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\u201cHe really pushes us hard,\u201d says Mocke. \u201cHe\u2019s constantly putting us on the spot, asking us to explain and be better and do a little bit more. And even though it\u2019s tough, it\u2019s definitely something that I personally needed. At the end of the day, we just want to make him proud.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oke confirms that he was \u201cvery proud\u201d when Mocke won the competition last year. His goal in working with PhD students, whether at ASU or in Africa, is to help them become good researchers and experts in their chosen field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI challenge them to be able to think creatively and analytically,\u201d says Oke. \u201cKelvinne is becoming an expert in logistics capability development and knows the literature now more than myself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut this is the intention. You have to be able to mentor PhD students so that they become better than you in their focused areas.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why didn\u2019t the chicken cross the road?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mocke\u2019s winning dissertation proposal is on \u201cInvestigating the Development of Logistics Capabilities From a Resource Orchestration Perspective.\u201d Although it\u2019s a serious topic, he opens his proposal with an age-old joke: \u201cWhy did the chicken cross the road?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead of following with the usual punch line, he references a new variation of the joke that was popular in the U.K. in 2018. \u201cWhy didn’t the chicken cross the road? Because DHL was unable to deliver it!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A logistics debacle between KFC and its new distributor DHL that year forced the temporary closure of over 600 KFC\u2019s, \u201cleaving most of the UK market without their fried chicken fix,\u201d wrote Mocke in his proposal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n He uses that example of a logistics failure to demonstrate the importance of resource orchestration, which focuses on the role managers play in effectively leveraging a firm\u2019s resources. He hopes one outcome of his study will be a \u201crecipe\u201d for logistics capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMix in two of this and then you put together a few of these things, and don\u2019t overcook it, otherwise this is going to happen,\u201d says Mocke about how his recipe might work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor a long time, we assumed that ownership of resources means you would be competitive in the market,\u201d he explains. \u201cSo if you have all the trucks, you have all the warehouses, you have all those things in place, that means you would be competitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut now it\u2019s kind of changing, especially with all the volatility that we\u2019re experiencing. It\u2019s more about what we do with those resources, how we put those things together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe PhD journey can get quite long and tedious. To have a little bit of acknowledgement is a nice morale booster.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Can you publish from it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mocke says he initially wanted to focus his research more specifically on logistics in Africa and how to better reach the people at the bottom of the pyramid\u2014\u201cthe poorest of the poor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen I started this process, I was reading a lot of reports on how Africa is going to be the next big market and how there\u2019s a lot to capitalize on here but logistics being quite a big problem,\u201d Mocke says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After presenting his topic at a PhD workshop and receiving disappointing feedback, he opted to broaden his study. His supervisor, Oke, also influenced his decision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cProfessor Oke is always looking at, \u2018Can you publish from it?\u2019 This is kind of his main concern,\u201d says Mocke. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After he completes his dissertation later this year, Mocke\u2019s goal is to co-author a publication with Oke. In the meantime, winning the PhD Dissertation Award competition last summer was a welcome incentive to keep him going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe PhD journey can get quite long and tedious,\u201d says Mocke, who began his doctoral program in 2017. \u201cTo have a little bit of acknowledgement is a nice morale booster, just to have someone say, \u2018okay, what you\u2019re doing is not completely wrong.\u2019 Because I think you second-guess yourself often.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another of Mocke\u2019s goals after completing his PhD is to become more involved with CARISCA. He already regularly attends the faculty workshops, trainings and lectures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI like those sessions because it\u2019s really top, top scholars in our field, and it\u2019s extremely valuable information,\u201d says Mocke. \u201cMy colleagues who do not attend always come and ask, \u2018How do you use this theory?\u2019 or \u2018How do you use this methodology?\u2019 And I often have the answer. So I will keep on attending them as long as they\u2019re there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you don\u2019t shoot, you can\u2019t score<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mocke also plans to attend the third annual Supply Chain Research Summit<\/a> this summer in Accra, Ghana. Last year he attended and presented his paper virtually, but he plans to use a research grant he recently received to attend in person this year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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