Supply chain management

Now that providing services is more lucrative than making products, the old foundations for success in manufacturing are crumbling. Smart manufacturers are creating new business models to capture profits at the customer’s end of the value chain.

By sharing rental revenues with movie studios, Blockbuster increased the availability of hit videos, making customers happy and boosting its own profits as well as those of suppliers. This model will work in other industries, too.

Business people often allude to “my product” or to “the market,” suggesting a far more monolithic view of business than is warranted. Companies vary products and marketing channels in order to accommodate real or perceived differences either in markets or in the laws under which businesses must operate. Most businesses sell a variety of products […]

Patients are becoming more demanding consumers. But the medical industry isn’t just another business.

Turn a low-trust relationship into a high-performing partnership.

The best supply chains aren’t just fast and cost-effective. They are also agile and adaptable, and they ensure that all their companies’ interests stay aligned.

Five ways leaders can navigate the growing risks of instability and disruption without getting bogged down in tactical issues.

Fran Conklin, the CEO of First Line Software, could hear it in Charlie Smith’s voice—he had not had a nice day at the California headquarters of Microchannels, First Line’s major distributor. Smith had gone there to get Microchannels’s order for the new line of video games and for MasterGraph, First Line’s new product for the […]

The U.S. may be the world’s leading innovator, but it won’t be for long if investors, regulators, and the legal establishment continue to penalize companies for risk taking, says Deborah Wince-Smith, president of the Council on Competitiveness. Recently, the council’s National Innovation Initiative, a leadership network of CEOs and university presidents, released a report in […]

Jack Emmons, the CEO of Voici Brands, knew his apparel company needed a supply chain overhaul. Over the past couple of years, sales had dropped because...

Businesses need better planning to make their supply chains more agile and resilient. After explaining the shortcomings of traditional planning systems,...

If you want people to listen, do away with finger-pointing and focus on shared values and goals.

Now is the time to revisit your business continuity plans.

Five years ago, salespeople at Whirlpool said the company’s supply chain staff were “sales disablers.” Now, Whirlpool excels at getting the right product to the right place at the right time—while keeping inventory low. What made the difference?

Point-of-sale scanners and electronic inventory systems were supposed to revolutionize supply chains by connecting manufacturing directly to consumers. But there’s a big problem: bad data.

A global shortage is impacting companies across every industry.

A new initiative aims to make supply chains visible and valuable.

Lessons for the U.S. and Europe on how to cope with commercial disruption.

In supply-chain management, you get what you plan for.

Supply chain management is all about software and systems, right? Put in the best technology, sit back, and watch as your processes run smoothly and the...