Department of Information Technology and Supply Chain Management faculty Matt Castel, Tom Gattiker and Jim Kroes along with Andrew Manikus of the University of Louisville authored “The operational impacts of chief supply chain officers in manufacturing firms,” which was published in Production Planning and Control. The journal publishes research on all aspects of operations management including supply chain management and business improvement.
In their study, the authors investigate whether supply chain characteristics of manufacturing firms differ within firms with chief supply chain officers (CSCOs). Results find that the presence of a CSCO in a firm is associated with shorter cash conversion cycles, lower levels of operational slack, and larger buffers of inventory during periods of high market instability.