All Pearson on Excellence Entries

Tuesday, May 01, 2012

This month we reflect on the views of the businesspeople, government policy makers, and academics that participated in the World Economic Forum (WEF) study of supply chain risk.

Sunday, April 01, 2012

In this first installment of a two-part series, I will look at a variety of risk-focused research efforts. In May, I will offer suggestions for managing supply chain risk—not just responding more effectively but preparing more completely.

Thursday, March 01, 2012

In Logistics Management’s April 2010 issue, we introduced Profit, Sales, and Operations Planning (PS&OP), a way to align supply chain decision-making with high-level financial goals and long-range strategic planning. Since that time, more companies have begun implementing PS&OP-like approaches—using financial data, scenario modeling, and analytics to concurrently optimize sales, balance demand and supply, and maximize profits.

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

Most companies’ manufacturing strategies involve decisions relating to landed cost per unit, cost/quality balance, and various SKUs’ compatibility with supply chain parameters—transportability, packaging, serviceability. However, one thing is often missing: insights for connecting manufacturing operations with business results. Few companies excel at understanding and optimizing the business value of their manufacturing decisions.

Sunday, January 01, 2012

When it comes to the oil and fuel markets, it’s been quite a year. On the supply side, the biggest story was the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region uprising epitomized by the Libyan revolt that led to the death of Muammar Gadaffi and the shuttering of 1.6 million barrels of daily oil production.

From a business standpoint, the first 10 years of the 21st Century have been anything but normal. Economic turmoil is almost constant, currency valuations shift with the wind, and bank lending vacillates between lenient and tight-fisted.

Tuesday, November 01, 2011

In the future, companies’ physical end-to-end supply chains will work in concert with equally comprehensive and far reaching “digital supply networks”—from systems that support initial design and development work, all the way to those that help manage delivery and post-sale service.

Saturday, October 01, 2011

Friday, July 01, 2011

Procurement is one of many areas vying for a supply chain executive’s time and attention. But when you consider the variety and depth of benefits that high performance in procurement can deliver, perhaps a little extra time and attention are warranted.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Risk is part of business. It’s a significant, permanent reality faced by virtually every organization. Without risk, business as we know it might not exist. To compete, grow, and capture benefit, companies need to take chances. It’s what businesses do.