mThink

Today, all companies operate in a turbulent economic environment – a result of the shift in the market after the downturn of the last few years and changes in the balance of power in the global economy. Every dimension of business requires greater speed and efficiency. As one of today’s key business processes, SAP’s vision [...]

Increasingly unique and unpredictable customer demands for innovation, speed, quality and service compel supply chain participants to rapidly adopt new e-business practices. These practices allow companies to lower costs, increase velocity and drive new business, enabling them to survive and thrive in an increasingly competitive environment. Creating a supply chain that fosters collaboration and offers [...]

After a quiet period of several years, merger and acquisition activity has gained momentum across many industry sectors in 2005. The interest in M&A activity never, of course, disappeared – and with good reason. Accenture research shows that high-performance businesses pursue growth strategies that juggle the short-term priorities of today and the organizational and competitive [...]

Mapping customer delivery requirements against the realities of supply chain capability is often an endless source of friction. Demand forecasts are constantly changing, customer needs are ever more specific, and service requirements are rising in every industry. Growing overseas sourcing makes seasonal fluctuations tougher and places greater stress on intra- and inter-organizational communications. Supply chain integration has long promised to smooth the wrinkles between sales and operations planning.

ASCET: How do you envision RFID changing the collaborative business environment? Amar Singh (AS): Once you have the capacity to get data from your trading partners, you can then utilize that data to capitalize business benefits. All the players – from raw material suppliers to manufacturers to retailers – are adding relevant information, whether it’s [...]

ASCET: You use the term “disruptive technologies” in your work. Can you define this term and talk about how the concept can be applied to supply chain? Clayton M. Christensen (CC): A disruption is an innovation that comes into a market that enables a whole new population of people who historically might not have had [...]

ASCET: What has changed in Crate and Barrel’s inventory management process since 4R and Crate and Barrel began working together? Ed Rennemann (ER): We had not changed our store replenishing process since 1984. Historically, we have given our store managers the visibility to see what was available in the DC along with rates of sale [...]

ASCET: What are the obstacles to achieving the level of visibility and integration in the supply chain that companies are working to achieve? Sonny Singh (SS): The three that are the most common are standards, technology and culture. Visibility brings a lot of benefits, but it requires standards. Rosetta Net, for example, works to promote [...]

Growth is clearly back on the executive agenda. Yet executives increasingly find that growing profitably is extremely challenging due to the complexity and volatility characteristic of today’s business environment. Further complicating matters is the fact that, after several years of intense focus on cost reduction, most companies’ supply chains are operationally efficient but are not [...]