Category Archives: Cost

Reducing Emergency Room queue time using telemedicine

An article in the Wall Street Journal (March 27, 2017) titled “Can Tech Speed up Emergency Room Care?” describes the increased use of remote care by emergency room doctors at New-York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine.  The Express care program offers emergency … Continue reading

Posted in Capacity, consumer, Cost, productivity, queue, technology, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 28 Comments

Bird flu and global poultry supply chain impact

An article in the Wall Street Journal (March 22, 2017) titled “Bird-Flu Outbreak Brings Pain for Poultry Producers in Asia”, describes the emerging cases of H7N9 bird flu in China, with over 140 human deaths in China this year alone, … Continue reading

Posted in Capacity, chicken, competitiveness, consumer, Cost, disruption, Global Contexts, Supply Chain Issues, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 26 Comments

Agristats and possible chicken supply coordination

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (February 15,2017) titled “Is the Chicken Industry Rigged” describes the increasing profits for chicken manufacturers and a lawsuit about possible coordination. The industry participants subscribe to an information sharing service, Agristats, owned by Eli Lilly, that … Continue reading

Posted in Capacity, Collaboration, competitiveness, consumer, Cost, Liability, Operations Management, ordering, productivity | Tagged , , , , , | 53 Comments

The costs and benefits of drop shipping to customers

An article in the Wall Street Journal (January 26, 2017) titled “Drop Shipping set to go mainstream as more retailers get on board” describes retailers use of shipping directly from suppliers to customers as a way to increase variety offered … Continue reading

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Sensors in grocery stores and customer benefit

An article in the Wall Street Journal (January 20,2017) titled “Kroger tests sensors, analytics in interactive grocery shelves” describes Kroger, the US grocery chain, deploying sensors that detect mobile devices and, through LCD screens on aisles, interact with customers’ shopping … Continue reading

Posted in consumer, Cost, Ecommerce, logistics, loyalty, mgmt5612018, Operations Management, product, technology, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 159 Comments

What innovation lessons can one learn from LEGO ?

The book “Brick by Brick:How LEGO rewrote the rules of innovation and conquered the global toy industry”  by David Robertson describes the rebirth of LEGO and strategic choices made along the way. The book lists ideas such as a) linking … Continue reading

Posted in Collaboration, competitiveness, consumer, Cost, disruption, Innovation, logistics, Operations Management, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Is the quality vs availability tradeoff for Hatchimals a good idea ?

As previously discussed in this blog, Hatchimals have been crowned the hit toy for the 2016 Holiday season. But a recent article in Fortune (December 28, 2016) titled “Meet the Hatchimals that Ruined Christmas (For some kids, anyway) describes toys … Continue reading

Posted in Capacity, Cost, delivery, logistics, manufacturer, Supply Chain Issues, toy | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Will floating warehouses and drone delivery enable Amazon to deliver in minutes?

An article in CNN.com titled “Amazon patent hints at floating warehouses in the sky”  (December 29, 2016) describes a plan to carry anticipated inventory in a blimp located close to customers, with drone delivery in minutes to a customer.  Example … Continue reading

Posted in Capacity, competitiveness, consumer, Cost, delivery, logistics, mgmt5612018, Operations Management, ordering, Supply Chain Issues, technology | Tagged | 46 Comments

WalMart tests blockchain technology to track food and enable targeted recalls

An article in Bloomberg Technology (November 18, 2016) titled “Wal-Mart Tackles Food Safety With Trial of Blockchain” describes tests of a packaged produce item in the USA and pork in China using blockchain technology to track the supply chain across … Continue reading

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Do surging ecommerce orders portend lower ontime Christmas deliveries by UPS and FedEx

An article in the Wall Street Journal (December 13, 2016) titled “UPS, FedEx Struggle to Keep Up with Surge in Holiday Orders” describes the increase in ecommerce orders from 18% last year to 25% this year and a reduction in … Continue reading

Posted in Capacity, competitiveness, consumer, Cost, delivery, Ecommerce, Supply Chain Issues, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment