Return on Investment for the United States Navy's Training With Industry Program

Abstract

Annually, the United States Navy's Supply Corps selects four officers to participate in its Training with Industry (TWI) program. This program takes the selected officers out of traditional Navy Supply Corps billets and sends them to work with one of four Fortune 500 companies, ExxonMobil, Starbucks, The Home Depot, or FedEx. Lessons learned from these companies and their best business practices are to be brought back to the fleet during a follow-on three-year utilization tour after the TWI program. To develop an ROI metric for Naval Supply Systems Command (NAVSUP) to apply to its TWI program, this MBA project researched three ROI methodologies, the Kirkpatrick model, Schmidt's seven steps model, and Phillips five-level ROI framework. Combining elements of the three methodologies, an adaptable metric was developed for NAVSUP. The net benefit of the program divided by the program costs results in an ROI of 88%. Additional intangible benefits obtained include meeting capability gaps, meeting NAVSUP's objectives, and increasing the professional value of the Supply Corps officers. It is recommended that NAVSUP adjust its utilization of the officer to maximize the benefit, use the forms developed to improve data collection, and assign participants additional qualification designations (AQDs) upon TWI program completion.