Building Bridges Between the Curricula of Italian Universities in Logistics & SCM and the Needs of 4.0 “Customer-Centric” Enterprise Professionals

This research focuses on the key and central role of logistics and supply chain management (SCM) today [17,28] and the importance of having professionals with specific professional/technical skills together with an adequate educational background. In light of an analysis previously carried out concerning the mapping of roles and skills required to effectively operate in logistics and SCM [2], this study queries whether Italian universities (along with other training institutions) are ready to fulfill these needs. Inspired by Niine and Koppel [26,27], who argue that “logistics is an extensive interdisciplinary field across industries and jobs, merging the viewpoints of engineering, manufacturing, operations and business administration”, the study proposes a census of the courses (Bachelor and Master’s Degree equivalent) offered by the Faculty of Economics and Engineering in the 2017–2018 academic year and the list of the main jobs in the logistics and SCM area with the main technical competences. Aim of the research is to understand if Italian Universities are able to offer the "logistics culture" consistent with the evolving markets’ needs.