The economic, social, and environmental impacts of a spill and pollution (SP) accident can last for years. At the company level, SP accidents will generate negative publicity, damage share price and market values, and hurt the company’s reputation—in addition to potentially costing a company millions of dollars in clean-up costs and other expenses. Between 2015 […]
Competition, complexity and global outsourcing are making supply chains more vulnerable to disruptions and interruptions, with issues ranging from inefficient production scheduling to broken equipment to financial crises and natural disasters. Supply chain capabilities, such as adaptability, agility and cooperation among supply chain partners, will help supply chains be more resilient to disruptions. But what […]
Read More… from Supply Chain Resilience Depends on the Internal Capabilities of Partners
Furniture retailer IKEA successfully expanded from its home base in rural Sweden to 52 countries across the globe. In contrast, Wal-Mart, the capital-rich retail leader in the largest economy in the world, has stumbled repeatedly in its efforts to expand its reach. Its latest failures include Germany and Brazil. And it is not alone among […]
Read More… from How Complexity Trips Up Companies In Foreign Market
As robotics continues to advance, companies are finding more and more opportunities to transfer repetitive and tedious tasks to robots, freeing up their employees to focus more on tasks that can only be performed by humans. One of the challenges of humans and robots working side-by-side (what researchers call human-robot work collaboration or HRWC) is […]
In April 2018, five million records of Saks Fifth Avenue and Lord & Taylor department stores (both owned by Hudson Bay) were compromised. Facebook has been hit twice in 2018, acknowledging that at least 87 million customer records had been hacked in March and another 120 million in June. The pattern of such headline-grabbing security […]
Read More… from Global CFOs: Facing Growing Data Security Threats
Despite the well-known and well-documented financial benefits of outsourcing and offshoring business activities, a growing number of U.S. companies are changing direction: they are moving their business activities, including manufacturing and service operations, from foreign markets back to the U.S. — a process known as ‘reshoring’. Reshoring entails both benefits and costs. On the benefit […]
More than a billion people live in poverty around the world, earning less than $2 a day. A billion people may be a huge market in terms of numbers but they don’t have the disposable income that can turn them into traditional customers. However, C.K. Prahalad and other pioneer academics and entrepreneurs recognized the potential […]
Read More… from Business Templates that Succeed in ‘Bottom of the Pyramid’ Environments
“Are you a good witch or a bad witch?” Glynda asks Dorothy in the classic movie, The Wizard of Oz. For manufacturers seeking to efficiently manage their inventories, the same question lingers over the issue of customer concentration: is customer concentration — serving a small group of major customers rather than a large number of […]
Read More… from Serving a Few Major Customers Vs Many Diverse Customers
Company follow different strategies in their quest for competitive advantage. For example, some companies compete on price. Other companies try to differentiate themselves from competitors through their capabilities. Still others draw their competitive advantage from their flexibility and innovation. At the operations level, the strategic direction chosen by the company leads to a set of […]
Read More… from Meeting Sustainability Priorities in Competitive Operational Strategies
Many companies recognize the reputational risk of the environmental reputation of their suppliers. As a result, companies launch green supply chain management (GSCM) initiatives, working with suppliers to ensure that their activities and processes are environmentally friendly. There are two ways for companies to engage with suppliers on environmental issues. One is to monitor their […]
Read More… from Collaborate with Suppliers to Ensure Green Practices in the Supply Chain
