Value Chain vs. Supply Chain

          

The concept of the value chain was introduced by Michael Porter in his seminal text 'Competitive Strategy' (Porter, 1995), in which he highlights the potential for different organisations within the chain and different functions within organisations to add value and thereby deliver competitive advantage. 

Time Could Be 'Pot of Gold' That Big Data Brings

Simplifying the decision-making process is a fundamental goal for CFOs, given the competitive necessities of agility and speed. Unfortunately, many traditional planning, budgeting and forecasting systems see the business world as local and linear, not global and cooperative, frustrating this imperative.

Amazon's On-site Presence in Clients' Warehouses Reportedly Upsets Some Retailers

E-tailing giant Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) always seems to find a way to do business more efficiently and at a cost below its competitors. This week, its rivals were reportedly upset after details of Amazon’s unique warehouse arrangement with Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) and other major suppliers were revealed in The Wall Street Journal.

GDP number not much to get excited about

The United States Department of Commerce said this week that the advance estimate for third quarter GDP is 2.8 percent, up from 2.5 percent in the second quarter.

Some estimates pegged the GDP number to come in roughly 0.5 percent less than it would have, had there not been a shutdown. On the surface, it is fair to assume that number is not terrible, given the many head fakes thrown at consumers in this new and apparently permanent era of government dysfunction.

70 Percent of Companies Have Been Affected by Fraud in past year

The number of companies falling victim to fraud has increased in the past year, according to the 2013 Kroll Global Fraud Report. Overall, 70 percent of companies were affected by fraud in the past 12 months, up from 61 percent the previous year, and there was an increase in every category of fraud covered by the study.

YRC Freight opens talks with Teamsters on more givebacks

Financially struggling YRC Worldwide Inc., parent of the second-largest LTL carrier in the nation that has lost more than $2.6 billion in the last six years, has initiated discussions with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in seeking another round of wage and benefit concessions.

Surveyed SC Execs Reveal Plans to Expand DC Networks

In a survey of supply chain executives across industries, Motorola Solutions found that more than a third are planning to either expand existing warehouses or add new warehouses to their networks. Mark Wheeler, director of industry solutions, discusses technological and consumer issues driving this and other trends.

CMA CGM and SAP have entered into a strategic partnership

This partnership aims to develop a unique Information System in the shipping industry.

CMA CGM, a global leader in container shipping, present in 150 countries with 650 agencies and 18,000 professionals worldwide, is investing in a new Information System at the forefront of innovation. It will enable the Group to develop the first system totally dedicated to container shipping, thereby consolidating its position as the world’s third largest company and the first in France in this industry.

October Sees Freight Dip Along with the Economy

October was a depressed month for freight and the economy in general. The number of shipments and freight expenditures both declined from September, by 3.5 and 2.6 percent, respectively. This marks only the second time this year that both indexes declined in the same month. (Shipment volume in April dropped 3.5 percent, but expenditures fell only 1.6 percent.) The 16-day federal government shutdown is partly to blame for the declines, but prior to the shutdown the economy was already exhibiting signs of a cool down.

Karma Wi-Fi Provider Moving to Sprint's LTE Network

IDG News Service (San Francisco Bureau) — Karma, the startup that offers pay-as-you-go mobile data through a portable Wi-Fi hotspot, will catch up with the 4G world next year by moving to LTE.

Fast-Food CIOs Are Fast Learners

This $707 billion global industry is building more intimate customer relationships by pushing the IT envelope on technologies like real-time data analysis, inventory-tracking sensors and mobile payments

U.S.-NAFTA trade is up 2% annually in August (BTS reports )

The United States Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) said today that trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) partners Canada and Mexico was up 2.0 percent in August 2013 compared to August 2012 at $96.5 billion.

8th November in Supply Chain history

Today is the 90th anniversary since Jack St. Clair Kilby was born. Jack was an American electrical engineer who took part  in the realization of the first integrated circuit while working at Texas Instruments (TI) in 1958. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 2000.
He is also the inventor of the handheld calculator and the thermal printer.

Logistics in 2020: Role of IT

Key areas where IT will support logistics companies in achieving success in 2020:

Data-sharing; now more than ever before, information is power. The electronic exchange of information (including documentation) and financial data with supply chain partners, including regulatory bodies, will be becoming mandatory in many regions by 2020.

Logistics in 2020: Warehousing

At the heart of the logistics industry is warehousing. Often dismissed as the low-tech, low-innovation ‘workhorse’ of the supply chain, warehousing is in fact the area most pivotal in enabling the logistics industry to keep up with the fast pace of change.

Logistics in 2020: Rail Freight

With road congestion, high fuel prices and fewer ports being serviced by mega-container ships, the

(relatively) fuel efficient option of rail freight is set to play a more important role in global logistics going forward.

Logistics in 2020: Air & Sea Freight

Globalization has meant that air and sea freight play a major role in getting consumer goods –

from fruit and vegetables to computer games – on the shelves in stores (online and virtual).

Yet both modalities are hard-hit by the sudden changes in volumes created by lower or higher

than expected levels of consumer demand that became common following the downturn.

Logistics in 2020: Road Freight

Road freight represents a major part of most LSPs’ strategies. Regardless of the importance of other modalities to global logistics, it is almost impossible for the supply chain to keep moving, either domestically or internationally, without using the road network. Yet LSPs are facing a number of key challenges in keeping the supply chain moving via our increasingly congested roads:

Logistics in 2020: Technology

Technology is, by its very nature, constantly evolving. By the beginning of the 21st century, businesses
in almost every sector were already reliant on increasingly sophisticated telecommunications and IT. By
the beginning of the second decade, many western markets could boast a mobile phone in use for every
member of the population, and doing business without smart phones and handheld devices would be
unthinkable.

Logistics in 2020

Today, 2020 seems a relatively long way in the future. Although it’s a date that features in our
longer-term plans, it isn’t close enough for most of us to envisage precisely what we’ll be doing,
or translating strategic aims and high-level objectives into tactical activities.