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Poole College of Management 
Business Sustainability Collaborative

Rob Handfield, PhD

Executive Director of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative & Bank of America University Distinguished Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management, Department of Business Management

Research Specialities

  • Impact of industrial biobased products on the US economy
  • Labor and human rights in the global supply network
  • Sustainable supply chain management

I have been working in the field of sustainable supply chain management for over 20 years. Sustainable supply chains involve not only management of the environment, but also of the human and labor rights of workers throughout the entire global supply chain network that provides material and services. Sustainability is directly related to many if not all of the key dimensions associated with successful management of supply chain networks.

Rob Handfield, Ph.D.

Bank of America University Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management, Executive Director of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative
Department of Business Management

Sustainability Related Courses

  • BUS 610 – This class includes an assessment of industry sectors based on supply chain maturity. These research reports have been uploaded to the SCRC website.
  • MBA 541 – This class focuses on supply management and is part of the supply chain concentration. We spend several classes discussing supplier evaluation and selection, and the impact of sustainability and human rights in the selection process.
  • BUS 590 – This practicum class involves direct engagement with an SCRC partner company. We have worked on several projects with companies exploring how to integrate sustainability measures in the global supply chain, including Bayer, Lenovo, GlaxoSmithKline, Duke Energy, and others.

Professor Robert Handfield: Curiosity Drives His Quest for Knowledge

In the year 2000, Robert Handfield, Bank of America University Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management at the NC State Poole College of Management, established the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative, now one of six college-based initiatives that connect academic research and teaching with the problem-solving needs of business and industry.

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Wolfline bus drives past Hunt Library on Centennial Campus.

Key Research Publications

  • Golden, J.S., Handfield, R.B., Daystar, J. and, T.E. McConnell (2015). An Economic Impact Analysis of the U.S. Biobased Products Industry: A Report to the Congress of the United States of America. A Joint Publication of the Duke Center for Sustainability & Commerce and the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative at North Carolina State University.
  • Golden, Jay, and Handfield, Robert, “Why Biobased? Overview of Existing Literature on the Economics of Biobased Products”, technical report submitted to US Department of Agriculture Contract No. GS – 23F’- 8011H, Order No. AG-3143-D-13-0162, July, 2014.
  • Wieland, Andreas, and Handfield, Robert, “The Challenge of Ensuring Human Rights in the End to End Supply Chain”, Supply Chain Management Review, November 2014, 48-51.
  • Wieland, Andreas, and Handfield, Robert, “The socially responsible supply chain: An imperative for global corporations “, Supply Chain Management Review, September 2013.

Contact Information