Topic: Pearson on Excellence

The national average—at $3.124—matched the week of April 19. Prior to that, it slipped 1.5-cents, to $3.129, for the week of April 12.

Agility may not be a new business priority, but it couldn’t be more important in today’s era of digital disruption. The threat comes in all forms—from individual players that force you to remake your entire business to thousands of start-ups that gradually carve up your entire value chain bit by bit. Consequently, agility has again become a priority topic in many boardrooms.

In recent years, companies have nodded respectfully toward the concept of supply chain sustainability. Ethical supply chains have been seen as a “nice to have” rather than a “must have.” Now, however, the landscape has changed. Companies without responsible, ethical supply chain practices will begin losing their ability to grow and compete.

Today’s digitally empowered customers are just as demanding about after-sales service as they are about the products and services they buy. While customer expectations for after-sales service are growing, surveys consistently find that today’s customers are mostly disappointed and frustrated with the customer service they receive.

Great businesses have key similarities. Most have sound business strategies that clearly explain the nature and mission of their products or services, as well as how and to whom those offerings are sold. Leading companies also have particularly strong core competencies that enhance differentiation. And of course, highly successful companies execute: They deliver value quickly, reliably, and profitably.

In a recent white paper, Cisco stated that “the Internet of Everything represents $14.4 trillion in ‘value at stake’—the combination of increased revenues and lower costs that is created or will migrate among companies and industries from 2013 to 2022.”

According to new accenture research, a small number of companies are enjoying returns of 20 percent or more on their emerging market investments. This month, I’ll provide an overview of that research and take a look at what these leading companies are doing to stoke emerging market growth.

Big Data analytics is a big deal, particularly in supply chain management where this technology is broadly applicable but often underutilized. This month, I’ll present a brief overview of Big Data analytics, discuss its burgeoning role in supply chain management, and examine some recent research.

In a very real sense, supply chain management is about managing risk: anticipating, avoiding, and minimizing supply chain upheavals caused by weather events, political havoc, technology problems, economic turmoil, market changes, currency swings, supply shortages and labor strife, to name but a few.

Simply listing a typical company’s supply chain challenges could consume this column. However, there’s a small group of capabilities that are critical for supply chains in today’s volatile environment.

According to a recent Accenture survey of manufacturers, 82 percent plan to increase U.S.-based production, 75 percent report a significant shortage of skilled resources, and 11 percent say that they estimate an average percentage drop in earnings due to increased production costs and revenue losses resulting from skills shortages.

A growing number of manufacturing companies are warming up to sustainability—taking aggressive steps to soften and shrink their environmental footprints. However, buy-in from those companies’ suppliers has been less encouraging.

Volatile markets. Unstable currencies. Vacillating demand. Unpredictable commodity costs. Manufacturers, like most companies, have plenty to worry about.

In previous centuries, international trade volumes typically flowed east to west, with more goods, materials, and components journeying from emerging markets­— largely in Asia—to mature economies in Europe and North America.

They may not recognize the term, but a lot of logistics and supply chain executives are concerned about “permanent volatility.”

Innovation isn’t the only path to prosperity. However, a growing number of companies have come to think that innovation’s risks outweigh its benefits. Thus they’ve opted to retain their “safe” business models and also focus more on product line extensions than real breakthroughs.

Every year, more products are being produced by companies whose supply chain operations are intelligently linked with suppliers and business partners. Many of the machines that make those products are guided by advanced data analysis, decision science, and other smart technology. The people who consume those products are probably using digital connections to guide their choices and ultimately make a purchase.

This is no magic bullet that makes it possible for organizations to suddenly excel at end-to-end inventory management: to hold the right amount at the right place at the right time; to maximize enterprise-wide responsiveness to shifting demand; and to ensure crystal clear views of in-transit, in-process, and finished-goods inventories.

A lot of global companies are hoping that emerging markets will prop up their bottom lines. They could be disappointed.

Some large companies believe that their commitments to risk management stifle innovation.