ISM, Supply Chain Council offer joint member benefits

If you belong to the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) or the Supply Chain Council Inc. (SCC), your membership benefits just increased. The two professional groups recently announced that they now offer member access and discounts to each other's training and certification programs in supply management. ISM is a not-for-profit membership association for supply management professionals; SCC is a not-for-profit corporation that focuses on supply chain methodology, diagnostics, and benchmarking based on the Supply-Chain Operations Reference model (SCOR).

Through the partnership, SCC members are eligible for member pricing on ISM educational programs and testing for the Certified Professional in Supply Management (CPSM) credential as well as registration for ISM's Annual International Supply Management Conference and Exhibit.

ISM members have access to SCC's "SCORmark" supply chain benchmarking database and will receive member rates for SCOR Framework and Project workshops as well as global SCC events.

They are not the first such organizations to share member benefits. Last year, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) and the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) teamed up to offer their members reciprocal benefits. What's behind this trend? Most likely, tight corporate budgets, shrinking memberships, and blurring lines among once separate and distinct disciplines.