Global Supply Chain Management

Would Keeping Research, Manufacturing Employees Together Make U.S. Companies More Innovative?

December 19, 2012

A growing chorus of economists, engineers and business leaders are warning that the evisceration of the manufacturing work force over the last 30 years might not have scarred just Detroit and the Rust Belt. It might have dimmed the country's capacity to innovate and stunted the prospects for long-term growth.

Holiday Retail Sales Expected to Top Those of Last Year By More Than 4 Percent

December 19, 2012

National Retail Federation

Eager holiday shoppers helped drive retail sales upwards in November, helping boost sales in the first half of the holiday season. According to the National Retail Federation, the world's largest retail trade association, November retail sales (excluding automobiles, gas stations and restaurants) increased 0.8 percent seasonally adjusted from October and increased 4.4 percent unadjusted year-over-year. With this news, NRF is still expecting holiday sales to grow 4.1 percent over last holiday season.

People Favor Mobile Payments - for Others, Poll Finds. They Want to Keep Their Cards and Cash.

December 18, 2012

Storefront Backtalk

If you're looking for more evidence of the bipolar nature of mobile shoppers, look no further. The Harris Poll people have what you need. In what should be called the NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) effect, some 66 percent of Americans polled said they expect mobile payments to eventually replace payment cards and even cash-but not their cards and cash.

Obama Administration Has Disappointing Record on Trade

December 18, 2012

Scott Miller, Senior Advisor, Center for Strategic and International Studies

For two decades U.S. presidents have consistently shared views on the need for a "level playing field." President Bill Clinton in 1992, President George W. Bush in 2008, and, most recently, President Obama in this year's State of the Union: "Our workers are the most productive on Earth, and if the playing field is level, I promise you"”America will always win." Despite that shared rhetoric, the weakness of the U.S. economy over the past few years has helped obscure the Obama administration's disappointing record on trade.

The Power of Design to Define the Brand

December 18, 2012

SupplyChainBrain

A conversation with Tom Sullivan, CEO of Princeton Partners.

Your Input Sought for Survey on Business Priorities

December 18, 2012

ChainLink Research

Each year ChainLink Research conducts a survey to provide insights into the business challenges companies are confronting and what methods they may turn to-both human capital and technology-to address those challenges.

More Visions of the Future from the San Francisco Roundtable

December 17, 2012

Robert J. Bowman, SupplyChainBrain

Here are five more predictions for 2013 and beyond, from a panel of five well-informed (and well-fed) Silicon Valley business executives. (See my previous post for the first five.) Assembled in Santa Clara, Calif., by the San Francisco Roundtable of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals, these individuals took part in the group's fourth annual effort to answer that age-old question: What does the future hold for supply-chain management?

E-Procurement of Maintenance Services May Result in Big Savings

December 17, 2012

Intesource

In the last two years, retailers and grocers that used e-sourcing to competitively procure facilities maintenance service contracts saved approximately 22 percent per event, according to data from Intesource.

Senior Executives and How They Can Better Balance People and Priorities

December 17, 2012

McKinsey Quarterly

To assess organizational alignment, here are three simple questions for your business leaders: What are your company's ten most exciting value-creation opportunities? Who are your ten best people? How many of your ten best people are working on your ten most exciting opportunities?

A Definition of the 'Cloud' Might Be Useful

December 17, 2012

ChainLink Research

The last two years have brought an explosion of cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) provided in long-term subscription or on-demand models. Both new application providers and traditional enterprise software license firms have provided new versions of their software and services to ensure a market presence in these sectors of the technology market (though there are still a few hold-outs that sell only on-premise licenses).