Monthly Archives: December 2013

Should the US government track the working conditions at its apparel suppliers ?

Posted on December 23, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times titled “Buying Overseas Clothing, US Flouts its own advice” (December 22, 2013) describes the $1.5 billion in clothing purchased by the US government and working conditions at its suppliers. Contracts for clothing for … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, mgmt5612018, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 76 Comments

Tracking consumers and adjusting inventory locations to improve retail performance

Posted on December 9, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal titled “Hot at the Mall:Heat Maps to Track Shoppers” (December 9,2013) describes heat sensor technology and cell phone tracking software used by retailers to identify shoppers routes through the store, bottlenecks, and products … Continue reading →

Posted in competitiveness, consumer, Ecommerce, Operations Management, Service Operations, technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 24 Comments

Retail Inventory of “Doc McStuffins” toys and impact

Posted on December 9, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek titled “This Christmas, Disney’s Doctor is In” (December 9, 2013) describes the quadrupling of retail shelf space for the Disney Toy Doc McStuffins – a toy girl that fixed broken toys, has a medical doctor mother … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The impact of Airbus’s “asset value guarantees” for the Airbus 340

Posted on December 9, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek titled “Airbus May Need a Plaid Jacket” (December 9,2013) describes asset value guarantees that Airbus provided for buyers of the A 340 – which promised to compensate buyers of resale values were below a specified level. … Continue reading →

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Apparel factory fire in Prato, Italy

Posted on December 8, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times titled “Deadly Factory Fire Bares Racial Tensions in Italy” (December 8, 2013), describes a fire at an apparel factory in Prato that killed seven Chinese employees. The factory had windows that were blocked … Continue reading →

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The potential impact of copper concentrate stockpiles in China on copper prices

Posted on December 7, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal titled “China’s Stock and Ore for Copper Prices” (November 22,2013) describes the over two months of copper concentrate (crushed copper ore) in inventory at China’s new smelters as against the usual two to … Continue reading →

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Making apparel in the USA and retail prices

Posted on December 7, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times titled “That ‘Made in the USA’ Premium (December 1,2013) describes the growth in US manufacturing of higher end apparel but the continued difficulty in domestic production of lower cost items. It cites production … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged , , , , , , , | 50 Comments

Amazon’s drone delivery plans within 30 minutes

Posted on December 7, 2013 by aviyer2010

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (December 9,2013) titled “Why Amazon’s Going Up in the Air”, describes the announcement of plans to use drones to deliver individual items to customers within 30 minutes of placing their order. The range of these drones, … Continue reading →

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