Imagine you're driving through a mountainous region. On your right is deep gorge with a spectacular river at its bottom. On your left is a steep cliff. Risk on the right is minimized because of a sturdy barrier, but on the left, you're never quite sure whether a boulder might get loose and come crashing…
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The scope and quality of data that enterprises collect and access in their supply chains, and how they leverage that data to optimize their supply chains, differs significantly from one enterprise to the other. On a recent day, I had conversations with a few OEMs and reviewed one particular inventory report that were all insightful…
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As we move through time, we are facilitating that movement with the latest technologies. We know the faster we go, the sooner we will get to wherever we are going. And faster travel leaves less time for sightseeing as things whiz by us in a blur. We can say we are traveling to our particular…
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The requirements of the US Securities and Exchange Commissions conflict minerals regulation begin to kick in this year. In this blog, we're giving you an overview of the online resources available where you can learn more about whether and how to comply with the rule. In August 2012, the SEC adopted a regulation that requires…
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Last week we covered two views concerning leadership for working women. (See: How Working Women Cope: To Lean In or Not.) Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer at Facebook, recently published Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead to encourage women to aspire to executive leadership roles. In Part 2 we look at ways…
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When I was writing about the case of Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: APPL) losing an appeal in Mexico over the use of the iPhone name against Mexican telecommunications company iFone, I thought that if Apple submitted to paying iFone what it was asking for (the 40 percent of its iPhone’s sales in Mexico), other companies would…
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MADISON, Wis. — In a retort to my reflections last week comparing 19th-century slavery to 21st-century sweatshop labor (in China and South Asia), a reader named Jacob wrote, “When you outsource a work the labor say in Asian countries still get higher or comparatively good wages as per the base country they work in. These…
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This is the last in a three-part series on IDEA-QMS-9090, an auditable standard that covers the ability to source, inspect, store, and deliver product and answers the call for a responsible procurement solution. The first was Next Step in Responsible Procurement: IDEA-QMS-9090, and the second was IDEA-QMS-9090: Development & Key Processes . The true meat…
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The mobile industry moves fast, and its supply chain needs to move equally fast. As Mattias Lewrén, global managing director, Electronics and High Tech, Accenture, aptly points out in his recent EBN blog: Chips for mobile devices require a much faster turnaround time, sometimes in less than six months, to keep pace with the number…
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As you and I know, the supply chain is like air. It is everywhere. We live in it and from it. Kids understand getting things like toys and candy and other stuff that parents buy for them, but unless the parents take the time to talk about corn flakes and farmers and cereal companies, the…
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