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Global Operations Archives - Page 2 of 4 - Ideas for Leaders

Does Work/Life Balance Help or Hurt Productivity?

Work-life balance issues bring out the optimist in some, the pessimist in others. For pessimists, the work-life balance concerns of employees will be undermined when a firm faces increased competition — and ‘improves’ its management practices in response to that competition. Examples of improved management practices include: the introduction of lean manufacturing techniques; better tracking […]

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Six Imperatives for Companies to Embrace Cloud Computing

Since 2005, the business units of California-based health care company Allergan has used cloud computing for a wide range of functions, from field sales effectiveness and travel and expense processing to HR performance planning and identity management. In 2010, the company adopted a ‘Cloud First’ policy, looking for cloud computing options before buying or building […]

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Buyers Beware: Costs for China Rising

Founder and director of the China Supplier 1000 Project, Neale O’Connor, a former visiting associate professor at the National University of Singapore Business School, conducted face-to-face interviews with 1,000 suppliers in China and Hong Kong. Among the core lessons for buyers, Neale writes, is that China retains its strength vis-à-vis other countries, but is facing some […]

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Is Your Supply Chain Prepared for the Unexpected?

Supply chain management has become increasingly sophisticated over recent decades with improved financial performance as a result. Just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing; sole-source suppliers; outsourcing to low-cost locations; common parts; and centralized inventories – these among other measures have helped leaders run supply chains more efficiently and guard against recurring risks such as changes in demand, supply […]

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Foreign Acquisitions: The Path to Better Productivity at Home?

Buying companies in other countries poses significant challenges, requiring close co-ordination and careful integration and creating what’s been referred to in management literature as the ‘liability of foreignness’. But the costs and complications can be matched by the opportunities. The literature also makes clear the potential to access a new managerial and technical ‘ecosystem’ — […]

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Modernizing without Westernizing: Social Ties and Indian Business

Classical and neo-classical economic theory is predicated largely on an ‘impersonal’ model, in which transactions between parties are governed not by social obligations and kinship ties but by rational and objective calculation of individual gains.  This model is particularly associated with industrialized societies and the mature market economies of the West. One might, therefore, reasonably […]

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