Salaries—and miles—higher for supply chain execs

Supply chain executives are racking up the frequent flier miles. Supply chain executives working for the largest companies spend an average of six days per month traveling for their companies. That's one of the findings of the 2007 Ohio State University Survey of Career Patterns in Logistics presented at CSCMP's annual conference.

The survey also found that compensation has shot up for professionals with supply chain titles, while remaining relatively flat for those with logistics titles. The median salary in this year's survey for a vice president of supply chain was $275,000 and for a supply chain director, $150,000. By way of comparison, a logistics vice president earned a median salary of $150,000, while logistics managers made a little more than $100,000.

For the first time in the 36-year history of the survey, every respondent had a college degree, said James R. Stock, a professor of marketing and logistics at the University of South Florida, who worked on the project with Bernard J. La Londe, a professor emeritus at Ohio State. Fifty-five percent of all survey respondents had an advanced educational degree, and 43 percent had MBAs.

When asked which factor will influence the growth and development of the logistics and supply chain function over the next generation, the number one response was global supply chain management. The second most frequently cited factor was information technology.

Survey takers were also asked to name the subject they would choose to study if they could go back to school for 90 days. Global supply chain management was the top choice, followed by strategic management and planning/forecasting.

The survey was based on some 140 respondents. Three-quarters of the respondents came from manufacturing, while the other quarter worked in merchandising. The largest group of respondents 32 percent—worked in the food and consumer packaged goods sectors.