Yearly Archives: 2009

Fewer suppliers mean fewer choices for consumers

The financial crisis has created an supply chain crisis, says The Economist. What used to be a banking crisis is now a manufacturing crisis and may soon be a supplier crisis.

Posted in THIS and THAT
Tags: , , ,

The effects of brand reputation on supply chain risk

One of the major fallouts from the current finical crisis is the loss of brand reputation, and it may not even be the company’s fault. SAAB owes money to some 1400 debtors, and rumors have it that some suppliers have stopped deliveries because of delinquent payments.

Posted in THIS and THAT
Tags: , , ,

Interpreting Resiliency

Kelly Pitera explores and evaluates resiliency efforts currently being used by importing enterprises, focusing on goods movement within the supply chain.

Posted in ARTICLES and PAPERS
Tags: , , , ,

What is Freight Transportation System Resilience?

In ‘Structuring a definition of Resilience in the Freight Transportation System’, by Chilan Ta, Kelly Pitera and Anne Goodchild, resilience is defined along three dimensions: Physical Infrastructure, Managing Organization, System Users.

Posted in ARTICLES and PAPERS
Tags: , , , , , ,

How to count money spent on road investments

Norway spent less money on road investments in 2007 than in 1995, that is, if you count in % of GDP. Is that a correct way of looking at it? Is that a correct way of looking at it?

Posted in THIS and THAT
Tags: , ,

The worst roads in the world’s richest country

It is not the planning authorities or the central government who decides infrastructure development in Norway, but the local politicians. To put it simple, what in the US is known as “pork barrel spending” is what rules many of Norway’s infrastructure development projects. Why?

Posted in THIS and THAT
Tags: , , , , , , ,

7 out of 10 businesses without a continuity plan

Is ICT forgotten in supply chain risk management? I hope not. ICT is an integral part of any supply chain. In my humble opinion, not having an ICT contingency plan show how little businesses understand (or care) about their supply chain.

Posted in THIS and THAT
Tags: , , ,

Less supply chain disruptions with vendor managed inventory?

How does a traditional supply chain compare to a vendor managed inventory supply chain when it comes to performance during disruptions?

Posted in ARTICLES and PAPERS
Tags: , , , , , ,

Global Risks 2009 – Countries at risk?

How will the current financial downturn affect supply chains? The 2009 Global Risk Report by the World Economic Forum takes a broad look, not a certain industries or sectors or parts of the economy, but looks at whole countries and their risk preparedness.

Posted in REPORTS and WHITEPAPERS
Tags: , , , , , ,

Supply Chain Security – an overview and research agenda

The article claims to have found four approaches in the literature on how organizations approach supply chain security.

Posted in ARTICLES and PAPERS
Tags: , , , ,

The Benefits of Investing in Supply Chain Security

Already in 2005, the IBM Center for the Business of Government published “Investing in Supply Chain Security: Collateral Benefits”, a report which highlights how certain security investments can create collateral benefits well beyond the immediate security breach they were aimed at.

Posted in REPORTS and WHITEPAPERS
Tags: , , , ,

Economists versus Technocrats – who wins?

In the current financial downturn, much pressure has been on the government (here in Norway, and I bet elsewhere too) to initiate public works projects or other public investment projects in order to create or save jobs.

Posted in THIS and THAT
Tags: , , , , ,

Balanced Scorecards for Supply Chains

Can balanced scorecards help assess your supply chain vulnerability or your exposure to supply chain disruptions? Maybe. Have you ever thought about how barcodes are a major factor in performance of supply chains? How can you keep track of all the items flowing through the supply chain?Using a barcode scanner and inventory control software it is easy to check where any item is at any given moment.

Posted in THIS and THAT
Tags: , ,

The BBC box

I usually watch the BBC World Business Report every morning and today I learned that BBC News is following a shipping container for a whole year to tell the story of globalisation.

Posted in THIS and THAT
Tags: , ,

CSCMP Europe 2009 Conference

The phrase “Supply chains compete, not companies” was coined by Martin Christopher, and it is a fitting reminder for the theme of the CSCMP Europe 2009 Conference: “Overcome Barriers That Face Your Supply Chain and Turn Them into Competitive Advantages”.

Posted in THIS and THAT
Tags: ,

How to secure your supply chain – 7/7

The phrase “Supply chains compete, not companies” was coined by Martin Christopher, and it is a fitting reminder for the theme of the CSCMP Europe 2009 Conference: “Overcome Barriers That Face Your Supply Chain and Turn Them into Competitive Advantages”.

Posted in ARTICLES and PAPERS
Tags: , ,

1st Supply Chain Risk Management Seminar

The Supply Chain Risk Management Seminar Barcelona 2009 is a highly interactive two day seminar which will bring together senior level executives from all over the globe to discuss the most pressing issues today through a series of case studies, informative presentations, workshops and interactive panel discussions.

Posted in THIS and THAT
Tags: ,

The European Supply Chain & Logistics Summit

In the current financial downturn what should be – or what will be – on the mind of supply chain and logistics executives in the months and years ahead? The SCLEurope 2009 is a great place to find out about just that.

Posted in THIS and THAT
Tags: , ,

How to secure your supply chain – 6/7

Transportation runs along four different modes: sea, air, road and rail. Most goods will change it’s mode somewhere along the route, and in most supply chains that is predominantly sea to road or sea to air or vice versa.

Posted in ARTICLES and PAPERS
Tags: , ,

MITIP2009 – a conference worth considering

The purpose of the Modern Information Technology in the Innovation Processes of the Industrial Enterprises conference is to serve as a forum for the dissemination of ideas, knowledge and experiences about the ICT-driven innovation in industrial products, processes and services.

Posted in THIS and THAT
Tags: ,

ARTICLES and PAPERS
Black Swan Events
Black Swan events - should we even bother? The October issue of the Harvard Business Review had a sp[...]
Not all risk is risk
How to define, understand and describe risk
I had planned to post this yesterday, when I was taken by surprise by the most severe supply chain a[...]
BOOKS and BOOK CHAPTERS
Book Review: The Full Costs and Benefits of Transportation
This book, The Full Costs and Benefits of Transportation: Contributions to Theory, Method and Measur[...]
Understanding risks in Virtual Enterprise Networks
Today's unstable and highly competitive business environment has created a shift in how enterprises [...]
REPORTS and WHITEPAPERS
Will Climate Change have an impact on transportation?
Many studies have already examined the potential impacts of climate change on broad sectors of the e[...]
Are roads more important than computers?
Critical Infrastructure. Which is more important - or 'critical' - road networks or computers? What [...]
from HERE and THERE
The BBC box
I usually watch the BBC World Business Report every morning and today I learned that BBC News is fol[...]
The 2009 Nordic Business Continuity Symposium
I guess this will be THE gathering of who's who in the Nordic Business Continuity commuity, and I wi[...]