, Kristen Vaughn of Jonesboro and Josh Goldsmith of Benoni, South Africa. Hunt and Dr. Dong “Michelle” Li, assistant professor of supply chain/operations management, accompanied the team.
Dr. John Mello, director of the center for supply chain management and professor of supply chain management, worked to train and prepare the students for the competition.
“Our students put in a great deal of their personal time to prepare for the competition,” said Mello. “Their excellent placement in the competition reflects their hard work and determination. This team truly represented what students can accomplish when they are motivated to excel and unafraid of competition from larger universities with much bigger supply chain programs. I could not be more proud of them.”
“Dr. Mello's training indeed played an important role on the excellent performance of our students in the competition,” noted Dr. Li. “I heard from other teams that they focused on small-scale case studies rather than, what Dr. Mello did in training the students, the simulation of scenarios and decisions in complex, large-scale supply chains. This indeed prepared the students very well for the competition and also for their hands-on knowledge in supply chain decisions in practice.”
Global supply chain management encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in the flows of products, services, finances, and information from a source to a customer and integrates supply and demand across all types of organizations on an international scale.
Arkansas State offers a Bachelor of Science degree in global supply chain management that provides education and training for those interested in planning and implementing successful supply chain strategies, both domestically and internationally. Career opportunities are in the areas of logistics, e-commerce, purchasing, manufacturing and international business.
