Category Archives: Operations Management

Will the SupplierPay program boost small business sales ?

Posted on July 15, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (July 11, 2014) titled “Apple, Coca-Cola Among Firms Signed on to White House Plan for Small Suppliers”, describes a voluntary plan announced at the White House under which small suppliers would be paid … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Coordination, Cost, financing, payment terms, Quickpay, Risk, SupplierPay, Suppliers, Supply Chain | 19 Comments

Amazon’s 1 cent shipping in France

Posted on July 15, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article in Slate (July 11, 2014), titled “France Banned Free Shipping. So Amazon made it cost 1 cent”, describes Amazon.com’s response to a new French law that bans free shipping and permits only bricks and mortar bookstores to offer … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged bookstores, Consumers, Cost, Ecommerce, France, Margins, prices, regulation, Supply Chain, transport | Leave a comment

Should “pay to delay” launch by branded pharma be considered illegal ?

Posted on July 11, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article in the International Herald Tribune (July 10,2014) titled “EU fines drug makers over generics”, describes the $450 million fine levied in Servier, a branded producer of the blood pressure drug perindopril. The company is accused of buying up … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged competition, Consumers, Cost, drugs, generics, manufacturing, patent, regulation, Suppliers, Supply Chain | Leave a comment

Will the US catfish inspection program derail the TPP pact

Posted on June 28, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times on June 28, 2014 (“US Catfish Program Could Stymie Pacific Trade Pact, 10 Nations Say”) describes the Agriculture Department’s catfish inspection program that is being protested by Vietnam with support from Thailand, Philippines, … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged competition, Consumers, Coordination, Cost, Global, inspection, Quality, Risk, Suppliers, Supply Chain | Leave a comment

Surging prices for railcars as demand runs up against supply shortages

Posted on May 30, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (May 30,2014) titled “Driller’s Pain is Railcar Owner’s Gain”, describes 33% price increases for tank cars, 50% increases for cars hauling sand and 40% increases for grain hoppers. These price increases reflect the … Continue reading →

Posted in Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Capacity, Cost, Demand Surge, Growth, railcar, regulation, Risk, Supply Chain, transport | Leave a comment

The supply chain for cordovan leather and shoe prices and availability impact

Posted on May 24, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal on May 24, 2014 (http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303468704579572141307216318?mg=reno64-wsj) titled “Cordovan Shoes for Men Play Even Harder to get”, describes the over $2400 price points and six month wait times for cordovan leather shoes. The leather is … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Capacity, Consumers, cordovan leather, Cost, lead time, manufacturing, Retail, Risk, Suppliers, Supply Chain | Leave a comment

Is Amazon using Pre-order levels as a tool in negotiating higher margins from publishers ?

Posted on May 24, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal on May 23, 2014 (http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303749904579580052135901452?mg=reno64-wsj) titled “Amazon-Hachette Dispute Heats Up”, describes a complaint that no pre-orders for books by J L Rowling at Amazon.com’s website were being taken, while other sites continue to … Continue reading →

Posted in Ecommerce, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Amazon, availability, books, Consumers, Coordination, Cost, margin, pre-orders, publishers, Supply Chain | 21 Comments

Panasonic’s plans to move production back to Japan

Posted on May 23, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article in the Financial Times (http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/b22e772a-e1a2-11e3-9999-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=intl#axzz32YPzdZCV) titled “Panasonic considers bringing production back to Japan) describes the weak Japanese yen (which has fallen 20% since 2012 against other currencies) improving the economics of production of rice cookers, washing machines and … Continue reading →

Posted in Global Contexts, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Capacity, Cost, Currency, Design, Japan, Panasonic, regulation, Risk, Supply Chain | Leave a comment

Can Walmart get store customers to deliver online orders ?

Posted on May 19, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article published by Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/28/us-retail-walmart-delivery-idUSBRE92R03820130328) titled “Wal-Mart may get customers to deliver packages to online buyers”, describes an idea where store customers could sign up to deliver orders to customers in their route in return for a discount on … Continue reading →

Posted in Ecommerce, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Capacity, Consumers, Cost, crowdsourced, delivery, Ecommerce, instore customers, Retail, Risk, Supply Chain, transport, WalMart | 1 Comment

Will “botsourcing” bring manufacturing back to the US

Posted on May 15, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article in the Harvard Business Review Blog Network (http://blogs.hbr.org/) titled “Robots are starting to make offshoring less attractive” describes how use of automation and robots is increasing the attractiveness of US manufacturing. Foxconn’s decision to build iphones in Pennsylvania, … Continue reading →

Posted in emb2021, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged automation, botsourcing, Capacity, Cost, emb2021, Global, Insourcing, manufacturing, Outsourcing, robots | 18 Comments