Robert M. Monczka, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Supply Chain Management at the Eli Broad Graduate School of Management, Michigan State University. He is also former Distinguished Research Professor of Supply Chain Management in the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. He has served as Director of Strategic Sourcing and Supply Chain Strategy Research at CAPS Research, where he led initiatives focused on sourcing and supply strategy innovation, development and implementation. A frequent speaker at professional meetings, Dr. Monczka has published more than 200 books and articles. He has consulted worldwide with leading companies in the Fortune 100 and has received two National Science Foundation grants to study supply strategy. He has also been awarded the J. Shipman Gold Medal Award from ISM and the Lifetime Achievement Award from Procurement Leaders (London)..

Robert B. Handfield, Ph.D., is Bank of America University Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management in the College of Management at North Carolina State University. He also is co-director of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative. Dr. Handfield serves as Consulting Editor of the Journal of Operations Management and is on the editorial board of several leading academic journals. His research focuses on strategic sourcing, supply market intelligence, supplier relationship management and sourcing overseas. He has served in consulting and executive education roles for more than 20 Fortune 500 companies, including UPS, Biogen, Toshiba, Caterpillar and John Deere.