title: RETHINKING UNIVERSITY SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: AN ACTION RESEARCH APPROACH
Creators: name: Daigle, Jamie
Publisher: name: University of Liverpool Repository
Year: 2021

description: Universities historically have been regarded as economic drivers in their local communities, and their potential influence on the broader regional economy is a growing area of interest. Yet, institutions are lagging in strategically managing their role in economic development while depending on business, government, and university leaders to improve the fiscal position of the locals. Rigid societal norms in academia permeate power differences amongst faculty that complicate mid-level leaders' abilities to make strategic decisions for broader regional impact. This thesis unfolds a scholar-practitioner journey of a mid-level faculty leader at a small-town regional institution that grappled with finding a voice among more tenured faculty while trying to make a difference in the community (Weick, 1995; Rouleau, 2005; Luscher and Lewis, 2008). Hence, by integrating interlevel dynamics and scholastic methods, this mixed-methods action research (MMAR) thesis contributed to organizational learning of programmatic coordination to refocus the business school agenda to pitch in towards greater economic recovery efforts. The local financial crisis caused a sense of urgency to eschew pre-processed university models to play a role in economic revitalization, which justifies the importance of this research. Hence, this thesis set out to pragmatically identify regional development needs and understand the Texarkana workforce to create a flexible university model and rethink educational offerings to address the region's unique needs. This study documents living amid knowledge transfer, economic development, and action research theories to initiate a pragmatic response by creating an innovative economic university model malleable to the needs of the local ecosystem (Argyris, 1993; Gibbons et al., 1994; Coghlan, 2003; Buchanan and Bryman, 2007; Karpov, 2017). Additionally, this thesis provides a step-by-step framework for university leaders to refocus agendas towards economic growth. One action research cycle in this thesis encompassed phases of construction, planning, action, and evaluation. The themes and actionable knowledge that emerged from the first and second phases guided the third, which initiated the change process. This MMAR study determined key issues in the region from quantitative and qualitative data to cross-validate multiple sources of evidence to identify the critical issues needing to be addressed with supply chain management programs and services. The planning of action, which occurred during phase three, drove immediate results in focusing the supply chain management departmental agenda on managing economic crises. Thus, how my department, institution, and society respond to economic needs achieved impact by bringing forth a university economic development model that is flexible to changing economic landscapes. Equally important, this research developed a framework for university leaders aligning local business, civic, and governmental initiatives to play a role in economic growth. The implication of not reconstructing higher education in this way is that both the university and region will be ill-equipped during a financial crisis.