Supply-Chain Survey
Did you know a recent study found that the top supply-chain performers spent only 4.2% of revenue on supply-chain costs compared to almost 10% for average performers in the same industry? And, most companies think they’re doing a great job with their supply chain, yet 44% admitted to having little or only basic data on it. Where’s the disconnect? Miles Cook discusses the survey findings … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Author: Miles Cook | Source: Bain & Company | Subject: Operations
The secret life of factory service centers
For a lucrative new source of revenues, profits, and market information, manufacturers need look no further than their own repair shops.
Content: Article | Authors: Jack J. Dempsey, Jonathan D. Vande, Sandeep Dayal, Whitney L. Alexander | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subject: Operations
Dancing in the Dark
Was your company prepared for the Blackout of 2003? Would you be
prepared for another? Maybe it’s time to dust off your
disaster recovery plan.
Content: Article | Author: Mark Hoffman | Source: Darwin Magazine | Subjects: IT / Technology / E-Business, Operations
Beating the B2B Odds
Internet auctions create losers as well as winners. Game theory shows companies how to improve their chances.
Content: Article | Authors: David Evans, Tim Laseter | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Miscellaneous, Operations
The Complexity of Managing Complexity
More discriminating customers are forcing proliferation of product types and demanding service through more channels than ever. For suppliers, managing SKU profusion means more than just trimming fat.
Content: Article | Author: Miles Cook | Source: Bain & Company | Subject: Operations
Beyond Utopia: The Realist’s Guide to Internet-Enabled Supply Chain Management
The solution to more efficient supply networks lies not with “frictionless” technologies, but with shared objectives and insights across the extended enterprise. Call it “Federated Planning.”
Editor’s Note: this article offers an interesting, “against-the-grain” argument against the “perfect information” proponents of SCM.
Content: Article | Authors: Anne Chung, Keith Oliver, Nick Samanich | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: IT / Technology / E-Business, Operations
Programmers abroad: A primer on offshore software development
Developing software in foreign lands can save time and money-but only if companies do it right.
Content: Article | Authors: Ajay D. Parkhe, Inigo Amoribieta, Kaushik Bhaumik, Kishore Kanakamedala | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: IT / Technology / E-Business, Operations | Industry: Software
New and Improved! Managing Resources for Old and New Product Generations
Improving the cost, quality or timeliness of a firm’s products and processes requires a variety of scarce firm-specific resources. Though firms need to engage in these practices to remain competitive there is also a cost involved. This leads to a key question: When should a firm switch all its learning resources from an older to a newer product generation? Professors Demeester and Qi … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Lieven L. Demeester, Mei Qi | Source: INSEAD Knowledge | Subject: Operations
If It’s Broke, Fix It
Managing warranties for complex products is increasingly complicated as supply chains stretch out
Content: Article | Authors: Beth Bacheldor, Jennifer Zaino | Source: InformationWeek | Subject: Operations
The Unexpected Return of B2B
Suppliers put off by open business-to-business exchanges might find that the newly emerging private ones offer a better deal-as well as four ways to play.
Content: Article | Authors: Jennifer Keedy, Karl Roberts, William Hoffman | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: IT / Technology / E-Business, Operations
A Global Study of Supply Chain Leadership and Its Impact on Business Performance
Transforming supply chain operations can have a substantial impact on a company’s ability to grow and prosper, new research from Accenture, INSEAD and Stanford University has found.
The three organizations undertook the multifaceted research project to understand how companies derive competitive advantage from their supply chains. The research demonstrates a correlation between the quality of a company’s supply chain and its financial performance. It also … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Author: Jeffrey D. Brooks | Sources: Accenture, INSEAD, Stanford University | Subjects: Best Practices, Operations
BI: Everything Must Go
Corporate managers often feel boxed in by their own supply chains. Business-intelligence software may open them up to new possibilities.
Content: Article | Author: Russ Banham | Source: CFO Publishing | Subjects: IT / Technology / E-Business, Operations | Industry: Software
The House of Supply Management
The tools of e-supply managment
Supply Managment Value-Building Blocks
A Framework for Thinking About Cost Drivers
Adaptive Pricing Comes Into Focus
If there’s anything harder than deciding what to outsource, it’s negotiating a fair price.
In the past, fixed-price or cost-plus pricing models were an adequate, if imprecise, way to compensate outsourcers. But today’s competitive marketplace offers CIOs new alternatives that add flexibility and agility to these relationships. Indexed pricing, gain sharing, and capacity or utility pricing promise a stronger correlation between business results and IT-resource consumption. … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Edward Hansen, Sol Irvine | Source: Optimize Magazine | Subjects: IT / Technology / E-Business, Outsourcing / BPO
Borrowing from Nature: Manufacturing Lessons from the Biological Cell
Where should we look for new innovations in manufacturing? Perhaps nature has some answers, say Professors Demeester, Loch and Van Wassenhove, who see in the biological cell a lean, adaptive system that allows the kind of performance today’s manufacturing facilities could only dream of achieving.
Content: Article | Authors: Christoph Loch, Lieven L. Demeester, Luk N. Van Wassenhove | Source: INSEAD Knowledge | Subjects: Innovation, Operations
Supply Chain Excellence: A Handbook for Dramatic Improvement Using the SCOR Model
Consultant Bolstorff and journalist Rosenbaum deliver a hands-on, project-by-project guide to building a world-class supply-chain. Using a fictional company, they describe a seventeen-week effort that traverses and illustrates the five-phase project approach based on the Supply-Chain Council’s Supply Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) methodology.
Content: Book | Authors: Peter Bolstorff, Robert Rosenbaum | Subject: Operations
Yes, You can Take the Guesswork out of Evaluating Outsourcing Capabilities and Performance
While thus far objective quality measurements for outsourcing have been elusive, Accenture believes the eSourcing Capability Model will benefit both buyers and outsourcing providers who understand the value of a standardized approach to evaluate outsourcing capabilities. This paper from Accenture Outsourcing and Infrastructure Delivery describes the model, its potential benefits and promising pilot results.
Content: Article | Authors: Keith M. Heston, Shari L. Dove | Source: Accenture | Subjects: IT / Technology / E-Business, Outsourcing / BPO