Tag Archives: disruption

Will a van and delivery robots combination be competitive as a logistics solution?

An article in CNN money titled “This Mercedes Benz van will carry a fleet of delivery robots” (http://money.cnn.com/2016/09/07/technology/starship-robot-mercedes-benz/index.html?iid=ob_homepage_tech_pool) describes a Mercedes van and a fleet of robots from Starship technologies that will combine the speed of travel of the van … Continue reading

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Shopping cart robots at Walmart ?

An article in the website geek.com (http://www.geek.com/news/walmart-is-turning-its-shopping-carts-into-robots-that-follow-you-1658786/) describes a partnership between Walmart and Five element Robotics to assist Walmart shoppers using a personal robot. The goal is to have the robot gather things in the shopper’s shopping list and freeing … Continue reading

Posted in competitiveness, consumer, Cost, Ecommerce, logistics, Operations Management, productivity, Service Operations, technology, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Ebola premium added to cocoa prices ?

An article in the Wall Street Journal (September 19, 2014) titled “Cocoa Prices Surge on Ebola Fears” describes concerns about the cocoa growing regions in West Africa, including Ghana and the Ivory Coast who grow 60% of the world’s supply, … Continue reading

Posted in Capacity, Cost, disruption, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged , , , , , , | 16 Comments

Will Amazon’s delivery trucks permit competitive same day delivery?

An article in the Wall Street Journal (April 24,2014) titled “Amazon, in a Threat to UPS, tries its own deliveries”, describes a plan by Amazon in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, to operate its own Amazon logo delivery … Continue reading

Posted in Ecommerce, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Should independent bookstores sell Amazon’s Kindles ?

An article in the New York Times titled “An Offer from Amazon to its Most Bitter Rivals” (November 7,2013) describes an offer by Amazon to independent bookstores to sell Kindles in return for one of two options – a 6% … Continue reading

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Lulemon’s CEO’s blame on supply chain issues for poor performance a stretch ?

An article in the Wall Street Journal (September 12, 2013) describes a conference call in which Lululemon’s CEO blamed supply problems associated with Luon, a stretch fabric that was the cause of see through black yoga pants that had to … Continue reading

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

Sarin antidote stockpiles, supply problems and extension of expired drugs

An article in the Wall Street Journal (September 13, 2013) describes supply problems for antidotes for Sarin due to manufacturing issues, that result in less than the stated dosage, in prefilled syringes made by Pfizer. The impact is possible erroneous … Continue reading

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Sharing costs for inspection and dispute resolution in Bangladesh

An article in the Wall Street Journal (May 13, 2013) describes an agreement between European and Canadian retailers to create a board to oversee factory inspections, resolve disputes and ensure compliance with wage standards in Bangladesh. The costs to a … Continue reading

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Does the hospital penalty for “excessive” re-admits improve service quality ?

An article in the Wall Street Journal (May 5, 2013) discusses the impact of the Affordable Care Act’s penalties for hospitals with excessive re-admits within 30 days, set at 1% in 2013 and going up to 3% in 2015. But … Continue reading

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The competitive response to Apple’s decision to change its device connectivity

An article in the New York Times (May 6,2013) describes the accessory supplier’s response to Apple’s decision to change the connection for its devices. The new connection decision by Apple makes all existing accessories obsolete, with no advance notification provided … Continue reading

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