PSU Magazine Winter 1998

The food industry program is the result of industry executives working ide by side with PSU business school faculty to meet the needs of both industry and the University. "What' unique is that you have industry pushing the program rather than the program trying to push indus– try to get involved," says Ernie Mon chein of the Washington, D.C.,– based Food Marketing Institute, a 1,500-member international food industry association. Monschein met this fall with indu - try repre entatives and faculty members who serve on the program's advisory board. He says PSU should be able to capitalize on Portland's loca– tion in the heart of one of the nation's major food producing, processing, and distribution regions. R egional economic number bear that out. The food industry, from grower to grocer, is the Northwest's largest employer. According to recent labor statistics, an estimated 115,000 people in Oregon work in agriculture, food processing, wholesaling, and grocery retailing companies in Oregon. This represents total sales of about $9 billion a year. Portland State also has a golden opportunity to capitalize on the lack of higher education programs in food industry management, Monschein adds. Oregon State University has its well-established College of Agricultural Sciences, which offers the latest in food science and technology re earch. But only a handful of acade– mic program nationwide-University of Southern California, Michigan State University and Cornell Univer ity, to name a few---offer programs related to food industry management. Each of those programs tends to focus on only one aspect of the food industry, such as retailing or marketing. "I've had a high interest in this program from the beginning because it's a cross-industry program," ays Wally Pfeiffer, a former vice presi– dent for Fred Meyer who helped create the program before joining the Business School faculty in 1997. "Retailers tend to know what retail- ing is all about, but may not under– stand what goes on at the wholesaler or supplier end. The goal here is to broaden everyone's awareness of what it takes to supp rt the food value chain, and to learn from each other." David Lakey '80, vice pre ident of marketing for IVC Industries Inc., Portland, which manufacture and markets pharmaceutical and nutri- are heading to foreign markets. Thus, Gillpatrick say , food distribu– tors, manufacturer , and retailer must find new ways to market and add value to Oregon products. "Just in the past six years, Western Family Foods and United Grocers (both Oregon companies) have been selling to the Far East and Russia. This has meant double-digit growth for them." David Lakey '80 of IVC Industries, a private-label vitamin company, sat on the advisory board that started PSU's Food Industry Management Program. tion products, ays the food industry i taking a broader view of itself. It now realize that better understand– ing of each step along the food value chain can lead to improved opera– tions and profits. "For years, grocery store only competed with each other," says Lakey. "Now, grocery stores are competing with huge, product– specific warehouse stores, and with direct mail operations, department stores, and specialty stores." U nderstanding the international cene also ha become impera– tive for many in the food industry, says PSU's Gillpatrick, a profe sor of marketing. More Oregon products Food industry executives al o are looking at how the Internet will impact them; one industry official recently predicted that by the year 2005, 10 percent of food retailing in the United States will be done on the Internet, Gillpatrick notes. Mary Jo Morris '90, MPA '92, director of PSU's Food Industry Management Program, says upgrading the workforce is perhaps one of the biggest challenges facing the food retailing industry. "Many people in the food business grew up in family-owned operations. They started as box boys and learned the busines on the job, without having a college degree or formal background in the business," she says. WINTER 1998 PSU MAGAZINE 13