“Given the wide-spread media attention to ‘the supply chain’ during the pandemic, we also have a clear opportunity to leverage our research more broadly to inform the general public about how supply chains are the backbone of a successful economy.”

The Harbert College is committed to advancing scholarly impact and reputation of faculty through promotion of and support for industry and academic engagement.

Two Harbert College of Business professors in Supply Chain Management, Beth Davis-Sramek and Glenn Richey, were recently appointed co-Editors-in-Chief of the Journal of Business Logistics, an elite academic publication.

Davis-Sramek and Richey expect to make an impact on industry through the journal – which has an acceptance rate of only 5 percent -- by bringing a “broader set of studies” to the journal. As a boundary spanning discipline, supply chain management and logistics (SCML) activities and processes overlap with various other firm functions.

“People often think of supply chain and they just think about transportation and warehousing,” said Richey, Harbert College’s Eminent Scholar in Supply Chain Management. “But there is so much more to be considered, including sales, marketing, human resources, organizational behavior, and finance. Each of those need to be considered because they’re tightly connected. Beth and I just reviewed a paper that really took the consumer perspective in the supply chain, which we don’t consider often enough. During the pandemic there were times when you couldn’t get masks or toilet paper. This drove the supply chain towards a potential catastrophe. Those types of papers that examine consumer implications haven’t been published in our field very often.”

Davis-Sramek, the Gayle Parks Forehand Professor, believes there is an opportunity to examine the needed changes in supply chain practice in the wake of the COVID-19 business climate.

“The post COVID-19 era will force companies to think about how to better mitigate risk in global supply chains. There is also the possibility of regulatory action to increase visibility and control of supply chains that provide goods and services deemed important to national security. As a result, there are going to be research opportunities that allow SCML scholars to impact practice, especially in the way supply chains are organized and managed. Given the wide-spread media attention to ‘the supply chain’ during the pandemic, we also have a clear opportunity to leverage our research more broadly to inform the general public about how supply chains are the backbone of a successful economy."

The new co-editors-in-chief will “process through 300 manuscripts a year submitted to the journal,” said Richey, who has previously served as editor of the International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management. “You really have the opportunity to stay on top of what’s new out there and examine the depth of what’s being produced. Submissions are worldwide. They can come from Africa, East Asia, South America and there is a large group of research logisticians in Scandinavia and Australia. It’s a really enlightening experience to be connected with all of those different countries, cultures, and people.”

Davis-Sramek, who has served as associate editor at the Journal of Supply Chain Management and the Journal of Business Logistics, said reviewing submissions provides an opportunity to broaden her academic horizons. “This will push me outside of my comfort zone in terms of my own research expertise. It will be a great learning experience.”

The addition of the Journal of Business Logistics makes the Harbert College home to seven respected peer-reviewed journals. Jim Barth, Lowder Eminent Scholar in Finance, is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Risk and Financial Management and Co-Editor of the Journal of Financial Economic Policy. Justin Benefield, Associate Professor in Finance, is Editor of the Journal of Housing Research.

Brian Connelly, Professor and Luck Eminent Scholar in Management, assumed duties of Editor of the Journal of Management on July 1. Chris Hopkins, McLain Family Professor in Marketing, is Editor of the Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice. David Paradice, Eminent Scholar in Business Analytics, is Editor at Foundations and Trends in Information Systems.