Leadership

“The Seven Principles of Supply Chain Management” provides a clear and compelling case for excellence in supply chain management, the insights provided here remain remarkably fresh even ten years after its original published date.

Amazon continues to change the game for retailers. A few Christmases ago, they set the retail world on its backside with the introduction of free shipping – regardless of the fact that it costs Amazon, and everyone else, something to provide that service for free.

In her book, Vested Outsourcing: Five Rules That Will Transform Outsourcing, Kate Vitasek talks about three case studies, with P&G, McDonalds and Microsoft, and their successful supplier relationships. A common theme was the shift away from a traditional customer-supplier relationship to a highly collaborative relationship aimed at developing a win-win solution.

According to a new survey by Consero Group, an international consultancy based in Bethesda, Md, over 50 percent of Chief Procurement Officers said their company pursues short-term savings from suppliers that undermine long-term value.

This survey, presented in partnership with Vantage Partners, LLC, was developed in connection with an invitation-only event hosted by Consero Group LLC in January 2013 for a group of Fortune 1000 Chief Procurement Officers.

The Logistics Management 2013 salary survey finds the highest salaries in logistics and supply chain management will be earned by those sticking to time-honored values: education, hard work, and company loyalty.

The concept of demand management includes demand sensing, demand shaping, demand translation, and demand orchestration throughout the value network.

This is Norfolk Southern’s fifth annual corporate sustainability report. It discloses the railroad’s significant environmental, economic, and social impacts to provide stakeholders a way to assess our commitment to corporate sustainability.

The availability of downstream data has never been higher, but the efforts to use it are stalled. The answer lies in rethinking processes end-to-end to use the data. The answers fly in the face of traditional thinking and will require active stewardship by manufacturing leaders that understand why it is important to drive outside-in processes.

Group News Editor Jeff Berman recently spoke with Vitran Corporation President and CEO Rick Gaetz about the North American less-than-truckload (LTL) market, Vitran’s recent divestiture of its Supply Chain Operation (SCO) 3PL subsidiary, and the freight economy, among other topics.

Global poll of over 1,000 executives reveals that the e-commerce giant is more admired than its Californian rival on all major supply chain attributes except innovation.

The organizations and authors have teamed on this white paper to drive clarity around outsourcing business models and to help procurement, outsourcing professionals and commercial managers understand and use the appropriate sourcing business model to maximize their desired outcomes.

What happens when a world-class company discovers one of its key functions is less than world class? For software giant Microsoft, the answer is simple. They fixed it. In 2006, Microsoft embarked on a complete reengineering of its major global finance processes and operations.

GT Nexus and TradeCard today announced that the companies have entered into a definitive merger agreement. The companies are leaders and pioneers in cloud-based technology platforms that link companies together in commerce networks.

2012 marks the eighth year of our annual Supply Chain Top 25 ranking. The list includes some perennial leaders, but also offers up four new companies from which to learn, including two industrials, and an interesting newcomer to the top five.