Supply Chain Manager, Michelin
PMBA Class of 2018

“Smaller companies have the ability to disrupt entire industries through innovation. As an engineer at the world’s second largest tire manufacturer, I wanted to understand innovation as a strategy. Laura B. Cardinal of SC Innovates expanded my knowledge and perspective.”

Lyderic Champetier, Supply Chain Manager, Michelin

A native of France, Lyderic Champetier was an engineer at Michelin when he earned his MBA from the University of South Carolina Darla Moore School of Business (DMSB). Among his classes at the DMSB was Laura B. Cardinal’s Strategic Management of Technology and Innovation (SMTI), a class Champetier says was transformative. “I realized that large companies are often disturbed by the technologies of smaller companies, sometimes putting their survival at risk—think Kodak and digital photography. As I work for the second largest tire manufacturer in the world, first as an engineer and now in sales of Michelin’s Services and Solutions, I wanted to understand the disruptive power of innovation and how best to manage and take advantage of it. Professor Cardinal’s SMTI class provided insight into the high level strategy of innovation and how to view it beyond one’s core technology. I highly recommend this class.”