Tag Archives: Consumers

Amazon’s fashion plans

An article in the New York Times (May 8,2012) describes Amazon.com’s plans to sell more fashion product, with the logic that shipping costs are independent of item price and thus fashion goods offer greater margin. Amazon does not plan to … Continue reading

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Target pulls Kindles from its stores in a spat with Amazon

An article in the New York Times (May 3,2012) describes a decision by Target to stop selling Amazon’s Kindles in its stores. The article describes worries by Target that “showrooming” – a practice of scanning items in the store to … Continue reading

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Will Exxon Mobil be less competitive by being more transparent ?

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek (May 14, 2012) describes efforts by ExxonMobil, among others, to eliminate a 1305 requirement under the Dodd Frank bill requiring timely disclosure of payments to countries when oil is extracted by US corporations. Such data would … Continue reading

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Harmonizing trade regulations and supply chain impact

In an article in the Wall Street Journal (May 1,2012) Cass Sunstein, administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, describes steps taken by the US government to harmonize regulations across countries to reduce costs. Examples cited … Continue reading

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The “Swissness” of watches made in Switzerland

An article in the New York Times (April 28, 2012) describes plans to change the current “Swiss-made” labeling requiring 50 % of the value of movement to be made in Switzerland, with new 80% requirement. Swiass watches account for 3 … Continue reading

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McDonalds and their supply chain visibilty strategy

An article in Bloombergbusinessweek(April 23, 2012) describes pressures on McDonalds to identify its food supply chain. Chipotle focuses on its meat being obtained from pen free and cage free organic cources and vegetables from farms within 350 miles. Five Guys … Continue reading

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The global garbage supply chain

An essay in the Wall Street Journal (April 18,2012) describes computers as the top export from China to the US, and garbage as America’s greatest export to China. With Americans generating 7 lbs of garbage per person per day, New … Continue reading

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An alternate plan to rescue the US Postal Service

An article in the Wall Street Journal (April 17,2012) provides an alternative to the current plan to shut post offices and decase delivery days. The Pistal workers union suggests increasing stamp prices, providing delivery services for pharmaceutical delivery etc as … Continue reading

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Wal-Mart, the Environmental Defense Fund and sustainable supply chains

An article in the New York Times (April 14, 2012) describes a partnership between the Environmental Defense Council (EDF) and Wal-Mart, as the retailer attempt to make its supply chain more sustainable. Wal-Mart would like to get to zero waste, … Continue reading

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The potential impact of capping patient co-pay on drug prices

An article in the New York Times (April 12,2012) describes efforts to cap the patient co-pay amounts to shield them from he high cost of specialty drugs – that account for 1% of the units sold but 17 % of … Continue reading

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