Interview with Alex Soave on MSUSCMA

Alex Soave, a member of Beta Theta Phi, is an active member in MSUSCMA, Michigan State University Supply Chain Management Association. I have already joined this association in the summer itself when I found out about it on the Supply Chain Management Department home page. Some of the conclusions I drew from seeing photos and events on the department page and even on facebook are that the events and meeting they hold have fortune 500 companies come in and talk about their companies and also look at future employees as well. One of the biggest events that the MSUSCMA has is the career fair in January for members of their club and also for Supply Chain Majors who are not part of this club. Since I have not been to any of the meetings, I will ask Chase some questions about the club on Sunday when I see him for our fraternity's flag football game.

1. What role do members play in MSUSCMA?
     Some members can become on the E-board and help organize many of the events. Most of the members just come and listen to the Information sessions.

2. Besides career fair, what other big events does MSUSCMA hold and participate in?
     Some major events include the pre-career fair, information sessions where companies come to the club meetings and recruit, Bar Crawl Hay Ride, where members take trips across the country to visit companies.

3. Is there a fee for membership in the club?
    Yes, depending on your grade. For freshman, its free.

4. Do freshman have a big role in the club meetings/events? What kind of role do the upperclassmen have in the club?
           Freshman mostly get to meet people and start their networking opportunities. Upperclassmen plan the events and help out with the career fairs. Also, upperclassmen can run for an E-Board position as well.

5. Can you get internships and even jobs after graduation through this club? If so, how?
          Yes, through the club website, you can submit your resume to a folder where it sends your resume to various companies.


6. Do you have any plans of running for a position within this club?
        No, it is too late for me since I am graduating this year

7. Does MSUSCMA travel around the country to visit other companies that hire supply chain majors? If so, which companies and what do the members do on the trip?
         Yes, they mostly travel in the mid-west region of the country. In the past, they visited Proctor and Gamble and General Electric in Cincinnati.


8. Does club teach its members about Supply Chain? Or is this club an opportunity for networking and job opportunities?
            Both, the club is an opportunity for networking and job opportunities and companies come in and hold information sessions on the company and also on supply chain management.



9. Which aspect do you like the most about MSUSCMA?
        Being able to talk to companies and figuring out about what they are all about

10.  Why would you advise other Supply Chain majors to join this club?
           It's a great club to meet people/new friends and also for networking opportunities You want a job after graduation!

My open blog post will be on the interview with Chase and his responses to these questions and also about more information about MSUSCMA. I am very excited for this interview!

Open Blog Post on the Interview with Ramya

So last night I was at Ramya's house for dinner. I had the opportunity to sit down with her and ask her some of my questions. Her responses were all helpful in my search of more knowledge of supply chain management. Besides responding to my interview questions, she talked more about the supply chain professors at MSU, how to be involved at MSU Supply Chain Association, and how to approach companies at the career fair. To me, one of the best answers I got out of her was how she defined supply chain. It made way more sense compared to the complex books I have been reading and the articles I have been reading too. She also told me about some of the best professors who teach Supply Chain at MSU. She suggested to email them and get more information about supply chain management and also to show them that I care about getting ahead and being successful in getting teacher recommendations for jobs and internships. Ramya's brother, Rajeev, also studied Supply Chain Management and graduated last May. He works for Amazon in Seattle and he also gave me some advice regarding classes and internships. Some aspects of Supply Chain Management that I learned from both Ramya and Rajeev is that it is such a unique style and piece of business. It deals with more with logical thinking and practical planning than any other business field. Also, I learned that in order to be a successful supply chain manager, you must be a go-getter, take risks, and put yourself out there to show that you want to achieve and accomplish something. From blogging today and my interviews with both Ramya and Rajeev, I learned that in order to be successful, you must be committed, dedicated, and passionate about what you do, otherwise you wont be successful and most importantly happy with your career choice. I could easily tell that both Rajeev and Ramya were interested and passionate about Supply Chain Management and the business profession in general. Overall, my experiences with the both of them were very helpful and I definitely know that if I have any questions, I will be able to go to them!

Interview Questions about Supply Chain Management

For this assignment, I decided to interview one of my dear friends Ramya Gudipati. Ramya has been a family friend for many years and definitely someone I look upto. Ramya went to Michigan State University and was a Supply Chain Major. She graduated in 2011 and works for Cap-Gemini in Chicago. Ramya was very active here at MSU and helped me alot with my research in Supply Chain Management. Here are some of the questions I plan on asking her about SCM and her experiences with the degree.


Q: What made you choose Supply Chain Management here at MSU out of all the other business majors?

A: I chose supply chain management for a couple of reasons. My primary reason was that it was a good program at MSU. My second reason was that it was a unique piece of business. its outside out of a regular business degree.  Lastly, I love to think logically and supply chain is all about that!


Q:  If you had to define Supply Chain Management in the simplest way, how would you describe it?

A: The simplest way to describe Supply Chain Management is following the tracking and designing the entire process of a product being made in from start to finish and also how the product is disposed.

Q: What aspect about Supply Chain Management interests you the most?

A: Network Designing- basically using different modes of transportation and how you can create the valuable and efficient way of moving a product.

Q: What kind of opportunities does a Supply Chain Management major present itself? jobs wise, internships wise, etc?

A: MSU recruits a lot of students for Supply Chain Management majors. A lot of students get internships their sophomore and junior years and a high percentage of student get great jobs right after graduation.

Q:  What kind of companies recruit Supply Chain majors?

A:  fortune 500 companies and consulting companies recruit supply chain majors

Q:  Why do you believe Supply Chain Management is the best major at MSU?

A: It's a highly ranked program at MSU
     

Q: What kind of classes did you have to take for a SCM major? What were the interesting classes and what did you learn from them?

A:  Three main classes for supply chain. operations, purchasing, and logistics. junior year. senior year- capstone course, business writing. 5 diff classes- negotiations, supply chain decision modeling. biggest thing learn is figuring out and who has power and how to manage your power. leverage that aspect. recognize your power, obtaining power, etc


Q. Apart from grades and internships, what kind of skills/abilities do you need to be a supply chain major and are these skills important to the companies you work in?

A: other than grades, you have to be able to push yourself, need to be self motivated, find purpose with what your doing and a sense of passion. Be a go-getter and need to be able to talk to people and deal with people.


 Q: Did you know a lot about Supply Chain Management when you were a freshman/sophomore? If not, how did you learn about the major?

A:  My freshman year, I didn't know much about supply chain management. I set up meetings with professors and counselors and talked to upperclassmen. I joined various clubs and organizations and only then did I know that supply chain management was the right major


Q: What kinds of management are involved in Supply Chain Management? And how are they apart of Supply Chain?

A: Operation Management- Keeping up with the daily operations and maintaining them at the optimum value, overseeing and managing different operations, balancing your execution, and managing your team.


 Q: Does Supply Chain majors have opportunities to work in companies across the world?

 A: It's what they do. The next 20 years logistics will be growing fast and doing international business.

 Q: Were you involved in any Supply Chain clubs at MSU?

 A: Yes I was. I was apart of MSU Supply Chain Management Association

 Q: What do you exactly do at Cap-Gemini? Whats your job description?

 A: I am an entry level consultant. I respond with technologies. I implant technologies with fortune 500 companies.


Professors she suggested for me to talk to - John McDonald. SCM 373.
 London study abroad- Shred Talluri  Masters PhD.
                                   
                                     
                                     



                                 

Delivery and Style and its effects on the field of Supply Chain Management

Well, firstly, I am extremely fortunate to have researched more about Supply Chain Management and discovering more and more about it through a blog post, a trade journal, and a scholarly article.  Out of the three, I enjoyed the blog post the most for the reason being that I was able to understand quite well compared to the other two articles. I was able to understand why the social media, communication, and business negotiations are important for supply chain companies. I found the style of the Infosys blog to be informative, persuasive, professional, and educational. Informative and persuasive were the two biggest stylistic choices that were employed so effectively in the article. Throughout the blog, I was convinced that social media is extremely important in Supply Chain companies to prosper and do business with other companies. The trade journal talked about communication and personal relationships in the business world. It was somewhat similar to the material covered in the blog, but with more detail and more formalities, I found this journal to be somewhat boring and dull. The style was professional, formal, and influential as well. However, it was difficult to comprehend some parts of the journal. Lastly, the scholarly article discussed the logistics aspect of supply chain management and demonstrated some statistics about the U.S. Freight Transportation Markets. It style was informative and influential and this was definitely more interesting than the trade journal. All of these pieces have been delivered on the Internet, which shows that these three blogs and articles are informative and influential for the public to read and understand, especially for people in the Supply Chain profession. The purpose of these blogs and articles is to demonstrate to the audience how important social media, logistics, communication, and personal business relationships are important in the Supply Chain profession and how it is important to have these skills and abilities to further place in higher positions in the supply chain companies.

Works Cited.

Supply Chain Collaboration and Social Media." Weblog post. Infosys, n.d. Web. 5 Sept. 2012. <http://www.infosysblogs.com/supply-chain/2012/09/supply_chain_collaboration_and.html>.

 Gligor, David M.; Chad Autry,. "The role of personal relationships in facilitating supply chain communications: a qualitative study.(Report)." Journal of Supply Chain Management. National Association of Purchasing Management, Inc. 2012. HighBeam Research. 13 Sep. 2012 <http://www.highbeam.com>.

 "Focus: Transportation Management." Logistics News: Nearly All Freight Modes in Balance Right Now, Stifel Nicolaus Says, but Future May Be Troubling for Shippers. Supply Chain Digest, n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2012. <http://www.scdigest.com/ontarget/12-09-11-1.php?cid=6189>.

Who I am, What I am all about, and My goals in Life

To be honest, I would not consider myself to be a great writer. Whenever I am writing, it is usually for an assignment in my English class or for some sort of job that I had in the past, but importantly never for pleasure. However, I do realize the significance writing has on our education system today and the impact it has on our career paths in the future. As a student, I was always strong in math, social sciences, and communication which are all the qualities of a successful businessman. I love solving simple arithmetic, learning about economics and history, and communicating with different groups of people from all paths of life. I figured with these extraordinary talents, I could flourish in the business world and do well for myself and perhaps even one day own a company relating to my major. I plan on studying Supply Chain Management here at Michigan State University. Before starting my freshman year, I read a lot about Supply Chain Management and it was very interested. The logistics and strategy of getting products and goods from one place to the other fascinated me and made me curious about this major. Also being ranked number one in the country at Michigan State University excited me, knowing that I will go great places with this degree. Through my writing class, I am very glad and excited to know that I will be researching more about my major. I will find out more information through reliable sources such as textbooks, journals, newspapers, and maybe even advisors. My goals for my blog include finding more information about my major, what I can pursue with it, what companies I could work for in the future, will this major take me to even bigger places, will this major make me earn a decent amount of money, and finally if this actually what I want to do for the rest of my life. Hopefully, this blogging assignment will improve my writing abilities and will help me learn a lot more on my major.

Why MSU? Why Supply Chain Mgt.?- Free Topic Blog(1)

Well, there are mean reason why I chose Supply Chain Management as a major here at Michigan State University. Supply Chain Management is one of the best business majors at this university. It is a popular major here and a good major for getting a nice, stable job right after the graduation. My whole life I was always wanted a sense of security especially through my academic career. When I heard about Supply Chain Management, I was interested to know about this popular major rapidly growing here at MSU. I did a lot of research on it, talked to family friends and cousins who pursued the same major, read articles and journals, and talked to people currently in the profession. They all responded with positive messages and suggestions about the major and how you can do so much with the major. But I questioned and doubted myself. Why do something that is just good and that everyone says you should? Shouldn't you be passionate about what you want to do? So, that is what I did. I became passionate about Supply Chain and the profession.  I read more and more about the profession and major, and even took use of all the opportunities that MSU has to offer through promoting Supply Chain. I hope to be part of the MSUSCMA club here, get great internships in the upcoming summers, and hopefully at the end of my four years at MSU, find a great job through one of the best companies in the country that offer jobs to Supply Chain Majors. Also watching couple of videos on youtube made me understand a lot more about Supply Chain Management, then reading articles and journals about Supply Chain. These videos basically emphasized the importance of Supply Chain Management and how it is an important business major. They emphasized the importance of manufacturing, logistics, distributing, strategizing, and most importantly logistics. Through my blogging today and through the lecture(video), I learned that Supply Chain Management is a complex business field that requires a lot of research and study on it. Mastering the content of Supply Chain and developing a good understanding of it can eventually get you into some of the best companies in the country such as Microsoft, Proctor and Gamble, Amazon, Accenture, and Cap Gemini.

Works Cited 

"Http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mi1QBxVjZAw." Arizona State University's Twelve-part Introduction to Supply Chain Management Video Series. Arizona State University, Metro      
Phoenix. 2010. Lecture.

Questions and Answers on Global Supply Chain Management

1. Question: When did Global Supply Chain Management become prevalent?
    Answer : It has become a "hot topic" in the last 15 years. Every company today either sources globally, sells globally, or competes with some company that does. Thus, global supply chain management represents a central area of focus for many businesses and business schools today.

2. Question: How complex is GCSM?
    Answer: This field is diffuse and complex. Many methods and perspectives on GSCM have emerged from logistics, operations, marketing, management, economics, sociology, information systems, and international relations.

3. Question: What exactly is GCSM?
    Answer: the systemic, strategic coordination of the traditional business functions within a particular company and across businesses within the supply chain, for the purposes of improving the long-term performance of the individual companies and the supply chain as a whole.


4. Question:  How does Management play a role in GCSM?
     Answer: Value Management, Product and Service Management, Demand Management, Relationship Management, Resource Management are play huge roles in GCSM which help get products and goods from one place to the other.

5. Question: How does Managing Value play a role in GCSM?
     Answer: Managing Value means to develop formal processes that uncover what customers around the globe value and create products and services that help to create value for customers.

6. Question: What is the process of General Value Management Strategy?
     Answer: Identifying the value, choose the value, provide the value, communicate the value,assess the delivered value.

7. Question: What are the top schools for Supply Chain Management in the country?
    Answer: Michigan State University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ohio State University, Arizona State University

8. Question: What are some of the companies that Supply Chain Majors work for after graduation?
     Answer: There are a lot. Some companies include: General Electric, Deloitte, Accenture, Microsoft, Nestle, Coca-cola, JcPenny, BP, Amazon, etc

9. Question: What is Demand Management?
     Answer: the creation across the supply chain and its markets of a coordinated flow of demand.

10. Question: What is the one central element of GCSM?
       Answer: Logistics

Works Cited

Mentzer, John T., Matthew B. Myers, and Theodore P. Stank. Handbook of Global Supply Chain       

Management. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2007. Print.