What skills and attributes are desired on Australian supply network managers?

Against a background of increasing business volatility that will impact on the design and operation of supply networks (SN), this research describes the outcome of a survey of 210 Australian business executives who were invited to indicate the skills and attributes that they perceive to be important in SN managers. The research found that, whilst the notion of 'agility' is increasingly found in the literature relating to SN management, there is only relatively limited discussion of what such agility entails and, hence, what skills and attributes might be required by those managing such networks. From a practitioner perspective, however, the areas of problem solving, inter-personal and business management skills are more highly rated that those related to the functions of logistics/ SN management. This has clear implications for the design of education courses in this field as these may need to be more clearly focussed on developing an improved understanding of the theory and practice of modern management as it relates supply networks, and less on their operation