Overview
The Thomas and Joan Read Center is dedicated to driving innovation and advancing operational excellence within the distribution and manufacturing sectors. Through our Industry Consortia, we bring together leading organizations, associations, and subject matter experts to collaborate on solving complex challenges and advancing industry-wide solutions. Our consortia offer a unique opportunity for companies to participate in cost-effective, high-quality research and development initiatives that directly impact their business operations. The primary objective of our Industry Consortia is to foster collaborative research that addresses critical issues faced by distribution industries.
If you have any questions, please email us at [email protected] or contact us for more information.
ACROSS INDUSTRIES
DEVELOPMENT ACCESSIBLE
Value to Industry Partners
- COST-EFFECTIVE R&D: Access to high-quality, groundbreaking research at a fraction of the cost compared to independent R&D efforts at a fraction of independent R&D efforts.
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PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS: The research conducted in each consortium leads to the development of actionable methodologies and tools that can immediately enhance your operations.
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EXCLUSIVE EDUCATIONAL SESSIONS: Participate in specialized educational programs thatshare the findings from consortium research and equip your team with the skills and knowledge to implement new strategies.
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INFLUENCE RESEARCH DIRECTION: Partners can help guide the scope of research, ensuring that the outcomes are directly relevant and beneficial to their organization
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NETWORKING OPPORTUNITIES: Collaborate and form relationships with other leaders in the industry, forging connections that can lead to long-term business partnerships
Current Industry Consortia
AI for Industrial Distribution (AI4ID)
The AI4ID Consortium bridges academic research and industry to advance the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in industrial distribution. Led by Dr. Lee Allison and Dr. Malini Natarajarathinam, AI4ID provides vendor-neutral education, tools, and strategies to help distributors assess AI technologies and make informed decisions. Members gain access to workshops, company-specific insights, and collaborative research aimed at transforming data into actionable intelligence for inventory management, customer engagement, and operational excellence. With annual membership, organizations receive tailored recommendations and early exposure to cutting-edge AI applications designed for the distribution sector.
Merger & Acquisitions Council Consortium (MAC)
The Merger and Acquisition Council Consortium (MAC) helps organizations master the Merger and Acquisition (M&A) lifecycle by delivering research-driven insights, practical tools, and hands-on education. Led by Alonso Fierro, MAC provides members with tailored resources for both investment and divestment strategies, expert-led workshops, one-on-one company meetings, and actionable playbooks to drive operational efficiency, strategic alignment, and value capture. Through a collaborative network of industry leaders, academics, and professionals, MAC equips teams to close key skill gaps, foster sustainable growth, and extract maximum value from their transactions—all while benefiting from cost-effective, high-quality expertise.
Marketing Essentials Consortium (MEC)
The Marketing Excellence Consortium (MEC) brings together industry leaders and Texas A&M faculty to advance marketing excellence through research and collaboration. Led by Co-Directors Dr. Lee Allison and Dr. Maria Rouziou, MEC focuses on analyzing current marketing practices, developing evidence-based recommendations, and sharing best practices to elevate marketing performance. Members participate in biannual meetings, support research initiatives, and receive tailored reports with actionable insights to strengthen their marketing strategies and programs.
Technical Sales Career Paths Consortium (PATH)
The Technical Sales Career Paths Consortium (PATH) unites industry leaders and Texas A&M faculty to advance technical sales recruiting and career development. Led by Dr. Willy Bolander, PATH conducts evidence-based research, shares best practices, and provides members with insights and recommendations to strengthen their recruiting efforts. Member organizations collaborate through biannual meetings, and financial support of research projects, all aimed at shaping the future of technical sales talent development in the U.S. and beyond.
Talent Development Council (TDC)
The Industrial Distribution Program at Texas A&M University will form the Talent Development Council to identify and advance talent best practices, practical methods, and applied tools for Distributors to implement. The Talent Development Council will act as a best practice sharing, learning and networking forum for distributors from various channels. Each year, the Council will focus on one talent area.
Past Industry Consortia
Optimizing Human Capital Development
The Council for Research on Distributor Best Practices conducted its 2014 consortium on Optimizing Human Capital Development. Following the very successful Optimizing Channel Compensation and Optimizing Growth and Market Share consortia, this initiative conducted research to develop practical methodologies and tools to optimize recruiting, training and retaining human capital. A two-day educational session was developed based on the resulting knowledge, methodology and tools.
Optimizing Distributor Profitability
After many years of research by both firms and individuals, a “best” approach is now known for almost every imaginable distributor activity. Though each best practice and their projected impact on financial statements has been analyzed in isolation, no one has yet attempted to implement all relevant best practices and determine their effects on the firm’s ROI and net profit. This program and the research behind it aim to help you become that perfect distributor – to see just how profitable a well-educated and well-equipped distributor can be.
Pricing Optimization
This Consortium will research pricing strategy and variables designed to include break even analysis, price elasticity, price thresholds, product life cycle pricing and price sensitivity. Scientific pricing decision making is one potential focus area for profitable revenue management. Profitability depends equally as much on pricing as it does cost control.
Sales & Marketing Optimization
Marketing is an underdeveloped science for most distributors. Few distributors seem to have a consistent, well thought out message that tells who they are and what makes them different from their competition. Consortium members will participate directly in the research and gain a better understanding of the findings. The full report will be issued to each consortium member with all analysis performed on the firm itself with the firm’s data.
Optimizing Distributor Growth & Market Share
The consortium is focused on important business topics for interested wholesale distribution companies of all sizes and across all lines of trade. This consortium will be pioneering research-driven education programs on the topic of Optimizing Distributor Growth and Market Share.
Optimizing Channel Compensation
Even though many distributors may be somewhat familiar with these concepts and may utilize them to some extent, understanding and implementing a holistic approach to date has been achieved by only a select few. The development of tools that will enhance the scientific decision making capabilities and implementation procedures of firms will be the primary focus of the consortium. The consortium members will receive results, methodology and tools developed during this pioneering research in Optimizing Channel Compensation.
Optimize Business Analytics
Current needs and trends in wholesale-distribution are pointing towards analytics. It will no longer be optional for a firm to invest in analytics. The consortium set-up (cross-industry collaboration and individual workshops) is designed for the very purpose of understanding industry-wide challenges and firm-specific opportunities. This Research Consortium will be beneficial to Wholesaler-Distributors and Manufacturers who go to market through Distributors.
Optimizing Value Added Services
A research team from Texas A&M University will analyze growth opportunities with consortium members to determine how to optimize ROI in value add services. Supply Chain impacting factors will be included in the analysis along with best practices in Supply Chain Management to determine the ROI impact of differing strategies.
Optimizing Small Distributors
Today small distributors are facing unprecedented difficulties in technology, human resources and investment. Technology continues to change at a rapid pace, becoming less costly, and spurring innovation in operational efficiency as well as sales and marketing at distribution firms of all sizes. This consortia will identify a set of best practices for optimizing small distributors’ resource (human and asset) utilization and profitability.
Digitizing the Sales Process
A team of professional researchers from Texas A&M’s Global Supply Chain Laboratory and Talent Incubator Program will work with consortium members to analyze growth opportunities and identify ways to optimize the sales process using digital tools. The analysis will also incorporate best practices in this area.
