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The worldwide supply chain management (SCM) software market has increased in revenue by 12.3 percent since 2010. Late last year, the MIT Sloan Management Review published a great piece that crosses over the academic journal line by offering some real pragmatic observations for global procurement and supply chain practitioners. 
Like CFOs of yore, procurement executives are shedding their roles as stewards and becoming what their companies need them to be: strategic thinkers. 
Patagonia has long been a sustainability leader, and pokes its competitors in the eye with programs, from asking consumers to buy less to working with fisheries to the preservation of salmon populations while rolling out new snacks. Now the outdoor clothing and gear company is pushing supply chain transparency to a new level. The expansion of supply chains to the far corners of the world has resulted in numerous advantages for global companies, including cost advantages, efficiencies of scale, and otherwise impossible time-to-market rates. 
In the modern economy, supply chains stretch across the globe, creating both efficiencies and risks. The chief executive of Denmark’s AP Møller-Maersk has vowed to focus on boosting the container shipping industry’s profitability, after heavy first-quarter losses at its container operations exacerbated fears about the industry’s future.
Low cost assembly and manufacturing has been done in developing countries by firms based in the industrialized world since the 1960s. 
Interesting art project with a container traveling the world. 
Are supply chains still too fragile?Supply Chain StandardSupply chain risk issues are still causing concern in the US IT industry, according to a new study by BDO, the according and consulting organisation. 
One way to achieve that type of harmonization is by promoting the use of software and other information technologies, both in China and the United States, to help manage food supply chains and to share safety information ... 
The Philippines, which is already giving competition in voice-based services to the leading offshoring destinations in Asia, is now eyeing to further up the ante. The country continues to see robust growth in its voice segment and credible activity in non-voice services. |
Procurement directors and CEO's explain their top three challenges in the supply chain.
Concern that Samsung could lose orders for dynamic random access memory from Apple caused the company's stock to drop 6 percent on Wednesday. Rumors from DigiTimes, the Taiwanese technology publication, suggested that Apple has placed huge orders with Elpida, a chipmaker in Japan. That caused concern that Apple was moving its DRAM business away from Samsung, and Samsung's market value fell by $10 billion, according to Reuters. 
Toll on Wednesday announced writedowns on its freight operations in Japan and some of its Australian property assets; and the sale of part of its automotive business in Australia. 
Most analysts outside the rare earth elements (REE) space suggest steering clear of this industry. To some extent, even you are suggesting that—except for a handful of players. Can you elaborate? If there's a production process that can be made safer, we seek out the foremost authorities in the world, then cut in a new standard and apply it to the entire supply chain. 
How should we redesign our supply chain to serve these stores, especially in urban areas? How do supply chain professionals get involved early in product/process design? The worldwide counterfeit drug market is huge and growing. The Center for Medicine in the Public Interest estimates that in 2010 the trade reaped around $75 billion, a 90 percent increase since 2005. 
What to make of the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index, snappily sub-titled: Connecting to Compete? First things first: it’s a dull read. 
Smith sounds off on China, the U.S. economy, the value of a good name, and why the government shouldn't pay for a liberal arts education. 
Nike recently released its annual sustainability report outlining its newly revised environmental strategy. It includes a new rating system for its 900 contract factories around the world and a model that rewards high performers. 
An African white rhinoceros peers through the bars of its Frankfurt compound, while across the floor a Madagascan chameleon inches around its vivarium and an Andean alpaca plucks hay from a bale. It’s not a scene from the city’s zoo but Deutsche Lufthansa’s (LHA) Animal Lounge, a state-of-the-art complex at the center of the German airline’s plans to dominate one of the most specialized parts of the $66 billion air-cargo industry. Even experienced supply-chain professionals may be unaware of the potential risks. 
While in the past manufacturing leveraged labor arbitrage (which ultimately moved U.S. work to lower-cost countries such as China or India), now key factors—including low U.S. energy costs, increased technology consumption and automation and improved supply chain risk mitigation—continue to drive the resurgence of domestic manufacturing. |
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