Articles
Supply Chain Management
5 Ways to Excel in China
China and the wider Asia-Pacific market present an incredible opportunity for businesses seeking to manufacture products, source suppliers, or tap into end markets and sell products to consumers. But a strategic business shift into China takes careful consideration, especially when it comes to supply chain, warehousing, and distribution decisions. Here are five strategies for successfully […]
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Understanding INCOTERMS 2010
An Inbound Logistics article in October 2003, “Understanding Incoterms,” does an excellent job of explaining the concept of Incoterms, why they are necessary and how they work. We’d like to bring this article up-to-date with a discussion of the changes to Incoterms that began in January 2011. To recap, Incoterms are an internationally accepted set […]
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The Fifth P of Marketing
Why are the four Ps of marketing—Product, Price, Promotion, Place—important to logistics practitioners? Collaborating with suppliers and being tightly wired to customers and their demand signals helps craft the right Product. Reducing inventory, touches, and supporting infrastructure helps keep any Product’s Price lower. And when your Promotion materials arrive where they need to be, and […]
Read MoreBroken Processes and Broken Promises
Commerce operates on promises. Some are formalized in contracts, others are informal agreements. The processes that allow your supply chain to keep those promises also need to be managed and controlled.
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A Lost Art?
Strength of will. Toughness. The refusal to be deterred from the goal no matter what impediments stand in the way. Do we have much of that in our culture today? In our leaders? In our own businesses? Retracing the Trails of the Iron Horse takes us back to a simpler time in America’s past, where […]
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The Art of Integration
When supply chain disruptions occur, as they did last year during the Thailand floods, Japan earthquake and tsunami, and more, integration grows more important and grabs more attention. But the readers of this magazine have been practicing a higher form of integration for quite some time—demand-driven logistics. You try new modal mixes, new technologies, blending […]
Read MoreProtesting Economic Ignorance
I’m a big fan of freedom of speech, the right to assemble, and peaceful protest to effect change. But when exercising these rights, protesters must be aware of unintended consequences and potential collateral damage.
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Global Supply Chain Strategy: Decision Points
As a former sea captain, I will never forget the first time I approached a junction buoy. This buoy is essentially a fork in the road, floating on the water, which marks where a waterway splits into two channels and indicates the preferred channel to transit. The options were: steer to the preferred channel and […]
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Responsive and Flexible Logistics Management Solutions for 2012 and Beyond
For many companies, the biggest challenge is that the world is changing, and they are asking, "How should we respond to the rapid growth in Asia and other emerging markets and manage the longer supply chains? And, how do we react to volatile fuel pricing and unpredictable demand, security issues and changing regulations affecting the […]
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Trends—January 2012
Supply Chain Outlook: What’s Ahead? With the drop of the ball every New Year, it’s only natural to take out the Magic 8 Ball and divine what supply chain trends loom large on the horizon. Inbound Logistics editors and writers thumbed through their notes, clicked through their digital Rolodexes, and checked with sources to ascertain […]
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