With a worldwide partnership established by IBM, MSU's Eli Broad College of Business will be a part of a virtual network formed to maximize research and create breakthroughs in the global business market.
Students and faculty from MSU's Eli Broad College of Business will collaborate with the Smeal College of Business at Pennsylvania State University, the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University and the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business at University College in Dublin, Ireland.
David Closs, an MSU business professor, said IBM and i2 Inc. gave MSU's school of business more than $1 million in technology for two computer servers and software. Supply chain management students and faculty will be able to simultaneously learn and develop ideas with other schools in the network once all virtual labs are completed.
The equipment is housed in the Eppley Center, and MSU is the first of the schools to be available on the Internet.
Closs said students are learning from the software, and he hopes to integrate some of the research done into the supply chain management course curriculums.
"Teaching with the software will give us the same tools that companies and industries use to plan supply chains," he said.
John Dischinger, IBM's manager for the project office for integrated supply chain labs, said this is the first time IBM has worked with universities to create a virtual network.
He added that the last laboratory should be completed by March, and all schools will receive equipment comparable to MSU.
"We view these schools as top schools for supply chain management," he said. "It's very important that we have partners that are strategically located around the world in support of IBM's supply chain."
Dischinger said there might be plans for a future development partnership with a school in Asia, and he also added that IBM heavily recruits students from each of the universities in the partnership.
Joseph Carter, Avent professor and chairman of supply chain management at Arizona State's W.P. Carey School of Business, said supply chain management is the study of how a group of companies work together to supply a customer with a service.
Carter said an example of the work students and faculty will do is studying the factors to determine where a company decides to house its manufacturer.
Closs said MSU's prestige in the field is the reason IBM chose it as a partner.
He said the U.S. News & World Report ranked MSU's school of supply chain management as No. 1 in undergraduate studies in 2003 and its graduate program was ranked No. 2 in 2002.
"It solidifies our position because we have the technology to maintain that position," he said. "There is a need for more education and research in the area.
"By working together we can get a lot more accomplished than by competing."
