Robert B. Handfield, Ph.D., is Bank of America University Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management in the College of Management at North Carolina State University. He also is Co-Director of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative (http: // scrc.ncsu.edu). Dr. Handfield serves as Consulting Editor of the Journal of Operations Management and is on the editorial board of several leading academic journals. His research focuses on strategic sourcing, supply market intelligence, supplier relationship management, and sourcing overseas. He has served in consulting and executive education roles for more than 20 Fortune 500 companies.