FCBE Professors, Janz and Nichols, Receive 2014 Best Paper Award

For release:  November 4, 2014

Dr. Ernie Nichols, associate professor of Supply Chain Management and director of the FedEx Center for Supply Chain Management, and Dr. Brian Janz, professor of MIS and FedEx Institute of Technology Innovator in Residence, recently received the 2014 Society of Information Management (SIM) Best Paper Award for their paper entitled, “Re-Visioning IT for Value: The Value Stream Initiative at Buckman.” The reward will be presented at the 2014 SIMposium where they will also have the opportunity to present their work. This paper was co-authored with Tim Meek, CIO of Buckman, and John Oglesby, director of Corporate Systems and IT Governance at Buckman.

“Their hard work is most deserving of such a prestigious award,” said Dr. Marla Rayne Stafford, Great Oaks Foundation Professor of Marketing and chair of the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management. “This paper is an outstanding example of university and industry collaboration.”

SIM is a community of IT thought leaders that provides a network for IT leadership opportunities while exploring the IT’s future direction and providing professional assistance in the form of online assistance and association and industry publications.

“Drs. Janz and Nichols’ impressive SIM Best Paper Award reminds us that, through the collaborative efforts of academia and our local industry partners, innovative breakthroughs and inspirational thinking can be achieved,” said Dr. Robin Poston, Papasan Family Professor and interim chair of the Department of Management Information Systems. “Their applied research is a great example of how the Fogelman College supports businesses in our regional Memphis economy and beyond by engaging in meaningful dialogs concerning IT’s value-add to business activities.”

In this paper, an account is offered of the Value Stream Initiative (VSI), a comprehensive, value-based analysis of all IT-related activities at Buckman Laboratories, an international chemical manufacturer of 1,600 employees with offices and customers in over 90 countries. Focus is put on how the company set out to redefine itself and its IT organization using "value" as the focal point for analysis to address key issues surrounding the search for enhanced value from IT in Buckman’s operations.