The Operation & Supply Chain Management Club held its first event in the D’Angelo Center on November 12. The event talked about the technological advancements and evolution of the operations field.
Guest speaker James E. Martin spoke to the room about his 26 years of experience in the supply chain experience. He has worked as the vice president of Business Development for International Diversified and as senior director of global sourcing at News Corporation.
Martin used relatable examples to show the changes in the field over the years, such as how Wal-Mart has made K-Mart an almost obsolete place to shop. He also used the example of businesses not wanting to associate with the iPhone at its release, in fear with how much security was placed for email and other communications use.
He used the car service app Uber as his last example. Martin noted that the service, although more expensive than any other car service, was favored by mostly women because of how secure they would feel on their ride home. Uber offers a picture of each driver upon ride confirmation, and will also track the route.
“Security became more important than the cost of the ride,” Martin said.
At the event, seats were filled with marketing majors from various classes including junior Gabrielle Mineo, who said that she learned a lot when Martin talked about uncertainty and how “it’s the drive behind refusal to do things in life.”
Finance major Mihnea Fulop agreed with Martin that you’ve got to “follow the money” in order to advance.
”Cloud-based solutions offer lower costs and lower risks,” he said as an example.
“This creates uncertainty because you never know if cloud-based services will be able to reach sustainability.”
As words of advice, Martin spoke to the crowd about not giving up, since he had been demoted during his career and didn’t view it as a setback. He noted that the most important act with being involved with a company is to add value.
“Even if you have to come up with 10 crazy ideas and one sticks, it’s one better than what you had before,” he said.
President of the organization, Kamoy Andrews, stated that she and fellow classmates started the club in their management class earlier in the fall semester.
“It all started in the classroom,” she said. “We’re not recognized by the university (SGI) yet. We’re using this event to launch ourselves.”
The Operation & Supply Chain Management Club has plans to partner with the marketing club on campus and organize trips for it’s members to gain an understanding of how big corporations like Amazon work behind the scenes. “It’s such a large part of the organization but it just goes unnoticed,” said Vice President Michael Hanlon.
‘“From a business student’s perspective, it’s not the most sexy part of it. It’s not investment banking, its operations but it’s still important.”
However, Andrews wants the club’s members to gain more than just experience.
“Most of what the students will get out of this is leadership,” she said.
“This club is for the students. That’s what we want to be recognized for. Not necessarily being operations students, we just want to know that students have the chance to learn.”
