7-Eleven and SMU Cox Collaborate on a
'Next Generation' Program

When Jim Keyes thinks about the transformation of 7-Eleven, Inc. he sees a future filled with both fresh ideas and new partnerships forged with a host of suppliers. And now, in a unique program, he sees SMU Cox executive education as a force in helping him achieve his goals.

As president and chief executive officer of 7-Eleven, he has been working with Dr. Frank R. Lloyd, the new associate dean of Executive Education at the Cox School to realize his vision. Keyes’s goal is to develop a custom program for middle- to upper-level management that addresses actual 7-Eleven business challenges.

That goal is not unique, as Dr. Lloyd will tell you. Dozens of companies come to the Cox School annually seeking training classes that address their specific needs. In his program, Keyes will focus beyond current internal challenges by attempting to accomplish long-range transformation with members of his supply chain.

“What is unique at 7-Eleven is that we rely on hundreds of different suppliers, each with very different goals, processes and their own set of requirements,” Keyes said. “We have more than 28,000 stores worldwide. It’s a lengthy supply chain and most complications could be overcome if we saw the same objective in the same way.” Achieving that consensus, however, includes a host of obvious roadblocks and pitfalls, but Keyes believes executive education can be a key to opening the door to cooperation.

“Take our people and their people to a favorable and neutral environment,” Keyes said, “Give them an opportunity to see the whole pie instead of focusing on their particular slice of it. An educational environment removes the corporate bias, the ‘us’ versus ‘them’ thinking, and creates a team. They are there to develop a case study. This one just happens to be a real world issue that’s part of the 7-Eleven supply chain. Instead of negotiating, the group is problem-solving.”

Keyes’s vision extends beyond building better cooperation between 7-Eleven and its suppliers, however. “Today’s retailers are tremendously aware of their customer,” Keyes said. “Technology has enabled us to know when they shop, where they shop and precisely what they buy. We’re able to track our customers by store and by region, by hours and by purchasing patterns, just to name some of the available insights available.”

Therefore, Keyes envisions an opportunity for 7-Eleven to make the manufacturer more aware of the customer. “We bring enhanced customer awareness to the table, while the supplier brings their existing research and development capability. The study group is responsible for the creation of a new product,” Keyes explained. These would be tested and introduced through 7-Eleven stores. Once again the concept has benefits for 7-Eleven, the supplier, the individual participants and the school.

Keyes turned to the Cox School of Business to help develop his concept in part because both are located in Dallas, but also because of his experiences with their internship program. “It was probably a reaction to my own somewhat disappointing internship experience when I was a student at Columbia University in New York. Too many companies see taking on interns as part of their civic duty and a charitable contribution. The intern is left to run errands and read the Wall Street Journal,” Keyes said.

Instead, 7-Eleven worked with SMU Cox to develop an intern team that serves in a role similar to a consulting firm. “If you a hire a consulting firm to address a business problem, you are paying for a team of young business graduates to research an issue, develop a plan and write a report, all under the guidance of one or two senior consultants,” Keyes said. “So we take a team of interns, assign them to a senior executive and challenge the group with an actual business problem. We look at it as a consulting engagement led by a management team member.” In addition to the obvious real world experience for the intern, Keyes thinks his executive team benefits by learning new coaching and mentoring skills while the company gets fresh eyes to address a particular issue.

Keyes used this as a directional link when considering executive education. “Rather than just sending folks to a class or to school, why not have them work on an actual business problem,” Keyes concluded. He maintains that despite the importance of the supply chain to every retailer, the last major changes to its operation were made 20 years ago when Proctor and Gamble and Wal-Mart led the way.

Both Keyes and Dr. Lloyd admit that creating the full custom program they envision will take some time. However, with Professor Robin Pinkley designing the program and curriculum, they anticipate getting started with an initial course in the fall of this year. 7-Eleven is in the process of hiring a leadership development director to work closely with the school in the program’s on-going development. “It will take more attention than I can give it for a full program to emerge. It’s got to be a process of evolution. I have this other day job,” Keyes quipped. He has begun testing the waters with some of his suppliers, however, and says he has encountered interest and enthusiasm from them.