What Warranties Cost
Capturing the Value of Supply Chain Management
Twenty one years after its development, Supply Chain Management, once deemed a promising new way for companies to manage operations, has failed to achieve its promise, according to a new survey of large companies worldwide by Booz Allen Hamilton. Although companies spend more than $19 billion annually on information technology systems to improve their supply chain performance, nearly half of the companies in this survey … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Dermot Shorten, Harriet Engel, Peter Heckmann | Source: strategy+business | Subject: Operations
Outside Upside: Finding Focus through Finance Outsourcing
What should companies be considering as they move towards outsourcing finance and accounting (F&A) activities? How can they achieve their strategic goals and maximize the benefits, while defusing the risks?
Accenture’s report, “Outside Upside: Finding Focus through Finance Outsourcing,” written in cooperation with the Economist Intelligence Unit, addresses these issues. Based on an online survey and one-to-one interviews with senior executives, the study yields rich … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Sources: Accenture, The Economist | Subjects: Finance, Outsourcing / BPO
What FreshDirect Learned from Dell
And what other e-tailers might learn from make-to-order pioneers.
Content: Case Study | Authors: Barrie Berg, Martha Turner, Tim Laseter | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Industry Specific, Operations | Industry: Food Products/Service
Supply Chain Management Hierarchy
Managing a Sprawling Service Business
Micromarket modeling fills an analytical void that plagues managers of growing service networks. Using relatively simple and available tools, this approach can provide previously inaccessible insights into the development of winning strategies for service businesses. It can help senior managers to make strategic decisions, such as whether new businesses should be created, and to devise tailored, market-specific strategies. And it can help managers work closer … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Authors: Cody Phipps, Hoyoung Pak, Tom Spathis | Source: McKinsey Quarterly | Subjects: Management, Operations
Asset Productivity: Converting Assets Into Profits
This paper presents A.T. Kearney’s perspective on the importance of asset productivity. It begins with an in-depth discussion on how good asset performance can increase shareholder value, drive profitable growth, help smooth an M&A and impel cost leadership. We then outline a three-dimensional approach to improving asset productivity. Rather than a typical patchwork-quilt solution, the approach is all-inclusive-looking at all aspects of the global firm; … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Source: Kearney | Subjects: Management, Operations
BPO Takes Off
Business process outsourcing is reshaping companies in fundamental ways — and raising new, complex questions that transcend cost savings.
Content: Article | Author: Fay Hansen | Source: Business Finance Magazine | Subjects: Finance, Outsourcing / BPO
Balancing the Risks
What do you outsource and where? Or do you outsource at all?
The answers depend on how you determine your risk.
Content: Article | Authors: AJ Warner, Rod Kleinhammer, Todd Nelsen | Source: Darwin Magazine | Subjects: Operations, Risk Management
Why Cisco Fell: Outsourcing and Its Perils
Cisco. Sony. Palm. Contract manufacturers gave OEMs more supply chain headaches than solutions. What went wrong. What needs to be done.
Editor’s Note: I think this is an interesting counter-balance to the arguments made by Don Tapscott in “Rethinking Strategy in a Networked World (or Why Michael Porter is Wrong about the Internet)”
Content: Article | Authors: Bill Lakenan, Darren Boyd, Ed Frey | Source: strategy+business | Subjects: Outsourcing / BPO, Strategy
Challenging the Bullwhip Effect with Advanced Information Sharing
Is your information sharing threshold hindering your company’s overall performance? Despite the increasing importance of extended enterprise strategies, many companies overlook opportunities to share economic information to help improve business performance. An Accenture Supply Chain Management service line expert recommends four focus areas for information sharing.
Content: Article | Author: R. Douglas Derrick | Source: Outlook Point of View (Accenture) | Subject: Operations
Perspectives on Business Innovation Special Edition: Adaptive Supply Chain
The vision of the adaptive enterprise is one that is familiar to all of us: an organization that thrives in a volatile business environment, responds and adapts to business changes, co-evolves with the market, and accelerates innovation through collaboration.
Needless to say, an adaptive supply chain must be supported by adaptive IT architectures and adaptive management models that extend an organization’s capability to rapidly adapt … [ Read more ]
Content: Article | Source: CGE&Y Center for Business Innovation (CBI) | Subjects: IT / Technology / E-Business, Operations
Implementation Imperative
Avoid costly supply-chain mistakes by understanding objectives and getting buy-in.
Content: Article | Author: Beth Bacheldor | Source: InformationWeek | Subjects: IT / Technology / E-Business, Operations
X-treme Business Reengineering
Reengineering was just the first step. In the next decade, businesses will need to X-engineer to work with customers, partners, and suppliers.
Content: Article | Author: James A. Champy | Source: Optimize Magazine | Subjects: Management, Operations
Greasing the Gears – Supply Chain Processes Spending
Andrew J. Lauter, president of the PSC Group LLC
Just-in-time inventory means just in time for the largest, most powerful member of the supply chain. Its suppliers are forced to carry more inventory so they can always perform to the big dog’s satisfaction. Working capital follows the same pattern: The most powerful player improves cash flow while its partners bear the brunt of long payment cycles.
Content: Quotation | Source: Business Finance Magazine | Subjects: Finance, Operations
BPO Market to Reach $122B in 2003
Logistics Consideration
Logistics Push to Pull Evolution
Beware The Dangers Of Outsourcing
You can outsource many things, but operational risk is yours to keep. Protect yourself and your company with a contract that mitigates the risks.
Content: Article | Authors: David Sloan, John Funk, Scott Zaret | Source: Optimize Magazine | Subjects: Outsourcing / BPO, Risk Management