Blog
Essential reading from leading researchers and scholars on the latest trends and topics relevant to global supply chain management.
![](https://supplychainmanagement.utk.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/09/blog-how-to-prepare-your-supply-chain-for-the-next-black-swan-event.3ebd3ef6-1024x512.jpg)
How to Prepare Your Supply Chain for the Next Black Swan Event
Chris Craighead is the Professor in Supply Chain Management at the Haslam College of Business. His research explores strategic supply chain management with a focus on disruptions. In this Q&A, Professor Craighead outlines how to prepare your supply chain for the next “black swan” event.
![Person working at desk with calculators and laptops](https://supplychainmanagement.utk.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/08/blog-cost-avoidance-not-everything-counts-counted.6a0c75bf.jpg)
Cost Avoidance: Not Everything That Counts Is Counted
The purchasing department holds the keys to organizational spending — in some industries, it accounts for more than 80 percent of the cost of sales. Purchasing meets its metrics by cutting costs, commonly recognized as spending less for an item this year than last. But purchasing also makes a significant contribution through cost avoidance, which means making a concerted effort to pay less for something than you would have otherwise, or to avoid an expense altogether.
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New Digital Capabilities for Supply Chain
Meet Mary Long, Managing Director of the Global Supply Chain Institute’s Supply Chain Forum at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Haslam College of Business. A board advisor, lecturer, writer and international speaker, Long utilizes her expertise from a long and fruitful career to inform and shape her teaching.
![Bridgette Larsen standing in front of a gate](https://supplychainmanagement.utk.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/07/blog-rising-senior-earns-trifecta-supply-chain-scholarships.0052c256-1024x513.jpg)
Rising Senior Earns Trifecta of Supply Chain Scholarships
Supply chain management major Bridgette Larsen of Winchester, Virginia, recently was honored with the R. Gene Richter Scholarship, the country’s preeminent supply management academic award. She becomes the second student from the Haslam College of Business at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, to garner the scholarship in its 17-year history. Earlier this year, Larsen
![Forklift in warehouse unloading inventory](https://supplychainmanagement.utk.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/04/blog-the-importance-of-inventory-management-in-your-supply-chain.564e03c3-1024x512.jpg)
The Importance of Inventory Management for Supply Chain Organizations
Inventory management is an important part of managing a supply chain. Find out how an MS SCM degree can help you make an impact on your company's bottom line.
![Front view of airplane in flight against blue sky](https://supplychainmanagement.utk.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/03/blog-covid-19-distribution-resource-planning.2a1b30ba-1024x512.jpg)
How COVID-19 Highlighted Distribution Resource Planning in 2020
Distribution resource planning is key to creating the type of resilient supply chain we need after COVID-19.
![A hand holds up a set of protective cloth masks to indicate the importance of demand forecasting when disruption comes.](https://supplychainmanagement.utk.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/03/blog-forecasting-demand.1458e254-1024x512.jpg)
A Guide to Demand Forecasting in Supply Chain Management
One of the greatest challenges in supply chain management is demand forecasting. This guide covers the essentials for supply chain professionals and academics.
![Graphic with text "Advancing E2E Agile Resiliency in Supply Chains"](https://supplychainmanagement.utk.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/03/blog-E2E-Agile-Resiliency.dfa4185f.jpg)
COVID-19 Drives Shareholders to Value More Resilient Supply Chain Design
For almost 20 years, supply chains’ value to the organization centered on efficiency and cost minimization, creating complexity and—as COVID-19 has demonstrated in the extreme—leaving enterprises vulnerable to disruption.
![Mary Holcomb - woman with blond hair, wearing glasses, a dark suit jacket over a herringbone topand pearls](https://supplychainmanagement.utk.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/03/blog-blog-mary.3971dd6c.jpg)
In Memoriam: Mary Holcomb
Mary Holcomb, professor at the Haslam College of Business for more than 28 years, passed away on Friday, February 12, 2021. Mary was a true Vol for life.
![People working in transportation](https://supplychainmanagement.utk.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/02/blog-logjam.1a9c4c95-1024x512.jpg)
A Logistics Logjam Is Coming – Are We Ready?
Two irresistible forces soon will crash together in the Western world: the e-commerce boom and the accelerating population shift to urban areas. When these two trends collide, they’ll create a challenge that United States and European logistics systems currently can’t handle.