Outsourced Legal Services

Posted on October 1, 2010 by aviyer2010

A recent New York Times article described the outsourcing of legal work to lawyers in India. The concept of splitting white collar work into a standard and a customized component is interesting. A careful splitting of such work requires coordination of the two parts and assumes that the reports generated can be pieced together in a modular format.  Does this change the way legal reports will be produced ? Will the back and forth between the customized and standard parts of the report ruin any cost efficiencies ? What are the limits to such work process adjustment ? Which industry will be next – and, more importantly, how will this apply to higher education.

Posted in Global Contexts, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Nespresso Coffee pods

Posted on October 1, 2010 by aviyer2010

An article in the New York Times (August 20) talks about Nespresso and its rivals and their legal struggles. Nespresso’s coffee machines generate profits through sales of the coffee pods. Rivals are trying to create generic versions of these coffee pods. Nespresso’s IP runs out in 2012.

The question – can creating a modular product where profits come from sale of “cartridges” – be sustainable ? How much legal protection is available against innovators who choose alternate designs – and could such innovation destroy the viability of such designs ?

Your thoughts ?.

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Multi-Channel Logistics at Nordstrom

Posted on October 1, 2010 by aviyer2010

In the August 24, 2010 issue, the New York times page B1 had an article titled “The Web as a Store Window – Nordstorm Links Online Inventory to the Real World”. The article describes how customers can look for a particular product or size, check it in the closest store or get it shipped.  Under this model the web is connected to inventory at the company’s 115 stores. The impact of such inventory coordination has been a reported same stores sales increase of 8 % this year ( as compared to a 11.9 % decline the previous year).  Inventory turns are reported to be 5.41 in 209 as against 4.84 in 2005. Will such cross channel inventory coordination become the norm for the retail industry ? What would be the challenges to flawless execution of such a strategy ? Clearly attention to SKU level detailed tracking and recording would be key, as would figuring put which location gets to recognize revenues. Will this be the next big thing in retail logistics ?

Posted in Ecommerce, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment