Articles
Commentary
Unlocking the True Value of e-Marketplaces
E-marketplaces have earned tremendous interest and participation in almost every industry, from chemicals to office supplies. However, e-marketplaces are only now reaching a level mature enough to evaluate the benefits. Surprise! The main reasons used to lure participation—such as lower product prices for buyers and increased access to new customers and markets for suppliers—are not […]
Read MoreIs Logistics Boring?
Recently an assistant editor left Inbound Logistics to take a job with a consumer publication. Reason? Even though she was a young, bright, talented editor, she said she found logistics “boring.” That brought me up short. I never found logistics boring. In fact, changes in the transportation industry, especially these past five years, have been […]
Read MoreLeading Logistics to the Fourth Dimension
This past year has brought growth, mergers, and a steady move toward collaboration among supply chain suppliers and users. The supply chain community is growing up—and boldly—in a not-so-confident e-commerce world. There is a big difference between B2B supply chain organizations and standard fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants e-commerce companies. The strong will survive and the poorly thought through […]
Read Moree-Commerce Change Is in the Air
In 1995, a major financial services firm said, “our customers will never go on-line to trade.” Five years later, the landscape of that sector has changed significantly with a whole new way of doing business and with a cadre of new companies that are formidable competitors. To some degree, the transportation sector, and specifically air […]
Read MoreChoosing Technology Over Nuts and Bolts
Picture this Information Technology (IT) department of a transoceanic shipping company: Hundreds of programmers sitting in front of computer screens. Managers training employees on outdated systems in use for 20 years. Phone calls from business unit heads wondering why legacy work is delaying project deadlines. This was Sea-Land in 1992, when I became CIO. Yet […]
Read MoreCross-Pollination and Excellence
Remember way back in high school bio class when you learned about J. Gregor Mendel’s experiments with peas? I bet you said to yourself, “What am I learning this for? I’ll never use it. I’m not gonna be a farmer.” Guess again, Mr. Greenjeans! You’re all grown up now, and you are the world’s finest […]
Read MoreNew Logistics Portal Saves Money on Every Shipment
Supply chain portals are growing in number, uniqueness, and breadth of service to all partners. They will continue to grow, given the ever-increasing usefulness of conducting supply chain management on the web and the constant growth of new technologies in this area. One new portal, which went live in November 2000, is worth noting. LTLNET.com, […]
Read MoreTransportation Software: A Guide for the Perplexed
Making the right transportation software choice is harder than ever. More than 60 Internet transportation dot.coms have launched in the last 12 months alone. If you’re like most people, you’re wondering: “How can I make sense of all these companies?” The good news: the Internet can provide enormous productivity gains for transportation and logistics companies. […]
Read MoreGet Customer-Centric or Get E-liminated
Ask three people to define e-commerce, and you’ll end up with three disparate answers. The problem is that companies use e-commerce to define varying degrees of involvement in e-business. Some companies think they conduct e-commerce because they have e-mail. Some believe that the mere presence of a web site constitutes an e-commerce approach. The fact […]
Read MoreCarpe Diem Logistica
For purists, 2001 is when the new millennium really starts. For this magazine, 2001 marks the beginning of our 21st year of publication. It also marks the beginning of the third decade of championing the inbound approach that advanced the idea of traffic management from its humble, if not important, beginnings to an engine of […]
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