Monthly Archives: December 2010

Zazzle.com and Mass Customization

Posted on December 9, 2010 by aviyer2010

A recent Financial Times article (page 14, Dec 8,2010) describes Zazzle.com – an ecommerce company that offers mass customization of products produced on demand. The company creates digital versions of products that customers use to order the physical products.  The … Continue reading →

Posted in Collaboration, Ecommerce, Service Operations | Tagged | 1 Comment

Reducing Material usage to compensate for rising commodity prices

Posted on December 9, 2010 by aviyer2010

An article in the Financial Times (Page 11, Dec8,2010) discusses the impact of commodity price increases – prices of cotton, copper, agricultural inputs.  It summarizes several options – forward buying of commodities, reducing costs by changing formulations, changing processes, substituting … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Supply Chain Issues, Sustainability | Tagged | Leave a comment

Outsourcing Accounting to Sri Lanka

Posted on December 6, 2010 by aviyer2010

A recent New York Times article   (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/30/business/global/30lanka.html) describes the growing outsourcing of accounting services to companies in Sri Lanka.  The country has a large number (over 10,000) certified accountants with over 30,000 now enrolled.  Given the high literacy rate, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Service Operations | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Using phone credits to pay

Posted on December 6, 2010 by aviyer2010

Nicholas Kristof in an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/opinion/05kristof.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fopinion%2Findex.jsonp) writes about a program by Mercy Corps in Haiti. This NGO will transfer money to people’s phone accounts – the money, in the form of phone talk time, … Continue reading →

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