Supply Space
Frank Quinn blogs about the supply chain trends he sees, the people he's met, and the places he's been as editorial director of Supply Chain Management Review.
The Supply Chain View from MIT Sloan
We’re always happy to see the topic of supply chain management covered in venues beyond the expected places. Perhaps the example that garnered the widest attention over the years was the UPS television commercials on the weekend sporting events that talked about their “supply chain” solutions. Hey, two decades after emergence of this business technique, the gospel of sup ...... Read More
Comments (0)Rising Tide of Retail Sales
Usually I don’t pay to much attention to the themes of the various industry conferences and events that I attend throughout the year. Some are clever, a few inspiring, but most largely forgettable. So when a conference theme actually captures the essence of what’s really going on in that particular segment, it makes an impression. That was the case at the annual National Retail Feder ...... Read More
Comments (0)Signs of Better Economic Times Ahead?
With economic doldrums lingering in many sectors, the traditional New Year outlooks seem to take on increased significance. We all want things to improve…the overall economy, our industry, our own company, employment levels. But what are the chances that things actually will get better? I’m a natural optimist. But putting that bias aside, I do see glimmers of sunnier days ahead. On t ...... Read More
Comments (0)New Book Probes Supply Chain 'Greatness'
In close to three decades as a writer and editor, I’ve probably written a thousand or so articles. But I had never written a book…until now. What a difference! My co-authors Chuck Poirier of CSC Consulting and Morgan Swink of Michigan State University and I just published a book titled Diagnosing Greatness: Ten Traits of the Best Supply Chains. It’s the culmination of se ...... Read More
Comments (0)Online vs. Classroom Education
Most everyone agrees that executive education is important to a person’s career. There’s less consensus, however, on the best way to get that education. Basically, the lines seem to be drawing around online vs. in-person. We define executive education broadly as any formalized instruction that takes place while the individual is in the workforce, typically after already receiving an ...... Read More
Comments (0)Give Us Your Perspective
We get so many articles sent to us for possible publication each month-and the number just keeps growing. Many of these articles have useful information that would be of value to SCMR readers. The problem is with our publication frequency (seven issues in 2010) only a handful of these articles can make in into our print edition. That’s where a relatively new online feature on our webs ...... Read More
Comments (0)Enlisting in the Green Army
Is the green movement one of the most fundamental business and lifestyle events in our history or is it just another passing fad? Count me squarely in the camp of the green-is-here-to stay folks. What surprises me really is how many people I run into who don’t see it that way. They view all the talk about green and sustainable supply chains as the just the latest cause du jour. Just keep ig ...... Read More
Comments (1)Sourcing and Procurement to the Fore
People working in the supply chain space know the kinds of contributions a well-run, technology-enabled procurement function can have on the organization. The problem sometimes has been getting that message to others in the organization—both up at the “C Level” and horizontally to other functional areas. We ran a couple of articles in Supply Chain Management Review’s Oc ...... Read More
Comments (1)Learn the Traits of the Suppy Chain Leaders
What makes a supply chain leader? We’ve been pondering that question for some time, both inside and outside of the pages of Supply Chain Management Review. Certainly, some companies have firmly established themselves as the exemplars of modern supply chain management, and have been recognized as such in countless books, magazine articles, and industry surveys. The names Wal-Mart, P&am ...... Read More
Comments (0)Get Lean, More Efficient, Cut Costs
The conventional wisdom is that the recession is over…or at least we’re seeing the beginning of the end. But whether that prognostication is accurate or not, it’s clear that there’s not better time than now to “lean down” your supply chain so that it’s ready to respond when the good times finally do come. We have a Virtual Conference slated fo ...... Read More
Comments (1)Sizing up the State of Logistics
If you’re not already familiar with the Annual State of Logistics report conducted by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP), it’s a resource well worth knowing. Now in its 20th year, the report tracks year-over-year U.S. logistics costs across key cost categories of inventory, transportation carriers, and logistics administration. In most years, the total costs ...... Read More
Comments (1)Manage Your Supply Chain Risk
We live in turbulent times. Surely, you’ve read numerous articles and heard any number of experts intoning on this subject. But without being melodramatic about it, we are in fact subject to a higher potential for disruptions to our supply chain than ever before. The reasons are fairly obvious to anyone working in our profession: supply chains are longer and more geogr ...... Read More
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