On its way back to the U.S. from China, might manufacturing take a detour into Mexico? Does our neighbor south of the border stand ready to quash the Great American Industrial Revival?
When he was asked if Big Data is just a buzzword, a marketing tool vendors use to sell more software to CFOs, Justin Borgman, the founder and chief executive officer of Hadapt, a data-analysis software vendor, answered honestly: "Yes. It's an excuse to sell you more stuff." However, he added, "it's stuff you'll eventually need."
What does it take to convince a manufacturer to locate a plant in the U.S.? How about in California, one of the most highly regulated and difficult states in which to operate? (It ranked 40th in CNBC's latest survey "America's Top States for Business." What about the San Francisco Bay Area, with its prohibitive cost of living, high population density and even more onerous regulatory environment?
It's an often overlooked area of the supply chain, with a woeful record of success. Josefin Aspegren, marketing director with Optilon, talks about the challenge of assessing the efficacy of trade-promotion programs.
Smartphones may be among retailers' strongest allies this holiday season, according to Deloitte's annual holiday survey of consumer spending intentions and trends.
Sageworks Inc. has released a Business Credit Report, to help companies assess the likelihood that a business partner will default on its financial obligations.
Larry Lapide, research affiliate at MIT's Center for Transportation and Logistics, employs a maritime metaphor to dramatize the pressing need for companies to implement an effective sales and operations planning (S&OP) process.
Aldata has developed the Aldata Omni-Shopper Suite, an integrated set of software applications aimed at retailers and manufacturers of fast-moving consumer goods.