Supply chain management

Now that providing services is more lucrative than making products, the old foundations for success in manufacturing are crumbling. Smart manufacturers are creating new business models to capture profits at the customer’s end of the value chain.

The company realized that controlling its future meant controlling its supply chain.

Changes in tools, teams, regulations, and markets are putting sustainability in the hands of the finance department.

In this fictional case, a customer experience manager is torn between loyalty to her family and to her employer after she gets inside information from...

Few people outside the supply chain function used to care where products came from. Nowadays, everyone from company leaders to interest groups to consumers...

For the many organizations that depend on their rank and file to move the goods and delight the customers, motivation is an ongoing battle. The key to victory may be held by the Marines, who use five unique practices to spark extraordinary energy and commitment. Businesses can, too.

Today, most multinationals have a conspicuous social conscience. They publicize their internal codes of conduct, monitor labor conditions in their global supply chains, and require suppliers to meet basic labor practice standards. But despite efforts to be better global citizens, companies by themselves are unable to eliminate abuses in their supply chains. In fact, so […]

Most companies do a great job promoting efficiency within their own walls, streamlining internal processes wherever possible. But they have less success...

In the 1990s, Hewlett-Packard's PC business was struggling to turn a dollar, despite the company's success in winning market share. By 1997, margins on...

Companies entering markets in developing countries learn quickly that they need to work with local distributors—but those partnerships nearly always blow up in the end. Much of the blame lies with the multinationals themselves. They need to understand how their new partners are different from the ones at home.

Early in 1984, the top executives of an East Coast hardware chain made a momentous decision. Without consulting the company’s suppliers, they decided to phase out its fleet of trucks and its network of warehouses. Maintaining this distribution system was costing the company about 5% of annual sales, and the executives believed the company was […]

New platforms are revolutionizing financing.

Conventional wisdom says it takes three to five years and tens of millions of dollars to digitize a corporation's supply chain. However, a few companies...

When the biotech pioneer had to get a blockbuster drug to market fast, it didn’t lock itself into a rigid supply chain. It joined with partners to become a virtual manufacturer.

Conventional financial tools can lead to supply chain mistakes. Most managers use the discounted cash flow (DCF) model to help them make decisions such...

6 strategies that work.

Toyota demonstrates how more-efficient supplier relationships can speed production and boost innovation.

When service companies put employees and customers first, a radical shift occurs in the way they manage and measure success.

Examples from Maersk, IBM, and TRIP.

A stock analyst is preparing a recommendation on what his firm, a large U.S. investment house, should do with its stake in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Wal-Mart,...

Focuses on competitive repositioning, organizational renewal, and personal leadership. Describes how Asahi Breweries was faced with a major capacity expansion...

Supplements the (A) case.

What role does trade finance play in facilitating global supply chain management? Richard S. Elman, founder and CEO of Noble Group Ltd., a global commodities...

Describes the social movement confronting conventional egg production techniques (battery cages) based on animal welfare concerns, and some merits and...

Revlon India was founded as a joint venture in 1995, pairing the industrial conglomerate UMG with the global beauty brand Revlon, Inc. to bring international...

Exel plc is a global third-party logistics provider, serving clients such as Home Depot, Dell, Unilever, and Marks & Spencer. Describes the range of activities...

Describes Ford's examination of its supply chain to evaluate whether the company should "virtually integrate" on the Dell Computers model.

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) was founded in 2010 to develop a common set of sustainability standards for the apparel, footwear, and home textile...

A forward-thinking manager at Owens & Minor (O&M), a large national medical and surgical distribution company, enlisted the help of both logistics and...

The case is set in 2021 and explores the journey of Chiranjeev Restaurant and Foods Pvt. Ltd., located at Koregaon Park, Pune. It has evolved sustainable...

Tamotsu Adachi, Managing Director of Carlyle Japan, wants to formulate a strategy to improve his firm's ability to source high-quality deals at competitive...

With increasing pollution and congestion, European car manufacturers were concerned that governments might eventually ban conventional cars from city...

In 2016, the supply chain director of B-Kay Tech, a multinational company headquartered in Belgium, had devised a logistics innovation project based on...

Toyota's supply chain, long admired as an industry benchmark for efficiency and effectiveness, was unable to supply critical parts to replenish inventory...

In December 2014, Brad Hirsch stood on the gaming floor at Harrah's Metropolis Casino and Hotel in Metropolis, Illinois, where he had recently been assigned...

Supplements the (A) case.

The (A) and (B) cases describe the evolution of HP supply chain for its PC business in Europe between years 1992 and 1999 and the different initiatives:...

Founder Duncan McIntyre developed an innovative service-based business to electrify transportation fleets for school districts and scale through public-private...

A stock analyst is preparing a recommendation on what his firm, a large U.S. investment house, should do with its stake in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Wal-Mart,...

Focuses on competitive repositioning, organizational renewal, and personal leadership. Describes how Asahi Breweries was faced with a major capacity expansion...

Supplements the (A) case.

Now that providing services is more lucrative than making products, the old foundations for success in manufacturing are crumbling. Smart manufacturers are creating new business models to capture profits at the customer’s end of the value chain.

What role does trade finance play in facilitating global supply chain management? Richard S. Elman, founder and CEO of Noble Group Ltd., a global commodities...

Describes the social movement confronting conventional egg production techniques (battery cages) based on animal welfare concerns, and some merits and...

The company realized that controlling its future meant controlling its supply chain.

Revlon India was founded as a joint venture in 1995, pairing the industrial conglomerate UMG with the global beauty brand Revlon, Inc. to bring international...

Exel plc is a global third-party logistics provider, serving clients such as Home Depot, Dell, Unilever, and Marks & Spencer. Describes the range of activities...