People with degree's and no hands on experience have also played a part in ruining this company. They make decisions that don't work because they don't understand the inner workings of the business but sound good on paper. School of Hard Knocks is not such a bad education and a degree along with it would be a plus. A degree alone is not good enough, I have seen the issues from it way too many times. Even with automated ordering you will still need buyers to take care of what a computer can not do. Yes, they can have less buyers but they will still need some.
So much what @SkEzkI3-sdm said. I'm not sure how anybody can think that putting people who are all theory and no practice in management positions can be a good thing. They can envision these perfect little situations but can never anticipate everything that can and will go wrong. Practice is the best teacher, always has been.