When it comes to corporate social responsibility, consumers want more than aspirational mission statement, according to research by Cone Communications. They want to know what companies are doing.
Legendary lean practitioner Art Byrne says he didn't have to accept excuses from employees when he requested dramatic improvements on the plant floor. That's because Byrne had become a "lean expert" and knew what type of changes were possible. There's a big difference between CEOs who engage in lean and those who simply encourage it.
Every business needs to "go digital." Data about customers, competitors, suppliers and employees are exploding. Ninety percent of all data were created in the past two years. By 2016, there will be 3 billion internet users globally, and the internet economy will reach $4.2tr in the G-20 nations. No company or country can afford to ignore this phenomenon.
IBM has been recognized for the second consecutive year as the greenest company in the U.S., according to the Newsweek 2012 Green Rankings survey. A panel of independent judges ranked major companies based on numerous criteria, including their environmental impact, environmental management and sustainability disclosure. The survey is regarded as one of the most comprehensive analyses of environmental leadership, and IBM was one of 500 large U.S. organizations evaluated.
FoodLink, a buying platform that connects fresh food retailers and wholesalers to a network of more than 2,000 supplier companies, will acquire TRUETRAC, a provider of mobile traceability solutions to growers, harvesters, packers and shippers of fresh-packed produce. The combined company will be the food industry's first integrated network for produce traceability that links crop planning, harvesting, packing, order management, shipping, receiving and individual item tracking from the field to the supermarket checkout line.
Supply chains are driving fundamental and transformational changes in today's organizations. More than that, supply chains challenge the very mental models and core processes that guide most of what people do at work. They challenge the prevailing organization paradigm, requiring significantly more focus on customers, horizontal relationships, integrative thinking, and dynamic and continuous adaptation. These values are difficult to consistently reinforce and support in siloed structures and can't be changed by sophisticated technology alone. Thus, all the promise of supply chain transformation hits an inevitable brick wall!
Americold, a provider specializing in temperature-controlled warehousing and logistics services to the food industry, has introduced a new product to coordinate and expedite the delivery of less-than-truckload (LTL) and full truckload shipments.
Why is there a critical shortage of people who are qualified to manage global procurement? And how can the problem be remedied? We get some answers from Mickey North Rizza, formerly research director with Gartner Supply Chain and now vice president of advisory services at BravoSolution.