U of A Walton College Initiatives Supply Chain Management Research Center Research Serving as a connector between industry, faculty, and students, the Supply Chain Management Research Center is a hub for exchanging ideas, advancing supply chain knowledge, and cultivating the success of Supply Chain Management students.
Discover how COVID-19 disrupted air freight markets and transformed supply chain strategies, from initial shock through industry adaptation and recovery
10/22/2024 | By Victoria Hernandez, Rodney Thomas
Growing consumer awareness and demand have pushed companies to adopt robust CSR practices, influencing their supply chain partners to align with these values.
08/20/2024 | By Kaslyn Tidmore; Jason Ridge
Doing business with the government creates challenges & unexpected effects on firms' bottom lines; finding the right balance and customer mix is crucial.
08/15/2024 | By Mitchell Simpson; Brian Fugate and Matt Waller
Disaster relief workers deal with demanding, traumatic work environments; supervisor support & collaborative, synchronized organizations help immensely.
04/23/2024 | By Alyssa Riley; Iana Shaheen and David Dobryzkowski
New research identifies five lessons learned from COVID-19 that can help managers develop supply chain resiliency to prepare for future potential disruptions.
03/12/2024 | By Alyssa Riley; Remko van Hoek
The future of automation doesn’t necessarily need to be zero-sum. Instead, integrating automation with human inputs can improve quality and response times.
12/07/2023 | By Mitchell Simpson, John Aloysius
Working sustainability into a company’s supply chain is easier said than done. New research highlights the role of Bayer's supplier code of conduct.
12/05/2023 | By Mitchell Simpson, Remko van Hoek
In times of resource scarcity and disruption, food banks and other humanitarian organizations turn to innovation to increase efficiency and attract new donors.
09/26/2023 | By Nabiha Khetani, Iana Shaheen
Rigidities in the supply of truck drivers and truck availability have a lot in common with Greek tragedies because of the market's boom-and-bust nature.
09/12/2023 | By Andrew Balthrop, Jonathan Phares
Some organizations are better poised than others to resist the downsides of contracting with the largest consumer in the world: the U.S. government.
08/22/2023 | By Jack Travis, Brian Fugate
Intermodal transportation is environmentally promising, but infrastructure, competition, regulatory, and network efficiency barriers still remain.
07/07/2023 | By Matt Waller and Andrew Balthorp
Recent bank failures threaten to plunge the economy into recession. Bank runs also threaten supply chain finance, resulting in supply chain disruptions.
05/11/2023 | By Andrew Balthrop, Jason Miller
Women Impacting Supply Chain Excellence asks how students, faculty, and industry leaders can help build a more inclusive, diverse future for supply chains.
03/09/2023 | By Stephanie Thomas
What if businesses could increase their sustainability while reducing strain on their supply chains? Read about low-cost green nudges aimed at consumers.
02/21/2023 | By Mitchell Simpson, Rodney Thomas
Sometimes, it takes supply chain researchers too long to produce practical recommendations. Could an action principles research model provide the solution?
02/09/2023 | By Mitchell Simpson, Remko van Hoek, Mary Lacity
Inflation impacts healthcare supply chain infrastructure and creates asymmetrical price stickiness. Could SCM education be key to fighting these effects?
12/01/2022 | By Ryan Sheets, David Dobrzykowski, Claudia Rosales, Andrew Balthorp
Inflation poses a particular challenge in the healthcare industry. Supply chain costs for the industry have risen faster than revenues, resulting in a squeeze for industry. Furthermore, disruptions in healthcare supply chains have resulted in higher cost increases than reported. JB Hunt Department of Supply Chain Management faculty discuss strategies for healthcare providers in the latest SCMRC white paper.
Monday, November 14, 2022 8:51:19 AM PST
As e-commerce sites try to cut costs and reduce their carbon footprint by incentivizing customers to choose no-rush shipping, new research shows that the solution may be as simple as giving shoppers information on carbon emissions.
09/29/2022 | By Ron Gordon
Employees are wary of automation, but a streamlined supply chain is a huge asset to most companies. How does robotic process automation respond to this problem?
09/15/2022 | By Ryan Sheets, Remko van Hoek, Mary Lacity
Researchers from New Zealand's EROAD and the U of A's Freight Transportation Data Research Lab have created a system that can help show policymakers where funding is most needed.
08/24/2022 | By Ron Gordon
When policymakers failed to tame inflation in the late 60s and early to mid 70s, Americans came to expect prices to keep rising. That mindset helped fuel a “Great Inflation” that lasted until 1982.
07/27/2022 | By Ron Gordon, Andrew Balthrop
Necessity's the mother of invention, but is scarcity the mother of innovation? Hunger relief NFPs' response to dire operating circumstances prove it is.
07/19/2022 | By Miranda Stith, Iana Shaheen
Gartner ranked U of A's undergraduate supply chain program #1 for two consecutive cycles. Find out why students, and the companies that hire them, should care.
06/23/2022 | By Stephen Caldwell
It is not clear that retailers can stop scalpers from buying up high-demand products — or that they are especially incentivized to do so.
06/22/2022 | By Ron Gordon
Policies addressing highly visible e-commerce problems may do more harm than good, especially if they reinforce the status quo and foreclose on new ideas.
06/21/2022 | By Mitchell Simpson, Robert Jensen, Brent Williams
While gas prices are up, gas station profits are down. And though oil refineries have had several strong quarters, they do not appear to be profiteering.
Friday, June 17, 2022 7:23:48 AM PDT | By Jason Miller, Ron Gordon
Gas prices are up, but gas station profits are down. And though oil refineries have had several strong quarters, they do not appear to be profiteering.
06/17/2022 | By Jason Miller, Ron Gordon
The infant formula shortage shows a need to diversify the market and improve the industry's capacity for product recalls.
06/14/2022 | By Dave Ketchen, Andrew Balthrop, Ron Gordon
Record manufacturer Gold Rush Vinyl has faced many of the same supply chain issues firms in other industries have grappled with during the pandemic — and some that are very unique.
06/02/2022 | By Ron Gordon
For some firms, a more horizontally complex - aka diversified - supply chain allows them to more efficiently turn inventory over and provides needed resiliency.
05/17/2022 | By Mitchell Simpson, Claudia Rosales
When inspection events are announced in advance, carriers often park their trucks instead of paying for maintenance. But announced inspections still serve a purpose.
05/17/2022 | By Ron Gordon
Food prices were already soaring before Russia's invasion of Ukraine raised prices for wheat, soybeans, and cooking oils. Rising commodity prices mean we will likely pay even more for food in the coming months.
04/15/2022 | By Jason Miller, Ron Gordon
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has further inflated prices for oil, natural gas, coal, and fertilizer.
04/11/2022 | By Jason Miller, Ron Gordon
Supply chain disruptions and record consumer demand kept inventory levels low through most of 2020 and 2021. Retailers have finally been able to replenish their inventories — but cooling demand could make them wish they hadn't.
04/07/2022 | By Jason Miller, Ron Gordon
New research discusses the benefits of women’s inclusion in the supply chain team dynamic and shows that women supply chain professionals are more collaborative.
03/30/2022 | By Ryan Sheets, Evan Wordlaw, John Aloysius
In January, the U.S. government began mailing at-home COVID-19 tests directly to consumers and indirectly providing N95 masks through retailers. While each distribution method has its pros and cons, indirect distribution seems to be the best option for similar programs in the future.
03/16/2022 | By Dave Ketchen, Jessica Darby, Ron Gordon
The pandemic is global, and our efforts to mitigate its effects must also be global. Find out how marketing, retail, and other sectors can act effectively.
03/15/2022 | By Emilija Sarma, Scot Burton
From the outside, supply chains can seem simple and straightforward. Find out how recent events have affected them and why they can be so hard to safeguard.
02/23/2022 | By Travis Tokar, Andrew Balthrop, and Ron Gordon
From the outside, supply chains can seem simple and straightforward. Find out how recent events have affected them and why they can be so hard to safeguard.
02/23/2022 | By Travis Tokar, Andrew Balthrop, and Ron Gordon
Uncertainty is causing a historically bad month on Wall Street. That could affect freight markets, but transportation firms should not panic yet.
01/26/2022 | By Andrew Balthrop, Ron Gordon
A handful of food manufacturers dominate certain sectors of the industry, so it is tempting to blame them for rising prices. However, publicly available economic data does not support charges of profiteering.
01/19/2022 | By Jason Miller, Ron Gordon
Elevated sales, low inventories, and Omicron-induced staffing woes help explain why supermarkets are experiencing stockouts.
01/18/2022 | By Jason Miller, Andrew Balthrop
As trucking regulators consider changes to the mandatory drug testing program, we examine the merits of urine, hair, and oral fluid testing; the debate over hair testing; and possible outcomes of policymakers’ recent proposals.
01/11/2022 | By Ron Gordon, Doug Voss, Andrew Balthrop, Joe Cangelosi
As trucking regulators consider changes to the mandatory drug testing program, we examine the merits of urine, hair, and oral fluid testing; the debate over hair testing; and possible outcomes of policymakers’ recent proposals.
01/11/2022 | By Ron Gordon, Doug Voss, Andrew Balthrop, Joe Cangelosi
Sometimes the way to a shopper's heart is a good recommendation. Read this article to see the effects product recommendations can have on consumer trust.
01/10/2022 | By Emilija Sarma, John Aloysius
Read about the latest star in the field of supply chain management and see how the University of Arkansas has used the opportunity to reach and teach.
01/06/2022 | By Stephen Caldwell
Federal economic data does not support Elizabeth Warren’s claim that major grocers are using inflation as an excuse to unnecessarily raise prices.
01/03/2022 | By Jason Miller, Ron Gordon
Recent supply chain disruptions make it tempting to explain inflation by scapegoating high transportation costs. But the data does not support that argument. To better understand the forces at play, we examine the cost of a heavily imported staple of many holiday dinners: seafood.
12/20/2021 | By Jason Miller, Ron Gordon
Technology has come a long way since the “efficiency versus resilience” narrative was written. Firms can now use automation, visibility tools, and data analytics to improve resilience while cutting long term costs.
12/16/2021 | By Jennifer Blackhurst, Ron Gordon
If ports were running smoothly, we would still be experiencing shortages because uncertain demand has flummoxed many supply chain forecasting systems.
12/08/2021 | By Matthew A. Waller, Jason Miller
Trucking has never mattered more in Arkansas - and trucking research expertise has never been higher than now, thanks to the Walton College's efforts.
11/04/2021 | By Ron Gordon, Andrew Balthrop, Brian Fugate, Rod Thomas, Stephanie Thomas, Donnie Williams
Firms in the supply chain seek to further their own interests but also collaborate with their partner firms in order to reap the benefits of an efficient supply chain.
11/01/2021 | By John Aloysius
It's not just virtue signaling: shippers prefer carriers to invest in environmental & social sustainability - so long as it doesn't hurt economic sustainability.
10/29/2021 | By Ron Gordon, Rodney Thomas
Ever wonder if a different approach would energize a team? Same here - these product mindset and product management changes have helped us have better meetings.
10/22/2021 | By Ron Gordon, Brent Williams
Instead of focusing on short-term wins & route profitability, JB Hunt succeeded by analyzing the whole trucking system & by constantly innovating its operations.
09/28/2021 | By Stephen Caldwell
Nobody doubts the value of supply chain resilience; but have policymakers fully considered the tradeoffs for incentivizing or coercing greater resilience?
09/14/2021 | By Ron Gordon, Brent Williams, Brian Fugate, Andrew Balthrop
While adding safety stock or capacity may allow companies to meet unexpected spikes in demand due to disruptions, there are trade-offs to consider.
08/27/2021
Examining women’s current participation in supply chain jobs, the benefits of bringing more women into the supply chain workforce, and suggesting ways to achieve that goal.
08/15/2021
As manufacturers, retailers, and consumers demand sustainability throughout supply chains, shipping managers are scrutinizing current and potential trucking partners’ sustainability as never before…
08/10/2021
On March 17, 2000, lightning struck an Albuquerque, New Mexico, powerline. The resulting surge overloaded the power grid and started a fire in a nearby factory. The blaze destroyed millions of microchips.
06/28/2021
Northwest Arkansas is a very different place than it was 90 years ago.
05/13/2021
Northwest Arkansas is a very different place than it was 90 years ago.
05/13/2021 | By Ron Gordon
Many of the developments that boosted Arkansas’ national profile were inseparable from the growth of its northwestern corner’s supply chain cluster: a concentrated set of supply chain-related business activities.
04/16/2021
Many of the developments that boosted Arkansas’ national profile were inseparable from the growth of its northwestern corner’s supply chain cluster: a concentrated set of supply chain-related business activities.
04/16/2021 | By Ron Gordon
Between 1930 and 1975, the seeds were sown for Northwest Arkansas to emerge as a global business powerhouse.
04/05/2021 | By Ron Gordon
Between 1930 and 1975, the seeds were sown for Northwest Arkansas to emerge as a global business powerhouse.
04/05/2021
The gender composition of the U.S. trucking work force has received a lot of attention recently. Trucking has historically been male-dominated, and with the widespread driver shortage, some have su…
03/17/2021
Though China’s poultry industry has quickly become one of the world’s largest, its food safety standards have not kept pace. Certain widespread practices risk exposing consumers
03/16/2021
The implications are that beyond just diversity initiatives, there may be a business case for more women in supply chain roles that span firm boundaries.
03/05/2021 | By John Aloysius
With the critical role supply chains are playing in the success of modern organizations, a master’s-level education in the field provides a competitive advantage.
03/04/2021 | By Stephen Caldwell
Researchers have largely overlooked the topic of women in trucking, even though recruiting and retaining more female drivers could help the industry address its long-standing driver shortage. Numer…
02/17/2021
Time postponement is a common supply chain strategy wherein fully manufactured and labeled inventory is stored in a distribution center until a nearby retailer places an order. While time postponem…
02/10/2021
The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) of 2011 marked the most comprehensive change in government oversight of food production and processing in over 70 years, shifting toward preventing foodborn…
02/10/2021
A recent study finds that firms whose boards of directors include multiple women recall defective, highly dangerous products more quickly. While the authors find that firms with one female director…
02/10/2021
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s (FMCSA) recently-implemented Crash Preventability Program allows trucking carriers to dispute their fault after they are involved in certain types …
11/30/2020
A better understanding of why drivers quit can help firms address trucking’s long-standing driver retention problem. A new study by Stephanie P. Thomas, Sara Liao-Troth, and Donnie F. Williams anal…
11/18/2020
A degree in supply chain management provides a broad range of career opportunities – inventory analysts, demand planners, purchasing managers, warehouse supervisors, logistics specialists and account representatives, just to name a few.
11/12/2020 | By Stephen Caldwell
Retail medical clinics (RMCs) like Walmart Health, Kroger’s The Little Clinic, and Amazon have the potential to revolutionize American healthcare with innovative delivery models informed by the ret…
10/29/2020
The report – Truck Driver Burnout: Ways Carriers Can Fight Stress-Related Turnover – is a collaboration of SCMRC Executive Director Donnie Williams; Stephanie Thomas, an associate professor of practice in the Department of Supply Chain Management; and communications specialist Ron Gordon.
10/21/2020
Driver turnover forces carriers to spend large sums recruiting and training new drivers. One industry source estimates carriers spend roughly $15,000 to recruit, train, and seat each new driver. Wi…
10/20/2020
Researchers have long recognized that trucking spot market prices affect contract prices. The typical one-year contract between a shipper and carrier is based on spot prices. Though one-time spot m…
10/20/2020
Supply chain management has played a critical role in the pandemic, coordinating shipments of life-saving PPE and medical devices to hospitals around the world – but not without complications. Improving the resilience of these supply chains by closing the gap between literature and practice will help us greatly when the next crisis comes around.
10/16/2020 | By Ryan Decker, Remko Van Hoek
Trucking firms have spent decades trying to address the industry’s driver retention problem. Past attempts have not solved the problem, so we are taking a different approach
10/14/2020
Online shoppers want their cake and to eat it, too; they want premiere logistics services, but they don’t want to pay for it.
08/28/2020 | By Michael Adkison, Brian S. Fugate, Brent D. Williams
When Gartner announced that it had ranked our undergraduate program No. 1 in North America, we were pleasantly surprised, to say the least.
08/13/2020 | By Brian Fugate
After a natural disaster various types of organizations work together to help those affected. Local nongovernmental organizations work alongside national nongovernmental organizations and governmen…
08/05/2020
On December 18, 2017 the U.S. Department of Transportation began requiring carriers to equip nearly all semi-trucks with electronic logging devices (ELDs) that monitor drivers’ working hours
07/31/2020
A full two-thirds of the world’s supply of cobalt is found in the Congo, and tech companies need it to make the lithium-ion batteries in phones, computers and almost every other rechargeable gadget.
07/08/2020 | By Cindy Moehring
Supply chain managers are connect-the-dots sort of people, so they tend to understand just about every aspect of a business and how they fit together.
05/29/2020 | By Stephen Caldwell
As trucking carriers face public and governmental pressure to adopt sustainable practices, the decision to do so is made easier by a growing body of studies showing sustainability’s benefits
05/01/2020
Supply chain managers must try to anticipate future developments and adjust their operations accordingly. One factor managers must attempt to forecast is the likelihood of policy intervention. Pred…
04/26/2020
Spring Break typically finds me in China, but this year I was relaxing on the farm – until an unexpected opportunity arose to contribute to a unique collaboration that now is helping supply hospitals with nearly a million dollars’ worth of much-needed equipment in their fight against COVID-19.
04/16/2020 | By John Kent
The demand for environmental sustainability is high enough that shippers will choose carriers who use green weigh station and tollbooth bypass technology in their trucks, even when those carriers charge slightly more than their less environmentally friendly competitors.
04/10/2020 | By Ron Gordon, Rod Thomas
The world’s population is aging rapidly. This is largely due to a combination of increased life expectancy, lowered fertility rates, and the aging of the large “baby boom” generation. The United Na…
03/18/2020
As a multibillion-dollar industry with a relatively low barrier of entry, the trucking industry consists of both giant firms and single-truck operations. A handful of large carriers each own thousa…
03/14/2020
Stock analysts aren’t yet fully applying network theory in their work, but they do understand the importance of digging deeper into the connections that form a supply network.
03/05/2020 | By Marat Davletshin
Online shoppers value fast shipping, accurate tracking information, and undamaged deliveries. They perceive certain delivery carriers to be superior to others. If highly regarded carriers like FedEx…
03/02/2020
By applying network theory to the challenges of modern supply chains, we can better understand and manage the information and systems that move products from source to market.
02/25/2020 | By Marat Davletshin
Greg Smith has witnessed a great many groundbreaking innovations in supply chain management over the past 35 years, but not as a passive observer.
02/04/2020 | By Donnie Williams
Numerous studies have shown that larger trucking carriers are more compliant with safety regulations than their smaller counterparts. However, there is no consensus on why that is the case. Some ha…
02/01/2020
Government contracts are highly coveted because they offer many benefits. Governments tend to be reliable customers who sign long-term contracts in which cost is not always a criterion. Moreover, g…
01/30/2020
Information Disclosure Programs provide great information to consumers, but often present challenges for supply chain managers. The pressures and effects were the subject of a research project by Walton College professors.
01/24/2020 | By Jeff L. Wright, Jason W. Miller, Brian S. Fugate, Susan L. Golicic
Procurement is a maturing field that faces challenges with meeting its changing (and growing) roles in organizations. One of those challenges is changing the perceptions about the value procurement adds to an enterprise.
01/23/2020 | By Ryan Decker, Remko Van Hoek, Carlos Mena, John Gattorna
Many new companies have been founded by applying data science, predictive analytics, and big data to supply chain management.
01/23/2020 | By Matt Waller
Great people have made J.B. Hunt a great company. Those people represent many different disciplines, but as a leader in the supply chain industry, we obviously depend heavily on leaders with expertise in supply chain management.
01/21/2020 | By Kirk Thompson
Although it is just a date and string of other numbers, a “Sell By” date matters to grocery shoppers and affects their purchasing decisions.
12/20/2019 | By Jeff L. Wright, Brian Fugate
Drive for convenience puts great pressure on suppliers and manufacturers.
11/15/2019 | By Jeff. L. Wright and Ryan Sheets
Much research has examined the way firms react to misconduct by exchange partners: buyers, suppliers, employees, etc. The revelation of misconduct forces partnering firms to decide whether the bene…
11/06/2019
American hospitals house a unique power dynamic. Nowhere else do you find such important figures who influence organizational performance, but may not necessarily be employees of the facilities in …
10/07/2019
The future identity of procurement and its place at the strategic table depend on these proactive efforts.
09/11/2019 | By Ryan Sheets, Remko Van Hoek
The demand for environmental sustainability is high enough that shippers will choose carriers who use green weigh station and tollbooth bypass technology in their trucks, even when those carriers …"
09/10/2019
The supply chain involves a wide range of business activities – transportation, customer service, inventory management, order processing, payments, warehousing, packaging, purchasing, and maintenance, to name few.
08/05/2019 | By Matthew Waller
As retailers compete to offer faster delivery, companies like FedEx and UPS strive to maximize driver efficiency. With drivers making more than 100 stops per day, delivery management is key to opti…
06/20/2019
Decoupling involves formally announcing a company’s adoption of practices that comply with new governmental regulations, while continuing many daily routines which violate the regulations. It usual…
04/29/2019
Congressional committees often invite companies to testify on the “possible impact proposed legislation may have on the environment, business, and society at large.” Such invitations are difficult …
04/22/2019
The Supply Chain Management Research Center at the Walton College of Business leads a multi-university research initiative aimed at advancing our understanding of the way public policy affects
03/18/2019
With healthcare supply chain management research still in its relative infancy, David Dobrzykowski – Associate Professor in the Department of Supply Chain Management in the University of Arkansas’s…
03/18/2019
The primary purpose of the 2019 China Logistics Insights Reports is to provide research with findings formatted to allow a direct comparison of detailed logistics costs as a percentage of GDP for t…
02/02/2019
While many have suggested that shippers should factor environmental and social sustainability into their trucking carrier selection process, little is known about how they actually make that decisi…
06/18/2018
Are trucking carriers who utilize more owner-operators more compliant with safety rules than those with more employee drivers? SCM researchers have debated that question since the 1980s. Some have …
06/01/2018
Though Russia is a relatively minor U.S. trading partner, the disruption of Russian fertilizer, wheat, and aluminum exports will likely worsen U.S. inflation.
Intermodal freight transportation is a way to lower carbon footprints, but regulation, railroad concentration, and too little investment in infrastructure limit wider use.