John Saldanha Ph.D.

Sears Chair in Global Supply Chain Management, Director of the Wehrle Global Supply Chain Lab, and Professor

Expertise

Dr. Saldanha began his supply chain career in the merchant marine where he has a decade of experience serving on a variety of cargo vessels around the world. He completed a BSc (Hons.) in Maritime Business and Transport after which he attended the Smeal College of Business, Penn State where he received his Ph.D. in Business Administration with a concentration in business logistics and a minor in statistics. Following that, he joined the Marketing & Logistics Department at the Fisher College of Business, Ohio State before joining the faculty of the College of Business & Economics at WVU.

In his research he poses the fundamental over-arching research question: “What are the significant managerial levers in logistics and can managers set these levers to maximize supply chain performance?” Given his background an area of special interest is global supply chains. As part of this are interests in supply chain disruptions and information systems that can improve logistics and other supply chain management processes in global supply chains. Finally, his personal experience has led him to recognize the importance of the human element in supply chains, which is now an important component of his research. His research spans the globe covering North America, Europe and Asia and has been published in the Journal of Business Logistics, Transportation Research Part E, and the Journal of Supply Chain Management, among other journals. He also serves on the Editorial Review Board of the Journal of Business Logistics.

Dr. Saldanha is also an award-winning teacher who believes in leveraging technology and providing students with real world experience in the classroom. He has taught at the undergraduate, MBA, Ph.D. and Executive level. He has advised Ph.D. students in North America, and Europe and has been invited to research seminars at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western and Chalmers University Sweden. At the College of B&E he teaches the business core supply chain management course, the introductory course to logistics and distribution management and a course on supply chain analytics.

Education

Ph.D., Business Administration, Penn State
BSc. (Hons.) Maritime Business & Transport, University of Plymouth
Class 2 Deck Officer (Chief Officer) certificate of competency, issued by the Office of Registrar General of Shipping and Seamen of the Government of the United Kingdom
Higher National Diploma in Nautical Science, British Technical Education Council

Honors Awards

Western Decision Sciences Institute 2015 Conference Award Best Theoretical/Empirical Research Paper Award, April 2015 from the Western Decision Sciences Institute
E. Grosvenor Plowman Award at the Annual Supply Chain Educators' Conference 2014
Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals Bernard J. La Londe Best Paper Award 2013

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