[00:00:00] Maria Villablanca: I think that partnerships in collaboration are the new competitive advantage. If you think about the best supply chains, they’re not just built on transactions, they’re built on trust and on shared data. That reset of a mindset shift that we need to take back in order to be resilient and responsive to any kind of insert here crisis that we’re going to have is going to be these partnerships.

[00:00:25] Voice Over: Welcome to Supply Chain Now the number one voice of supply chain. Join us as we share critical news, key insights, and real supply chain leadership from across the globe. One conversation at a time.

[00:00:37] Scott W. Luton: Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you may be. Scott Luton and special guest co-host Maria Villablanca here with you on Supply Chain Now. Maria, how are you doing today?

[00:00:48] Maria Villablanca: I’m great. I’m looking forward to this conversation. I mean, I keep hearing about everything that we’re going to be talking about, so to put it all in one conversation, really looking forward to this.

[00:00:57] Scott W. Luton: I’m with you and I am so glad that you’re here. I tell you, we’ve got so much to get into here today, folks, great show coming up as we peer into the minds of what supply chain managers really across the country is thinking. So for the second year in a row, Appalachian State University and SPARQ360 have partnered together to survey hundreds of supply chain managers across the United States. Today we’re going to be reviewing the findings of that survey, which is entitled, by the way, the 2025 Supply Chain Trends and Attitudes report. We’re going to be gaining supply chain managers perspectives on priority technology investments, and of course AI sustainability, the regulatory and trade policy shifts, including those pesky tariffs and a whole bunch more. Maria, to your point, this is part of the pulse of what a large segment of the overall global supply chain is talking about and working through. Should be a great show, huh?

[00:01:48] Maria Villablanca: Yeah, it should be.

[00:01:49] Scott W. Luton: So given your significant track record as a supply chain leader, Maria, I’m really looking forward to your perspective here today along with our Esteem panel. Maria, we’ve got a work cut out for us. I want to welcome in our featured guests here today, starting with Dr. Dinesh Davè, Professor and Director of Supply Chain Management in the Walker College of Business at Appalachian State University, and Evan Junker, Chief Growth Officer at SPARQ360. Hey Evan, welcome back. How you doing?

[00:02:17] Evan Junker: Hey, good to see you again, Scott. How are you?

[00:02:19] Scott W. Luton: You as well. Last time me, you and I were sharing a plate of barbecue here in Georgia.

[00:02:24] Evan Junker: Oh

[00:02:24] Scott W. Luton: Yeah, this, that was good. It was good. Great to have you back and Dr. Davè back by Property Demand. How are you doing?

[00:02:32] Dr. Dinesh Davè: I’m doing fantastic, thank you.

[00:02:34] Scott W. Luton: I bet it’s a pretty day in Boone, North Carolina. I bet it’s a pretty day in the Southern Party of United Kingdom where Maria is tuned in from as well. Huh?

[00:02:42] Maria Villablanca: Sun is shining, which is rare. So I’m happy

[00:02:45] Scott W. Luton: Good Day. Played a lottery today. Then I want to start with a fun warmup question, folks. So y’all know I like the days of the year. I like celebrating it’s World post day, which I guess is a celebration of sending an old fashioned via the mail. It’s National Moldy Cheese Day. I didn’t know that was the case. Evidently it’s one, but I think a more appealing thing to talk about certainly is it is international beer and pizza day. Certainly a unifying universal celebration. So to that end, I want to ask each of y’all starting with you, Evan, what’s one of your go-to places for a really good beer or a really good pizza, or maybe even both, Evan.

[00:03:25] Evan Junker: Alright, so two confessions. I live in Germany now and I’ve lived here for a few years, so they have really good beer. I am not that big of a drinker, but I will say that Munich is only two hours east of me. And so I have gone to Octoberfest a few times and that is the best place to get there. And the amazing thing about that is the waitresses have these trays and they can carry, I mean they stack these massive things of beer on them and carry those around and it’s like you couldn’t go to a gym and lift more weight than they just carry around.

[00:03:57] Scott W. Luton: This sounds like a great experience. You know those good old 12 ounce curls. I know I did a lot in college, but that’s going to be tough to beat Dr. Davè. How about you? What’s a go-to place for good food? Good pizza, good beer, you name it.

[00:04:08] Dr. Dinesh Davè: Well, there are quite a few great Italian restaurants, which I prefer, but one is about 30 miles away from here is Wilkesboro, North Carolina. We just found it a few weeks ago. It’s called Mais and it’s a great Italian food. Their lasagna, their eggplant permission or outstanding. So I don’t drink beer, so because I get allergy and I don’t drink alcohol because I get allergy, but it’s absolutely fantastic food.

[00:04:38] Scott W. Luton: Well if you can’t drink good beer, a good eggplant Parmesan is a great replacement I reckon. Alright, so Maria, we’ve got two good recommendations here. Your thoughts. Good pizza, good beer, where to go?

[00:04:49] Maria Villablanca: My house, I invested in a nice pizza oven about a year and a half ago and I have not looked back. Let me tell you, I can’t do the spin, I can’t do that sort of pizza thing. I’m not going to try. But a good beer and a good pizza homemade in a pizza oven.

[00:05:07] Scott W. Luton: Oh, Maria, that is outstanding. I’m going to have to benchmark some what you did there. I love that. Three great answers. I’m going to add one more. So folks, I’m going to go off the well beaten path here with a pizza recommendation. I’m going to go with Minsky’s in Kansas City. So I went out to a Kansas City Chiefs game not too long ago, a year or two ago, and this was a recommendation we got and folks, Minsky’s was founded by one of the founders of Godfather’s Pizza, and I know Chicago and New York’s got great pizza, but in Kansas City this was delicious and we waited at an hour to get it and it was worth every minute. So folks, if you’re Kansas City checkout, Minsky is delicious. So we got a lot to get into here today. Evan, Dr. Davè and Maria, let’s start with some level setting. Dr. Davè, it’s great to have you back. You were here with us about a year ago with Evan when we covered the first edition of this great survey. Let’s refresh our current and our new audience members about your background as well as the supply chain management program at Appalachian State University.

[00:06:09] Dr. Dinesh Davè: Thank you, Scott. We have a very strong supply chain management program. I serve as the director of the supply chain management program here in Appalachian State University and College of Business. We have close to 300 students in the program and our placement rate for our undergrad students who graduate, it’s about 92%. That means 92% of the students get job within six months of the graduation. Some of them pursue higher education or some of them join their family business. We have in master of business administration and master of science in applied data analytics and supply chain is very popular concentration. Our students pursue internship summertime mainly, and they gain pragmatic experience as well as they open the door for employment opportunity. We have very active supply chain advisory board and we also supply chain to run cloud.

[00:07:11] Scott W. Luton: Outstanding. I got to go back, Maria, one of the first things he said, 92% of their students get a job within six months. Man, that is terrific. Maria, your quick response there.

[00:07:24] Maria Villablanca: Well, the way that the economy is right now, we all need that. So I think the higher the placement the better and that’s why we’re studying to get into the job market. So I think it’s a great result.

[00:07:33] Scott W. Luton: I am with you. I am with you. Sounds like it is a great program. It’s great to have you back Dr. Davè. Now Evan, it’s great to have you back. You’ve been with us a few times over the last year or two. Always enjoy learning from you my friend. Tell us briefly about SPARQ360 as well as a little bit about your background.

[00:07:49] Evan Junker: My background is basically my career has been helping leaders address challenges and whether it’s growth and expansion or dealing with risk and complex market shifts. That’s kind of what my specialty is doing and that’s why I really like working at SPARQ360. That’s what SPARQ360 does. It helps supply chain leaders address those things, whether it’s cost quality and service challenges in their supply chain or dealing with sustainability requirements that are either regulatory or customer driven. SPARQ360 was built to help companies address those challenges. I think I told you this one before, but somebody once called us the get their hands dirty consultants and I think most people with me were greatly offended by that and it’s not because the get your hands dirty part, but that consultants word and that’s one thing. SPARQ360 is not, SPARQ360 is not made of consultants, it’s made of warehouse operators and supply chain managers and people that have spent their entire careers in the supply chain world.

[00:08:51] Scott W. Luton: I love that. And Maria, if we need more of anything is folks that have been there that done that they’re not operating off headlines or the soup of the month so to speak, is folks that are there for the long haul and they know what to apply to work through all the challenges and complexities we see in global supply chain today. Huh?

[00:09:11] Maria Villablanca: A hundred percent buzzwords kill. That’s my new motto.

[00:09:14] Scott W. Luton: Oh, I like that. Maria Buzzwords kill man. Alright, I’ll give you a tip of the hat every time I use that Maria, but it is so true. It’s so true. Maria, Evan and Dr. Davè, we got so much to get into here today. So our main focus today sharing key insights and observations related to this great research work done by Appalachian State University in SPARQ360, the 2025 supply chain trends and attitudes reports now in its second year and it was well received in its first year. As we discussed earlier. The name always reminds me though, Maria, Dr. Davè and Evan of the great Jimmy Buffett song, changes in Latitudes, changes in Attitudes. That might just be me, I don’t know. The survey focused on supply chain management professionals and their perspective on a variety of topics to include some things we’re going to talk about today, ai, technology, investment, sustainability, tariffs, and a whole bunch more. So stay tuned for data and our interpretation of it. But first, Evan, tell us about the survey. We’re talking about over 300 supply chain managers tuned in, huh?

[00:10:14] Evan Junker: Yeah, and it’s the second year we’ve done that. As you said, we started out and I think we have some, Dr. Davè and I have some mutual connections and friends and at SPARQ360 we’re trying to find a way to get a very good read on not just where things are but where things are going.

[00:10:36] Evan Junker: And we serve companies all over the world and we get little bits and pieces here and there, but figuring out where are both supply chain managers driving to and where they’re being told by the boards of directors and whatnot they need to drive to. And so we wanted to find a way to get that information to see what they’re looking at, not just now but in three to five years in the future. And after some great conversations, I guess about a year and a half or two years ago, it’s just been an honor because SPARQ360 and App State came together. We have really complimentary cultures. We both have strong bases in North Carolina and that’s the origin of this survey project.

[00:11:15] Scott W. Luton: Love that. Next time we’re getting North Carolina barbecue when we get together. Okay, Evan, there we go. Dr. Davè, Evan shared some good background on the survey. What else would you add?

[00:11:25] Dr. Dinesh Davè: Yeah, we launched the survey and we designed the survey questions methodologically and also have done thorough research and we included the questions related to technologies like ai, robotics, predictive analytics, supply chain, visibly platform, et cetera. And also the question related to renewal energy, green technology, circular economy and remote workplace and decarbonization. We ask individuals what the company will be spending their resources on those questions. And also we ask related questions saying that how much they should be spending and also we ask what their familiarity and we ask them demographic questions. So the survey results are so interesting, 310 completed survey by the managers of supply chain area and they are different levels, et cetera. And also if we talk about the validity intern validity using some statistical, it’s pretty high like 0.93 of the Beck Alpha for example.

[00:12:33] Scott W. Luton: Okay, that sounds really high. Dr. Davè, I wish I was smart enough to understand and break it down, but that’s why you’re here. That’s why you, Evan and Maria are here and Maria, both of them spoke to something, a really important thing. We’ve got to decipher the current state undoubtedly, but where we’re going, it’s really important to keep at least one half eyeball on that as well. Your thoughts, Maria?

[00:12:57] Maria Villablanca: I think there’s so much stuff happening all at once. Supply chain has always had crisis, but I think what’re having so many things happen at once and a lot of uncertainties and unknown. So what’s difficult is trying to prioritize how do you action something practical but at the same time keep an eye on the future. What I like about the survey is that it shows us straight from the horse’s mouth from 300 people in the deep end of supply chain what they think and I think that’s extremely valuable.

[00:13:25] Scott W. Luton: Well said Maria. And you’ve got your finger on the pulse like few in industry I know of. Okay. Now that we’ve set the table, I think I want to get into some of the key findings and folks we’re going to start with ai, right? It’s amazing, really both ends of the spectrum. It’s amazing. On one hand, all the really cool consequential work and outcomes we’re producing with AI on the other end of the bookend, other bookend rather. There’s a lot of frustration, right? Because we’ve got lack of business cases, lack of return on energy and investment on some AI initiatives. But let’s start with what the data from the research here tells us. So Evan, what did you glean on AI priorities from the survey?

[00:14:07] Evan Junker: Well, and this is one that last year if you may recall, and for those that weren’t with us, AI was at the top both in terms of the expected spend and at the top in terms of the should be spending. So both the we plan on spending and we should be spending this in our industry were very high and that remained the same this year. If we peel it back a little bit, you see adjacent technologies like visibility platforms is also very high now. And so you have some combination of things because AI means different things to different people, but you have these technologies that are related in the AI space that are increasing in familiarity, which we’ll get to shortly that are top priorities in terms of spending and that people believe should be top priorities in terms of spending. I will add one thing to that though.

[00:14:58] Evan Junker: One thing we’re seeing in the field is people feel the pressure to do this perhaps before they should. And we were talking to somebody about three weeks ago and their company had spent, I’m not sure if it’s the high tens of thousands or the low six figures on some AI technology in the form of digital twins. I can talk a lot about digital twins. We’re doing a lot of work in that space right now it’s very popular because it integrates some of the visibility and the AI and things of that nature, but when people just feel they need to do this but they don’t necessarily plan it out, it ends up backfiring. So I would say that I’m excited to see where it’s coming. I’m excited to see the development in the field and I’m excited that people are still prioritizing it. It is a little bit scary that people are prioritizing spending rather than thinking about spending. We need to keep an eye on.

[00:15:53] Scott W. Luton: Excellent point Evan, and part of your response made me think of Abraham Maslow’s famous quote, I’m going to paraphrase it here. Yes, hierarchy needs guru. He said if you use a hammer in every situation as the solution, everything looks like a nail and everything is not a nail, right? So judicious application of the right tool at the right time with the right problem and a problem well-defined. Dr. Davè, what would you add in terms of what you gleaned from the AI priorities from the survey?

[00:16:19] Dr. Dinesh Davè: This is very interesting. When we did the statistical analysis and compare 2024 data with 2025 data, it shows a significant difference between the two years where supply chain managers have viewed about AI and they’re more familiar in 2025. So that’s very encouraging. AI is going to be on rise, especially in supply chain and global supply chain area because they would like to enhance the consistency and reduce the error, et cetera. So AI is going be very helpful.

[00:16:53] Scott W. Luton: Yes, Maria ai, I think it’s federally mandated, it’s mentioned seven times every supply chain conversation, it’s everywhere. So are a lot of results, but so is a lot of frustration. Your thoughts Maria?

[00:17:04] Maria Villablanca: I think we’ve lost the fear of AI certainly and that’s what the survey is showing us with familiarity, but I think it’s difficult to measure or companies are struggling to measure the value of ai. I do a little survey whenever I speak at an event, I tell everybody, raise your hands. I ask everybody, raise your hands if you’re using AI successfully within your organization. Not a lot of hands. I mean it’s not scientific. And then I say, okay, put your hands up if you’re using it in your personal life and everybody’s hands go up and so eventually what we use in our personal lives, we’ll bleed into our business life. So this is what’s coming, but I think we still have to bridge that gap between understanding and utilizing technology and actually explaining the value of it or finding the value of it.

[00:17:47] Scott W. Luton: Yes, Maria, I love that.

[00:17:49] Evan Junker: If I can add one thing to that because I think that’s a fantastic point. One of the things we’re seeing a lot of is people do feel like they have to do something. And you’re right, they can’t see the payback, they just do it. They don’t take the time to get the people in the room that need to be in the room to really have a strategy behind it. And what we’re seeing is when people do that, when people get the ownership from not just the people that want the results, your chief financial officer, your frontline workers that are going to be using it and the people that own that segment. When you get the right people in the room and you have a strategy and you can map out the implementation, you’re going to have a lot more success. And that’s where we’re seeing people be successful, but the hysteria behind AI and they just run and do it. Maria, you have an excellent point. That’s not going to get us anywhere and we’re not going to be able to measure results with that approach.

[00:18:38] Scott W. Luton: Excellent points. I had a great friend of mine, chief supply chain officer named Brian that once told me that he measured a lot of things in return on energy return of his team’s energy and that can be a negative return very often if leadership doesn’t craft the right direction. And the answer, the why, the answer, what’s in it for me and the answer, the outcomes we’re going to be getting from the initiative. So good stuff here. Let’s go broader a little bit and I’m going to share one of the visuals from the survey here folks. We’re going to be talking about broader technology investments and priorities there. And you’ll see if you sign up for the research, you’ll see lots and lots of data and grant charts like this. But you’ll see this charts focused on where they’re spending and where they should be spending on technologies over the next three to five years.

[00:19:23] Scott W. Luton: Again, from the voices of over 300 supply chain managers, you’ll see from artificial intelligence on there all the way to robotics and automation, predictive analytics, supply chain platforms, visibility, which continues, I would argue to be more and more table stakes. Are we there yet? A hundred percent no. But gosh, if we’re not seeing deeper in our supply chain ecosystems in full visibility, we’ve got bigger challenges than we were five years ago. But let’s see here. Dr. Davè, some of your key observations from the survey data in terms of those broader technology investments and priorities.

[00:19:59] Dr. Dinesh Davè: Yes, interestingly, this is only the last year’s data and this year’s data collection had less than one year period. And you can see that there are some changes and positive changes that people are more familiar. They would like to spend more money or more resources on technology as well as the sustainability aspects. So we see that may not have shown statistical difference, but it absolute values are more different and that is very encouraging to see. So I see that a great opportunity for companies where they would like to spend more in that area and we did the statistical analysis of the difference between what they are spending and what they should be spending. And most of the cases we found as negative, that means they would like to see more to be spent on those areas. So this is very encouraging.

[00:20:53] Scott W. Luton: Excellent point. Dr. Davè and I should have mentioned that with this chart you’ll see there to Dr. Davè’s points, there should be spending average scores and they will be spending average scores. So look for that in the full-blown survey. Evan, what else would you add in terms of broader technology investments and priorities?

[00:21:08] Evan Junker: I think that I call it the ambition action gap. Okay. The ambition is what we think we should be spending and the action is what we think we will be spending. And I think what we’re seeing is that the ambition action gap is greater on the green related technologies. I don’t think that’s a big surprise for a survey based in the United States right now, but that does remain the gap between those blue lines and the green bars is higher than on the pure efficiency or AI based technologies. I don’t think that’s necessarily going to change, but I think that’s something with noting. The other thing I think comes to the familiarity part, and there was a notable increase this year. I think Dr. Davè alluded to it earlier in terms of familiarity among supply chain leaders in ai. There was a notable decrease, statistically relevant, correct me if I’m wrong, Dr. Davè, but a statistically decrease in familiarity on renewable energies. So we can see how certain shifts perhaps in politics and regulatory frameworks and where people are deprioritizing that as something they need to stay up to speed on. So I think that’s kind of reflective, but as Dr. Davè pointed out, nothing’s going away. The ambition remains very high on all accounts.

[00:22:21] Scott W. Luton: Good stuff. Evan, Maria, your thoughts on these broader technology investments and priorities?

[00:22:26] Maria Villablanca: I think from my perspective, we need to take a step back and look at this as a transformational change. Whatever we’re doing, whether it’s an AON investment or investment in sustainability initiatives or looking at technology, we need to prioritize what’s important to our customers. We can’t forget that. And I think that’s what a lot of people get wrong is looking at what is the customer looking for? How can we improve their lives? And then the same for our employees and our shareholders. So there’s also another element that I wanted to bring up, which is I think there’s a bit of a misunderstanding about AI or a mindset issue on AI and technological implementation. We’re so busy chasing the tech shiny tech that we haven’t really evaluated the value chain. What is it that we’re trying to build? How are we going to improve it and how is that going to survive whatever issue we have in the world, whether it’s tariffs or climate change or geopolitical issue. So it’s a lot to absorb, but I think we need to take that step back and look at the business issue from our customer. Backwards.

[00:23:26] Scott W. Luton: Well said. Well said. It’s really important to your point, Maria, to call time out. Let’s not get caught up in the ever increasing velocity of the day or those buzz words that kill and take a step back and gain perspective and priorities there. Excellent points. Okay, you mentioned sustainability, Maria, and that’s where we’re going next.

[00:23:46] Evan Junker: Scott, can I mention one thing, comment about the security of data because there’s some really cool technologies that are becoming available now that we’re actually using with some of our clients. There are some tools that actually do this data mesh thing where they pull the data from, the secure sources are able to manipulate it, produce the output without actually storing it. We’re able to securely, we’re seeing this a lot with defense related clients and things of that nature where you have to do certain things you’re not allowed to store that you’re not allowed to do, manipulate things in a way that would actually be a security violation for certain policies. But there are really cool tools out there that allow you to do a lot of this data transformation, convert things into information while maintaining data security of the original source.

[00:24:34] Scott W. Luton: Excellent point, Evan. Excellent point. Let’s talk about sustainability. It’s been an interesting time for sustainability initiatives and the narrative that is applied to them. I would say I think that’s almost inarguable and we’re going to talk about some GLE here, but check out this information here, these quotes in terms of various drivers of sustainability from government regulations as you might expect to improve reputation and brand environmental action, improved evaluation financially, demand of customers, which of course Maria pointed out as a north star of course, recruitment of young talent. That’s a great one to include when it comes to what is driving our sustainability initiative. So let’s talk about it Evan, what are survey respondents thinking when it comes to sustainability and how have those political and regulatory shifts impacted their positions and actions?

[00:25:24] Evan Junker: Well, and this is one of the things that kind of surprised me. I had expected a taper off this year. In fact, I think the only major difference is a few of those went from extremely important as the top one to highly important as the top vote getter. So really the only change was whether it was extremely or highly important. So some of them switched places, but all of those drivers still ranked between extremely and highly important as the top two vote getters. So these drivers are here to stay. They’re not going anywhere. And you can see that if you look at the greens and the purples on there, if you add those together across almost all factors, those are in fact, I think across all factors. Those are over half of the respondents right there. And of course demand of customers in the United States.

[00:26:09] Evan Junker: We don’t have a regulatory framework that’s strong in terms of sustainability. If you recall, it wasn’t that long ago we were talking about the SEC issuing guidelines and things of that nature. I think that’s kind of a thing of the past right now. But demand of customers is big and whether you are a manufacturer that’s dealing with a B2C product where you have consumer demand or if your customers are overseas and operating in Europe or Asia or Australia or any of the other places that have sustainability regimes, you have to still do your reporting, still have to report to them or they’re not going to use you. So these are the realities we live in and it’s not going away.

[00:26:49] Scott W. Luton: Good stuff, Evan. Appreciate that. Dr. Davè, your thoughts on sustainability?

[00:26:52] Dr. Dinesh Davè: This is very, very interesting because we used the factor analysis and clustering processes of statistics and we found out very interesting results and we validated some of the differences using discrim analysis. So what I’m trying to say is the interpretations of the results are so fascinating. For example, when we did the factor of the investment, how much whether companies should be investing in a sustainability or technology area, we got two distinct factors when I followed up with the clustering process, that means 60% or 63% of the respondents said that they highly value compared to 37% of the group they gave me about neutral response. So these are very encouraging results and implementing that and interpreting what Evan is talking about is very, very interesting.

[00:27:48] Scott W. Luton: I agree, Dr. Davè, I think you’re referring to what Evan called that ambition action gap. What we want to do, what we are doing, I’ve got one of those in my household, big gaps between ambitions and actions. But Maria, kidding aside, sustainability, your thoughts, what the data and what the market’s telling us.

[00:28:04] Maria Villablanca: Look, sustainability isn’t going to go away, whether it’s driven by regulatory compliance or driven by the need to hire younger talent or even customers and what they demand, the reality is that it’s not going away. So companies do have that inaction issue because they don’t know how to measure the ROI of certain sustainability initiatives. And so I think this is a wider conversation, but one that is just not going to go away. Sometimes you are going to have capital intensive initiatives to launch some sustainability initiatives, but you are going to have to measure and weigh the risk of not implementing them. But this is where also technology can come in to help.

[00:28:41] Scott W. Luton: That’s right. Excellent points. Maria and Evan, one last time you joined us, we talked about how more sustainable action, more progress on sustainability initiatives can actually create great revenue and good smart business. And as Maria as actually I think all three of y’all said it’s not going away, folks like most issues ebbs and flows, but it’s not going away. Let’s talk about one of my least favorite topics, but one that we’ve got to talk about and that is tariffs, right? Or any other recent geopolitical shifts. I want to start with the tariffs because y’all asked specifically in the survey the perceived impact of tariffs. And Evan remind of the time period first, so we have the right context here.

[00:29:20] Evan Junker: Dr. Davè, you probably have the exact dates this survey was produced, but it was in late. It was after all the tariffs went into effect. This was not during the back and forth. This was not during any major shifts. This was after all the tariffs were in effect.

[00:29:33] Scott W. Luton: So with that in mind, folks, look at the, again, from 300 plus supply chain managers in the US that perceived the impact of tariffs. And I am not a statistician, but I think the negative side probably outweighs the positive side, which doesn’t surprise me at all, probably none of you either. Dr. Davè, what impacts, again, tell us what the data and what their survey, what the voice of the survey respondent said about tariffs or other geopolitical shifts.

[00:30:00] Dr. Dinesh Davè: That’s very, very interesting question because when we saw tariff and we thought that there’ll be a lot more respondents who will say negative, and my hypothesis was it could be negative impact. But when we look at that across the size of organization, some of the organizations said they have positive impact and it could be because their competitors cannot manage that tariff very well or they’re working in partnership or whatever the interpretation is. It’s very interesting. There is no specific, I saw that one particular when I divided the data, one specific size of the company or type of company, et cetera is across all over. So this was very encouraging in terms of looking at this data,

[00:30:48] Scott W. Luton: I would argue probably inarguably that beer and pizza is a lot more universally positive than tariffs is my hunch, is my hunch ing weigh in. What else would you add in terms of what the respondent said about the tariffs?

[00:31:02] Evan Junker: Yeah, I think we all have a little bit of tariff fatigue. It’s real, but I think Dr. Davè is right. There’s this slightly negative tilt in terms of the impact. I didn’t see any major shifts based on size for segments as well. I think one thing that’s coming out of the discussion over the last year or two is this race for cheap and fast and all things just in time is giving away. And we’re going from that just in time to just in case era and geopolitics is not going to magically stabilize. So in my mind, I understand where people say, oh, it could have positive, it could have negative, but in reality it’s going to have an impact. The idea that magically tariffs will have no impact. That I don’t think is going to be the reality. The reality is it’s going to be a little more dynamic than we’re used to. Some of those AI technologies, some of those digital twins, some of those tools that are going to allow you to quickly assess what you need to do and how you need to adjust are going to be really important. Buckle up. It’s the new reality.

[00:32:05] Scott W. Luton: Buckle up. Hang on to your socks and your cap. Alright, so Maria, your thoughts on the trade that ever shifting trade landscape?

[00:32:12] Maria Villablanca: I think it’s sort of like a fill in the blank. It’s insert here. It could be tariffs, geopolitical issues, economic crisis. We’re in a time of complete poly crisis and volatility. So it’s really about supply chains being able to respond. So I want to move away from the conversation as well about resilience. It’s how do we respond to whatever is insert here coming next. And I think that’s really what the order of the day is and the more visibility you can get, the more you can lean on technology, lean on digital twins, on collaboration, which we’re going to talk about all of these things, the more you can lean on them, the more you can adapt and perhaps maybe even thrive through these poly crisis.

[00:32:54] Scott W. Luton: Maria, that is an excellent comment and it goes back to what you said a little while earlier about taking a step back, looking at the big picture, right? Because in the grand scheme, if you looked at it a thousand years, it might be tariffs here, there’s going to be something else here, something else here. It’s all about how resilient we can be and our organizations can be to whatever the disruption of the hour is. Good stuff there, Maria. Okay. Evan, what’s one thing that surprised you from year two of this survey?

[00:33:22] Evan Junker: Well, I had expected some things to fall off. So I think the surprise was that there wasn’t a surprise. I had expected perhaps sustainability to go down in terms of the should be numbers, right? The ambition numbers. I had expected perhaps to see even more of an emphasis on the resilience side, but there’s that old saying, you can have it fast, good or cheap. You get to pick two out of three. Well, in this case you can have it cost effective, you can be resilient or you can have sustainability. Except it sounds like our supply chain managers are being told they have to do all three. They have to be cost effective, they have to build in resiliency and they have to have sustainability built in. And so I think what I’m seeing in this survey is more and more is being demanded of our supply chain managers. It’s the new reality, it’s the dictates from the board, the boss, the CEO, that’s what’s coming up. That’s the new normal.

[00:34:20] Scott W. Luton: So true. The new never normal for sure. And by the way, I brought in a tree service and their company name was fast, good cheap tree service and it was cheap, it was fast, but my trees are all hacked up in my backyard, never come back. You get two out of three. Dr. Davè, what surprised you about the survey this year? Maybe

[00:34:39] Dr. Dinesh Davè: I was surprised that this year when we asked the question of international tariff impact and I thought there’ll be quite a few individuals with a negative, but I didn’t see that as a matter of fact, like 25, 28% of the respondents suggested will have positive impact. So that was kind of surprising to me. Secondly, when I look at the deeper analysis and when I found out the grouping, the data clustering process, it was very interesting to see that there are two distinct groups. One respondents were highly agreeable on the scale of one to five, the response were close to four and others the response was close to two and a half to three. So I mean these are the interesting observations that I saw. So it’s very encouraging.

[00:35:29] Scott W. Luton: Good stuff. Dr. Davè, surprises are going to abound when we poll this many folks that are leading supply chains and doing critical work moving mountains. Maria, your thoughts in terms of surprises or observations as we’re in year two of this survey? Any thoughts?

[00:35:48] Maria Villablanca: Yeah, I think we’re entering or we’ve entered the era of executive overwhelm to the point of Evan made everybody being asked to do a lot more with a lot less. That’s going to continue. And so I think the question is how do we rethink supply chains? How do we rethink business to some degree? How do we rethink leadership to be able to handle this sort of tremendous overwhelm that we feel to do things cheaper, faster, better, customizable, whatever it is that you want, all the toppings on the pizza, how do we do that? And so again, I hate to sound like a broken record, but we do need to take that step back and look at where technology serves us for this, where I can collaborate with the people around me on this to be able to build something long lasting or at least certainly lasting through this crisis that we’re in.

[00:36:37] Evan Junker: So often we do pit these things against each other and I would say a lot of what SPARQ360 does with our clients, a lot of the work we do is trying to help people understand how do we do our sustainability in a way that is cost effective, that does turn it from a cost center into a cost saver and in many cases build in resiliency. It’s that trifecta starting at that level, you can start making these programs stand up on their own feet and build from there.

[00:37:08] Scott W. Luton: That’s right. Good stuff there Evan. The supply chain, Greyhound track, the good old trifecta. All right, Dr. Davè, your favorite piece of feedback related to the overall survey initiative? What’s been one of your favorite things you’ve heard from the market? Dr. Davè

[00:37:23] Dr. Dinesh Davè: Number one is I really like to see this continuity that we are looking at on the trend, what the changes are taking place, especially when we are living in dynamic global competitive environment. So that’s very, very interesting to see. In fact, once we find out when the tariff is settle and in a few months or maybe next year whenever we replicate the study, then it’s going to be very interesting to see what respondents are saying. But also another thing we saw is when we plot it on multidimensional mapping and then whatever statistical analysis, the respondents view the same way that the factor analysis gave us the results. So that’s very encouraging that our results are very valid and the sample is very predictable and we can forecast it for the future.

[00:38:14] Scott W. Luton: Good stuff. Evan, I love the combination here between the been there done that boots on the ground operational side of the survey that you and the SPARQ360 team brings with Dr. Davè’s data analytics. Is that really what the voices are telling us? We got to be more data driven and I love that one punch I’m hearing here today. Evan, you’re one of your favorite pieces of feedback on the overall initiative this year, last year.

[00:38:41] Evan Junker: Well, for me, the survey can be used as a tool. I say the feedback, it’s how are people able to leverage it and one of the things that people have said is that it’s validated. Some of the things they’re doing I think has certainly helped people see the value or the proliferation of collaboration we didn’t necessarily talk too much about, but it is extremely high both on the supply chain optimization and the sustainability improvement side. The level at which companies are collaborating with their suppliers is extremely high. And I don’t think that’s going away, but it does give people ideas. It makes people think when they start saying, oh, if 93% are being asked about this or if 75% of companies are collaborating on something, it makes people pause and say, okay, I can do that. And then it’s always great to see those kinds of ideas and those inspirations come to fruition.

[00:39:38] Scott W. Luton: I completely agree. And Maria, building on Evan’s response there, I love, let’s find the things that we should be automating, right? Let’s take the tedious task from the people and then let get those people together amongst the ecosystems, customer suppliers, team members, you name it. Let’s change those conversations rather than, oh, my millions of freight invoices are incorrect. Hey, technology can solve that, right? No more freight auditing or whatever the uncertainty example there and enable the people to change the conversations around innovation, serving the customer, new ideas, you name it. That’s a beautiful thing. Your thoughts, Maria?

[00:40:13] Maria Villablanca: Well, you know what? I think validating your thinking in this time of executive overwhelm is essential, right? So any kind of survey that helps support the direction that you’re trying to take or that your leaders want you to take or whatever, I think is very, very valuable. But I want to talk about what Evan was talking about with regards to partnerships in collaboration. I cannot stress the importance of this To me. I think that partnerships in collaboration are the new competitive advantage. If you think about the best supply chains, they’re not just built on transactions, they’re built on trust and on shared data, which was a point that was being made beforehand. So again, that reset of a mindset shift that we need to take back in order to be resilient and responsive to any kind of insert here crisis that we’re going to have is going to be these partnerships.

[00:41:01] Scott W. Luton: Maria, I love that partnership. If I got you quoted right, partnerships in collaborations is one of the newest, biggest competitive differentiators. It’s so true, you and Evan and Dr. Davè. There’s lots of, despite all the variants of responses and whether it’s tariffs or what we shouldn’t be spending, what we are spending, whatever. There’s some strong common themes here, both this conversation and the survey. That’s what we need to lean into for sure. Okay, so we’re coming down to home stretch to pick it back up on that Greyhound track analogy, Evan, the trifecta. Let’s see the full version of the 2025 supply chain trends and attitudes. Don’t forget those attitudes. Report releases October 14th. Our audience members can get their own copy of the survey. Its results. We’d love to hear your feedback as you dive into the data. You name it. Where do you agree with us here today? Where do you disagree? What’s your own take? We love to hear all of that. Evan, quick question for you and Dr. Davè for the survey. What’s next? Where do we go from here? Evan, your quick thoughts there?

[00:42:03] Evan Junker: Well, I think one thing we’ve been getting a lot of questions about from our international client base is when are you going to do it here? And so I think the idea is next year we’re going to see what the good people in the Netherlands have to say. We are fortunate that App State University has some strong relationships. I’ll let Dr. Davè speak to those and we’ve already begun discussions while launching that survey in the Netherlands.

[00:42:25] Dr. Dinesh Davè: It’s very interesting what Evans mentioned because we just came back from France. Our program has made connection in Laha University outside Normandy. I just came back a couple of weeks ago from France and we met the individual in the Netherland who will be helping us collecting the data. So my colleague and I went to France as well as Netherland personally. So it’s very encouraging. So we have great support from SPARQ360 and we just cannot thank them enough.

[00:42:55] Scott W. Luton: What we need to do then Dr. Davè, I’ll come North Carolina and we’ll fly out of Raleigh. We’ll go hook up with Evan and Maria and we’ll do it all in person over great beer and pizza and have just a blast. How’s that sound, everybody? We go like a plan. Alright, good stuff. Alright, so we’re going to have a fast and furious finish here. We want to make sure folks can connect with our panel here. And I want to start with Evan. How can folks connect with you and the SPARQ360 team?

[00:43:20] Evan Junker: Well, a couple things. You can always grab me on my LinkedIn. I’m pretty active on LinkedIn and you can email me as well. It’s evan.junker@sparqthreesixty.com. But of course, if you’re listening to this on audio, Junker is spelled J-U-N-K-E-R. And we should also say for those on audio, SPARQ360 is spelled S-P-A-R-Q 3 6 0. And then our website has a whole plethora of information that hopefully can help you out. And we’d of course be happy to talk with you if you have any questions or concerns. In fact, last week we launched a three-tiered ESG framework for companies that are struggling to approach their sustainability programs. Very practical, very solution-oriented. Sorry, Dr. Davè. It’s not very academic, but it’s very practical approach for the 1, 2, 3 phase. And you can find some resources from that as well.

[00:44:11] Scott W. Luton: Outstanding. And Dr. Davè, let’s make sure folks can connect with you. How can they do that?

[00:44:16] Dr. Dinesh Davè: I can be found very easily on App State University website. My email address is daveds@appstate.edu and that’s very easy to find. I’m also on LinkedIn. You’re welcome to connect with me through LinkedIn as well.

[00:44:35] Scott W. Luton: Outstanding. Good stuff there. And we’re also going to include a couple more resources, Maria folks need to know how to connect with you as well. You got a big event coming up T Fest in November in Europe, so folks got to check that out. Maria, how can folks connect with you?

[00:44:48] Maria Villablanca: Well, you know me, I’m a very shy girl, but you can see me on LinkedIn if you’re not following me already. That’s probably the best way is on LinkedIn. I do have a website as well, mariavillablanca.com and I’ve got a podcast, so as you know it, Scott, Transform Talks with Maria Villablanca and yep, just reach out to me.

[00:45:08] Scott W. Luton: Outstanding. Please do reach out to our entire panel folks. What a great conversation, Evan, Dr. Davè and Maria. Alright, a couple quick things folks. I want to make sure, again, don’t take our word for it, really don’t. I mean I’m taking Maria and Dr. Davè Evan’s word for it. But go through your own research, download the report, drive in, let us know what you think it says and compare and contrast that with your own experiences and your own organization. Also can learn more about the really cool things they’re doing at Appalachian State University with Dr. Davè and specifically the department of Marketing and Supply Chain management. Look at that. A gorgeous shot of Boone, North Carolina where they’ve got beautiful mountains when they’re not moving them. So check that out folks. Sorry, I had to, had to. Alright, Maria, you’re going to get the toughest question of the whole day, I think. What is one of your favorite key takeaways from the last hour?

[00:46:02] Maria Villablanca: I knew you were going to ask me this, so I’ve prepared two just to make it easier. But the one thing that I would say is that the best supply chain leaders, they’re not waiting for the perfect conditions. They’re investing in visibility, piloting sustainability and building partnerships today. Now even in the middle of this uncertainty. So that’s my biggest takeaway. You don’t have to wait for the perfect conditions. The second takeaway, Scott, since it’s beer and pizza day, I’m going to say this, visibility, analytics and AI are the base ingredients, but sustainability is the topping that makes the supply chain worth sharing.

[00:46:36] Scott W. Luton: Oh, Maria, I love it. And we got a bonus one. I love it. But it’s excellent comic. Kidding aside, you can’t wait, right? You can’t wait. We had a great panel last month full of css and one of the biggest themes there is if you’re waiting for the perfect time to do X, Y, Z, if you’re looking for that perfect stable ground, you’re wasting your time because it’s not coming. You got to jump in. You got to jump in. Great stuff. Maria Villablanca. So nice to have you here. Thanks for being here.

[00:47:04] Maria Villablanca: Likewise. Thank you.

[00:47:05] Scott W. Luton: Evan Yoker, SPARQ360. I love that You get your hands dirty and you roll up your sleeves and you jump into things. That’s how it should be. We need people like that, organizations like that. Thanks for being here.

[00:47:16] Evan Junker: Thank you. Thanks. It’s always great to be with you.

[00:47:18] Scott W. Luton: That is right. And Dr. Davè with Appalachian State University. I really appreciate your passion for helping us all better, interpret what’s going on and where things are headed from an industry standpoint, as well as helping these bright minds of the now generation and the top talents coming in our industry, helping those light bulbs go off. You’re doing really a big noble mission. Thanks for being here. Dr. Davè,

[00:47:43] Dr. Dinesh Davè: Thank you so much. I really appreciate all your support and we look forward to working with you and SPARQ360 and other organizations. We are looking forward to it,

[00:47:53] Scott W. Luton: And I’m coming your way. We’re headed to see Evan and Maria. Folks, hope you enjoyed this discussion. Most importantly, thanks to all of our global family members for tuning in, but you got homework. We heard a lot of good stuff, actionable stuff, great wisdom from Evan, Dr. Davè and Maria. You got to take one thing, folks, just one. If you can do two, wonderful. Take one thing, do something with it, right? Share it with the team member. Put it in practice deeds, not words. That’s how we’re going to keep transforming global supply chain and not leave anybody behind. So with all that said, Scott Luton here on behalf of the whole Supply Chain Now team, do good, give forward, be the change that’s needed. We’ll see you next time. Right back here on Supply Chain Now. Thanks everybody.

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