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KELLY SCHOOL OF BUSINESS SEEKING FIRMS FOR NEW LEADERS' ROUNDTABLE PROGRAM
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- For more than a quarter century, Richard W. Garrett heard just about every concept and buzzword in business and often wondered what, if anything, they meant for the Fortune 500 pharmaceutical giant where he was an executive.
Today, as a professor in Indiana University's Kelley School of Business, Garrett hopes he has found the right tool for providing insights on current trends to his former peers and other executives -- the Leaders' Roundtable.
"I worked at Eli Lilly for 27 years and wished for relationships with universities that were hard to find," recalled Garrett, who took early retirement from the Indianapolis-based company four years ago and accepted a position as clinical associate professor of operations management at IU.
"As managers, we wished for the ability to chat with university professors in an informal setting, where we could rap about ideas and about things that were practical and usable. We wanted to quickly separate the wheat from the chaff," said Garrett, who is overseeing the Leaders' Roundtable. "Because of my experience as an executive and now my teaching experience, we can structure the Leaders' Roundtable to appeal to both groups."
Eight companies -- Allison Engine, Allison Transmission, Arvin Industries, Eli Lilly and Co., Visteon-Connersville, Inland Steel , Kimball International and Mallory Controls -- are charter members of the program. The Kelley School's nationally ranked Operations and Decision Technologies Department has direct responsibility for the Roundtable. Ernst and Young LLP and SAP America have signed on as sponsors.
"We are convinced that member companies involved with the Leaders' Roundtable desire practical and proven methods for solving their business problems. The university can supply part of this need, but companies who are in the business of applying the latest methods and techniques to earn their keep are also needed," Garrett said of the two sponsors. "Basically, the member companies are the customers and the coalition of the faculty and partner firms are the vendors supplying their needs."
Long-term goals for the program include its having a substantially larger number of member companies, from across the country as well as across Indiana. Garrett said he hopes to have more companies involved before the program's next meeting in May.
The Leaders' Roundtable replaced another Kelley School program, the Indiana Manufacturers Excellence Roundtable, which had focused more on being a research tool for faculty. Garrett said the Leaders' Roundtable is expected to provide member companies more of a "gateway" into the world of operations management, for ferreting out and understanding new ideas and concepts.
Among the ways companies will benefit, Garrett said, include exposure to practical and useful knowledge that will assist each company in its pursuit of excellence, development of in-depth knowledge of "best practices," information-sharing with other companies on common operations management issues and discussion of changes that affect the operations side of companies.
Faculty will benefit from the opportunity to network and learn from firms involved in the program. IU students, particularly graduate business students involved in field projects, may find it provides another avenue as they seek out employment after graduation.
The Department of Operations and Decision Technologies has instituted a program for a select group of second-year students called MBA Leaders Program. The Leaders' Roundtable will assist in the development of the students selected for this program.
Roundtable members will gather three times a year: twice on campus for workshops and information sharing and another time for a plant tour. Previous plant tours have included General Motors' stamping plant in Indianapolis and Arvin's facilities in Columbus.
"They're probably the most popular things we do," Garrett said. "Everybody wants to see how everybody else does it."
Membership in the Leaders' Roundtable is open to all companies. The annual cost of membership is $2,500 per year. Solicited funds will pay the expenses of the quarterly meetings and help fund the student field projects.
For more information, contact Garrett or Vincent A. Mabert, IU professor of operations management, phone 812-855-8440.