Considering Supply Chain Management's Professional Identity: The Beautiful Discipline (Or, “We Don't Cure Cancer, But We Do Make a Big Difference”)

• Date: 01 September 2013
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/jbl.12018
• Author: Matthew A. Waller,Stanley E. Fawcett
• Published date: 01 September 2013

Editorial

Considering Supply Chain Management's Professional Identity:

The Beautiful Discipline (Or, “We Don’t Cure Cancer, But We Do

Make a Big Difference”)

Stanley E. Fawcett

1

and Matthew A. Waller

2

1

Weber State University

2

University of Arkansas

In recent months, we have participated in various discussions on the future of logistics and supply chain management (SCM). As the newest

business discipline, it is not surprising that SCM is going through growing pains and seeking to chart its future course and define a mean-

ingful destiny. Considering professional identity—that is, who are we and what do we do—is a natural part of maturation. As JBL exists to help

construct the discipline’s identity, we address SCM’s value-creation competence as a source of identity construction. As we explain, SCM’s

economic and social contributions are not just noteworthy but remarkable. Modern SCM makes a difference to the people of the world, driving

economic growth and raising living standards. Truly, it is a good time to be a supply chain professional. Much research, however, needs to be

conducted if we are to fulfill SCM’s value-creation promise.

Keywords: supply chain management; professional identity construction; value creation

INTRODUCTION

Among professional business disciplines, supply chain manage-

ment (SCM) is the new kid in the neighborhood. Although the

phrase “supply chain management”appeared in the literature as

early as 1982 (Oliver and Webber 1982), the idea that firms

could win competitive battles by managing value-added pro-

cesses from “suppliers’supplier to customers’customer”did not

begin to gain traction until the mid-1990s (Elliff 1996, 55).

Shortly thereafter, Dyer and Singh (1998) articulated the rela-

tional view of competition to describe how firms integrate com-

plementary competencies across interfirm boundaries to create

distinctive value and earn monopoly rents. By 2004, the Council

of Logistics Management changed its name to the Council of

Supply Chain Management Professionals. SCM had arrived.

Today, Fortune 500 companies use the SCM moniker to identify

senior executives and supply chain leaders like Tim Cook at

Apple and Lee Scott/Mike Duke at Walmart have taken the

reigns as CEOs of some of the world’s most visible, thriving

companies. SCM has been called the “Hot New M.B.A.”and a

growing number of business schools are renaming departments

and adopting supply chain curriculums to meet burgeoning

demand for managers with supply chain expertise (Korn 2013).

Despite persistent steps forward into the strategic domain, as

the “new”kid, SCM continues to encounter growing pains. Met-

aphorically speaking, we might compare SCM to an awkward,

insecure teenager, seeking to find her place in the world and still

striving to prove her worth. By comparison, peer disciplines like

accounting and finance—which are often referred to as “the lan-

guage of business”—are long established and mature. Similarly,

marketing—which is widely perceived as the “gateway to the

customer”—is self-assured in its stature. These disciplines feel

no need to justify their importance. What then is the source of

SCM’s professional identity—both now and in the future?

Previously, we have argued that SCM is the “business of busi-

ness”(Fawcett et al. 2011, 116). SCM has long been managed

as the back office required for companies to deliver on their

promised value propositions. Unfortunately, as the back office,

SCM has seldom found itself in the spotlight and has often been

taken for granted. However, world-class SCM practices (or the

lack thereof) repeatedly make the difference between success and

failure—something Michael Porter (1990) called the central ques-

tion of strategic management. Consider, for example, the core

causes of the bursting of the dot-com bubble. The online retailers

that flamed out had failed to build the back office logistics to

support their slick, convenient front-end customer interfaces. This

value-creation challenge is universal. Companies that do not

build outstanding value-creation capabilities always struggle to

meet customer needs and stay in business.

What does this mean for SCM’s identity? Simply stated, sup-

ply chain management is the value-creation engine of the modern

organization. Knowing this, supply chain decision makers should

stand secure in their role as value creators. Let us elaborate

briefly on SCM’s value-creation role using traditional economic

and less-frequently framed social value-creation arguments.

THE ECONOMIC ARGUMENT FOR SCM’S VALUE-

CREATION ROLE

Over the past decade and a half, supply chain professionals have

taken refuge in economic arguments to justify higher levels of

strategic visibility. Two core economic arguments are frequently

articulated: (1) economic utility and (2) economic activity.

Journal of Business Logistics, 2013, 34(3): 183–188

© Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals