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Ron Berman, director of Training Delivery, SAP America, Inc., in a letter to the COB following the conference wrote: “I was interested to learn during your presentation that your implementation experience within your curriculum was similar to the implementation experience of business organizations completing a process redesign. Your discussion of enhanced team work, increased departmental collaboration, and the elimination of departmental barriers is a common theme seen by many traveling along this path.” He continued: “Your institution is at the forefront of developing new methods to teach business and is strategically positioned to achieve prominence in developing business leaders for the twenty-first century. We value our partnership with your institution and look forward to an ongoing collaboration.” One of the critical success factors in our SAP initiative has been the formation of a SAP Industry Partner Group. Industry partners who share expertise and resources, assist in actual instruction, support students in special projects, and provide financial support have been absolutely crucial to our success. We are the first charter member, and SAP has contributed software, technical support and training valued at $2 million dollars, while our long-term strategic partner, Hewlett Packard, has contributed invaluable assistance and donated $750,000 worth of hardware and software to operate R/3. We have welcomed Applied Materials, Inc., the Fortune 500 global growth company with corporate facilities in Santa Clara, as our first manufacturing partner. Applied Materials is the largest producer of wafer fabrication systems and services for the worldwide semiconductor industry. In addition to its corporate facilities, Applied Materials maintains research, development, and manufacturing centers in the United States, Europe, and Japan, as well as technology centers in Israel, South Korea, and Taiwan. To support a growing worldwide customer base, sales and services offices are located in the United States, Europe, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and the People’s Republic of China. We are honored and delighted to have Applied Materials, Inc. join our Industry Group. We particularly appreciate the efforts of Glen O. Toney, group vice president of corporate affairs, and Martin Wegenstein, vice president of information systems and technology chief information officer, in making this a truly working partnership from its very beginnings. Naresh Kapoor, senior director of ERP Application Group, and Steven D. Rea, director of SAP Logistics, shared with our students the experience of Applied Materials in installing and implementing R/3 modules for some 2000 SAP users in its spare-part businesses in North America; Horsham, England; and its European region. Students further learned the details of Applied Materials Asia Pacific Instance with users in Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore. Thus, the wealth of this partnership plays out in the learning environment of our students, our number-one objective. Applied Materials’ involvement in our SAP Industry Group exemplifies the type of partnering that allows us to create and continuously improve programs that are managerially relevant, academically rigorous, pedagogically sound, technologically state-of-the-art, and regionally and globally oriented. We are pleased to further report that Applied Materials has been joined by Foundation Corporation and IBM’s ISSC. It is because of these partners that we look forward to the future with confidence and anticipation. As Berman noted, “Your institution is strategically positioned for the twenty-first century.” Arno Rethans, dean, College of Business (This article first appeared in Link, fall 1997.)
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