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Category Archives: Supply Chain
Japan, Methane Gas, and Energy Independence
By Sanchita Arora, Strategic Services Overview In Q1 2013, the world’s energy landscape witnessed a potential game-changing development. Japan extracted methane gas from deep-sea deposits of methane hydrate in the Nankai Trough, 50 miles south of Atsumi Peninsula. The discovery … Read More…
Five Game-changing Factors of the Palm Oil Industry in 2013
Palm oil, the most popular vegetable oil globally, is used in a wide range of food (such as margarine and ice cream), non-food products (such as shampoos, soaps, and cosmetics), and biofuel production. In late 2012, palm oil prices slumped … Read More…
Iron Ore – Prices Losing the Sheen of Yore
Iron ore, the second most traded commodity in the market after crude oil, is the primary source of iron for the world’s iron and steel industries. Between June and September 2012, spot prices for iron ore declined from around $140/MT … Read More…
Is Plastic Electronics the Next Game Changer for the Consumer Electronics Industry?
The electronics industry has come a long way since the invention of transistors, semiconductors, and integrated circuits. Early inventions in the second-half of the 20th century revolutionized the manner in which electronic products were manufactured and paved the way for … Read More…
Are Uranium Prices at a Critical Tipping Point?
Uranium, a radioactive material, is used as a fuel by nuclear power plant operators. It currently produces 18% of the world’s electricity. Known to be an efficient energy source (a kilogram of uranium produces 50,000 kwh of energy compared to … Read More…
Delivering Value: Essential Tools to Help Procurement Optimize The Strategic Sourcing Process
The Value Basis for Procurement As the procurement function has become more sophisticated, the perpetual corporate charge-for-growth has pushed the function to identify and deliver value across the organization on a constant basis. To this end, while many tools and … Read More…
Changing Dynamics in the Global Steel Industry – The Trend Towards Short-term, Flexible Contracts
The global steel industry is undergoing a major structural shift in contract structures across its supply chain. This process started in March 2010, when steel manufacturers were forced by iron ore suppliers to move away from a four-decade long practice … Read More…
Changing Dynamics in the Shipping Industry and the Impact on Procurement
Nearly 10% of product costs are attributable to shipping. As such, the shipping industry is playing a significant role both from a cost as well as supply security perspective. Yet, what we have found is that this has been a … Read More…
Emerging Supply Chain Risks in the Pharma Industry: Why Must This Issue be Addressed?
Logistics accounts for 45–55% share of the value chain of a drug. Tied in with associated complexities around sourcing and manufacturing, supply chain management (effective or otherwise) clearly has a strong bearing on the total cost of a drug. Players … Read More…
Change in the Middle East and North Africa: Implications for Business
The recent civil unrest in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region has, for obvious reasons, attracted significant attention globally. With countries across the globe still working to recover in the aftermath of the 2008–09 global economic crisis, the … Read More…
The iPad—A Disruptive Technology and Its Impact on Business
Apple’s iPad exploded on April 3, 2010 with sales of 300,000 units in the first day and close to 4.19 million devices in the first three months. By the end of 2010, the iPad had defined the tablet market and captured … Read More…
Is the Manufacturing Sourcing Model Changing?
Emerging markets in Southeast Asia, South America, and Eastern Europe have become attractive manufacturing locations for many industries, primarily because of their cheap labor and FDI- friendly environment. Additionally, governments in these fast-growing markets have encouraged the emergence and growth … Read More…
Africa – A Closer Look
Africa is a continent that evokes a wide range of perspectives, from the cultural to the political to the economic. In all of these different, yet interrelated ways, it is clearly a force to be reckoned with. Consider a few … Read More…
Nuclear Energy in Germany
Nuclear energy has been heralded by many as one of the most important solutions to the growing energy demands of the world, particularly given concerns regarding increasing greenhouse gas emissions and the rising price of oil. The popularity of nuclear … Read More…
Understanding the Concept of Market Basket Analysis
Retailing today is nothing if not a hypercompetitive industry. A complex & rapidly changing landscape, stiff competition, and ever more demanding customers are pushing progressive retailers to rethink how they operate. Their responses have included strategies of scale (consolidation, growth, … Read More…
4 Key Trends Influencing Automotive Procurement
Few industries today are as global, interrelated and complex as the automotive sector. (Fewer still have gone through the level of challenge and change that we have seen over the past several years.) As the automotive sector has emerged from … Read More…
Four key challenges for supply chains in 2011 and beyond
These four challenges are highlighted in this article, along with a high level look into the types of informational tools and techniques that can be leveraged to help manage them effectively. If there is a truism in supply chains, it … Read More…
6 Key Actions – Aligning supply chains with corporate strategy.
The supply chain and procurement executive(s) has a ‘seat at the executive table’. To illustrate its potential impact from a pure economic perspective, where else in an organization does one executive have the ability to influence and manage the cost … Read More…