Tag Archives: Supply Chain

Choosing the Apple option or the Google option – a quandry for publishers

An article in the New York Times (February 21, 2011) summarizes two choices for publishers wanting electronic magazine sales – go through the iTunes store and pay Apple 30 % and get no consumer information, or go through Google and … Continue reading

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Is Apple more like Zara ? How can the ipad be sold for $ 500 ?

A article in WIRED magazine (February 21, 2011, Brian X. Chen) asks the question – how can the ipad be sold for $ 500 when other manufacturers cannot attain that price ? The answer suggested is that Apple is, for … Continue reading

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New Flu vaccine manufacturing process and impact

A New York Times article (February 20, 2011) reports on a faster manufacturing process for flu vaccines – using animal cells vs using chicken eggs. The new manufacturing process is reported to be faster by six weeks and with lower … Continue reading

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Energy, Jobs, Salmon, the river and the Environment

An article in the New York Times (February 20, 2011) describes a tussle between energy and job creation and the river routes of the salmon along the Columbia river.  Companies in Montana want to bring coal by rail line to … Continue reading

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Operational Hedging vs Currency Hedging

An article in the Wall Street Journal (February 19, 2011) describes the move towards operational hedging – by shifting production across a global network of plants rather than pay for currency hedging. The article lists Nissan, Autoliv (seatbelt and airbag … Continue reading

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Grocery Co-ops of small stores competing with Supermarkets

The Economist (January 29, 2011, pg 64) describes how a collection of small stores are uniting as a co-op to develop customer loyalty cards, negotiate with branded manufacturers and offer electronic discounts to preferred customers.  The article comments on the … Continue reading

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Differential inspection of generic manufacturing facilities

An article in the Wall Street Journal (February 16, 2011, B1-3) describes the fact that FDA inspection of US pharmaceutical manufacturing facilities is usually once every two years but foreign plants are inspected less frequently, with 64 % of the … Continue reading

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Political Risk and Global Supply Chain Impact

An article in the Economist (Schumpeter, February 12, 2011, pg 75) describes the impact of political risk on the supply chain. It starts with the abrupt impact of the changes in Egypt on the company that controlled 67 % of … Continue reading

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Neiman Marcus Assortment changes and potential impact

A Wall Street Journal article (15 February 2011) describes the past strategy at Neiman Marcus and changes to respond to the 30 % sales drop in December 2008.   The article describes that 50 % of its sales were generated … Continue reading

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Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Global Supply Chain Impact

An article in the International Herald Tribune (14 February 2011) describes the TPP – which involves the Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam (and possibly Japan).  The article describes the possible impact of such a pact … Continue reading

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