What’s on the minds of future business and supply chain executives?

Tuesday afternoon, I took a short road trip from Raleigh to Burlington for a keynote I was presenting at Elon University on Global Supply Chain issues. I’ve given speeches to executives around the world on just about any supply chain topic you can name, but I particularly look forward to interacting with young folks and finding out what’s on the minds of our future business and supply chain execs.

The students at Elon University didn’t fail to deliver! Questions ranged from fuel consumption, carbon footprints, implications of outsourcing, the U.S. losing manufacturing jobs, automotive industry viability, China being an open market for U.S. goods, China pushing manufacturing jobs to Vietnam, and more. These are all difficult and important questions that will certainly affect everyone’s future.

The most memorable exchange that took place with a student was in response to a statement I made on China being a capitalistic country, not a communist country. "What are the benefits of single party rule?" the student asked. And my response was that they get things done with little debate. This was followed by, "What if what they get done is not properly looking at human rights?" I responded by pointing out that I am a supply chain guy, not an ethics guy, so I am not sure that I’m the best person to ask about human rights.

I do know that human rights are a trade off. For example, a family lives in a house that blocks the expansion of a much needed highway and maybe even a spotted owl lives in the backyard of the family’s house. In the U.S., we do 7 years of study and even then probably do not build the highway. In China, they quickly build the highway. Being a supply chain guy, I like the highway as it provides for the improvement of life for many individuals and reduced transportation costs for many companies. Business is full of trade-offs, and our job is to weigh these trade-offs and make good decisions.

I have no doubt that this sharp group of students will be successful in their future career paths, since they are already on track with learning the prerequisites of what it takes for supply chains to be global in the 21st century.

For more information on my keynote, check out the Elon website:

http://www.elon.edu/e-net/Note.aspx?id=935471

Jim