Robert Handfield's Personal Biography

Rob Handfield is the Bank of America University Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management at North Carolina State University, and director of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative (http://scrc.ncsu.edu). He also serves as an Adjunct Professor with the Supply Chain Management Research Group at the Manchester Business School.

Handfield is the Consulting Editor of the Journal of Operations Management, one of the leading supply chain management journals in the field, and is the author of several books on supply chain management, the most recent being Supply Market Intelligence, Supply Chain Re-Design and Introduction to Supply Chain Management (Prentice Hall, 1999, 25,000 copies sold, and translated into Chinese, Japanese, and Korean).  He has co-authored textbooks for MBA and undergraduate classes including Purchasing and Supply Chain Management 3rd revision (with Robert Monczka) and Operations and Supply Chain Management (with Cecil Bozarth).  Handfield was identified as one of a handful of individuals in the 2007 “Pros to Know” list compiled by Supply and Demand Chain Executive journal :(http://www.sdcexec.com/publication/article.jsp?pubId=1&id=9287).  He is regularly quoted in periodicals such as the Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Inc. Supply Chain Management Review, and other periodicals.

Handfield has consulted with over 25 Fortune 500 companies, including GlaxoSmithKline, Freightliner, Boston Scientific, Delphi, Chevron, British Petroleum, Nortel Networks, Chevron Phillips, Lyondell Chemical, Conoco Phillips, Federal Express, Milliken, and others.  He has published more than 100 articles in top management journals including California Management Review, Sloan Management Review, IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Journal of Operations Management, and Decision Sciences. 

Dr. Handfield’s research with a number of leading SCM organizations across a variety of industries has identified that companies who excel in the consistent application of “best-in-class” supply management processes and practices, and becoming a customer of choice, have demonstrated significantly higher financial performance than their competitors.  This performance of best-in-class organizations has not gone unnoticed by market analysts and has been amply rewarded by significant improvements in stock performance. 

Handfield is considered a thought leader in the field of supply chain management, and is an industry expert in the field of strategic sourcing, supply market intelligence, and supplier development.  He has spoken on these subjects across the globe, including China, Turkey, Latin America, Europe, Japan, Canada, and other locals.

Research Specialties

Supply Chain Management

Selected Research Publications

• Christopher W. Craighead, Jennifer Blackhurst, M. Johnny Rungtusanatham, Robert B. Handfield (2007). “The Severity of Supply Chain Disruptions: Design Characteristics and Mitigation Capabilities.” Decision Sciences 38(1), 131–156.
• Handfield, Robert, and Lawson, Benn, “Integrating Suppliers into New Product Development”, Research Technology Management, September – October 2007, vol. 50, no. 5, pp. 44-51.
• Ward, Nick, Handfield, Robert, and Cousins, Paul, “Stepping up on SRM”,CPO Agenda, Summer 2007, pp. 42-47.
• Bozarth, C. C., Blackhurst, J., Handfield, R. B. (2007). “The Textile Supply Chain: A Historical Perspective. Journal of Operations Management, 16(2), 2-6.
• Krause, D., Handfield, R. B., Tyler, B. B. (2007). “The Relationship Between Supplier Development, Commitment, Social Capital Accumulation and Performance Improvement. Journal of Operations Management, 25(2), 528-545.
• Bozarth, C. C., Blackhurst, J., Handfield, R. B. (2007). Following the thread: Industry cluster theory, the New England cotton textiles industry, and implications for future supply chain research. To appear in Production and Operations Management, 16(1), 154-157.
• Cousins, P., Handfield, R. B., Petersen, K., Lawson, B. (2006). The Impact of Formal and Informal Socialization Processes. Journal of Operations Management, 24(6), 851-864.
• Handfield, R. B., Baumer, D. L. (2006). “Conflict of Interest in Purchasing Management”. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 42(3), 41-50.
• Handfield, R. B. (2006). The State of JOM: An Outgoing Editor’s (retro)spective. Journal of Operations Management, 24(5), 417-420.
• Giunipero, L., Handfield, R. B., Eltantawy, R. (2006). Supply Management’s Evolution: Key Skill Sets for the Supply Manager of the Future. International Journal of Operations and Production Management, 26(7), 822-824.
• Blackhurst, Jennifer, Craighead, Chris, and Handfield, Robert, “Towards supply chain collaboration: an operations audit of VMI initiatives in the electronics industry,” International Journal of Integrated Supply Management, Vol. 2, no 2, (January 2006), 91-105.
• Handfield, Robert, and Steininger, Wolfgang, “An Assessment of Manufacturing Customer Pain Points: Implications for Researchers”, Supply Chain Forum: An International Journal, vol. 2 no. 6, 2006, pp. 3 – 12.
• Robert B. Handfield and David L. Baumer, “Managing Conflict of Interest Issues in Purchasing,” The Journal of Supply Chain Management, (42:3), 2006, pp: 41-50.
• Handfield, Robert, and Nichols, Ernie, “Key Issues in Global Supply Base Management”, Industrial Marketing Management, Volume 32, Number 8, November 2003.
• Handfield, Robert, Ragatz, Gary, and Peterson, Kenneth, “A Model of Supplier Integration into New Product Development”, Journal of Product Innovation Management, vol. 20, no. 4, July 2003, pp. 284-299.
• Handfield, Robert, and Bechtel, Christian, “The Role of Trust and Relationship Structure in Improving Supply Chain Responsiveness”, Industrial Marketing Management, vol. 31, 2001, pp. 1-16.
• Handfield, Robert, “Writing the ideal paper for JOM: A new editor’s perspective”, Journal of Operations Management, vol. 20, no. 1, February 2002, pp. 10-18.
• Handfield, Robert, Melnyk, Steven, Calantone, Roger, and Curcovic, Sime, “Differences Between Environmental Design and Manufacturing: Theory versus Practice”, IEEE Transactions in Engineering Management, vol. 48, no 2, May 2001, pp. 1-22.
• Curcovic, Sime, Melnyk, Steven, Calantone, Roger, and Handfield, Robert, “Investigating the Linkage Between Total Quality Management and Environmentally Responsible Manufacturing”, IEEE Transactions in Engineering Management, vol. 47, no. 4, November 2000, pp. 444-464.
• Pagell, Mark, Handfield, Robert, and Allison Barber, “Effects of Operational Employee Skills on Advanced Manufacturing Technology Performance”, Production and Operations Management, vol. 9, no. 3, Fall 2000, pp. 222-238.
• Das, Ajay, Handfield, Robert, Calantone, Roger, and Ghosh, Soumen, “A Contingent View of Quality Management – The Impact of International Competition on Quality”, Decision Science Journal, vol. 31 no. 3, Summer 2000, pp. 649-690.