Retail at the Crossroads: Keynote Presentation from NRF’s 2013 Supply Chain Summit
The Great Recession, online shopping, omnichannel, technology, and the supply chain have all reached a tipping point where we find ourselves at a crossroads. It is clear that having the right business strategy and achieving multichannel Supply Chain Excellence presents huge challenges for all retailers today. As retail executives face these challenges, they need to [...]
Going the Wrong Way
John Hughes wrote and directed one of the best comedies of 1987. It was called “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” and it starred Steve Martin and the late John Candy. Steve Martin plays Neal Page, a pragmatic and uptight advertising executive. John Candy – in what many believe was his best role – plays Del Griffith, an obnoxious, [...]
The $5 Fancy Cupcake & the Old Twinkie: Fickle Trends Demand Greater Automation in Food & Grocery
When it comes to food trends, consumers can be fickle. The Hostess Twinkie made huge headlines when its producer and distributor closed operations last year, and some were wondering how they would survive without the long-standing and popular sweet treat. But the Twinkie will soon be back on store shelves after the Hostess snack cake brand and [...]
The Golden Rule of Forecasting
Everybody knows that it’s impossible to forecast with 100% accuracy. This simple truth inevitably leads to a lot of discussion (most of it fruitless) about what is the “right” level of accuracy. If it’s a “bread and butter” item with a high rate of sale, is 80% accuracy good enough? What level of accuracy should I expect on [...]
The Emperor’s New Clothes
I read with great interest the recent blog post over at Forbes “Why the Supply Chain is Dead”. The author argues that the old concept of a linear supply “chain” is obsolete, and that in the future trading partners will coordinate via networks. One part I particularly liked: Chain implies a plodding, step-by-step [...]
J. C. Penney’s Biggest Challenge: Leadership ‘Got Mud in its Hair’ by Running with Ron Johnson’s Strategy
Business leaders and retail media are still trying to wrap their heads around what happened at J.C. Penney after its board pushed out CEO Ron Johnson. They had brought Johnson on to take advantage of his experience with creating the highly successful Apple Stores, as well as for his previous work in establishing new brands [...]
Embrace AND Reduce Risk
Your future is filled with hopes and dreams, promises that you’ve made to yourself and to your company. You have big plans to make change happen this year and, as everyone knows, with change comes risk. Risk of failure. Of embarrassment. Of rejection. It’s the great neutralizer of leadership. On the one hand, you want breakthrough [...]
What are today’s supply chain executives worried about?
A recent Deloitte survey of 600 executives at manufacturing and retail companies found that 63% were highly concerned about risks within the extended supply chain comprising vendors and customers, ranking it among their top-two concerns. The executives surveyed also cited “lack of acceptable cross-functional collaboration” as the number one obstacle to managing risk effectively. These survey results indicating [...]
Best Stories From Around the Web
Mobility Coming Soon to a marketplace near you…”The marketplace is buzzing about mobility. Smartphone and tablet wars are taking top billings across news wires and mobile application rankings are popping up everywhere. The fact is that we’re getting ready to step into a new age of mobile technology in which processors can stack for high [...]
Low Hanging Fruit
Quick wins… Bang for the buck… Low hanging fruit… Whatever you call it, many business people have been conditioned to use a somewhat short-sighted approach for making change in their organizations. It’s a natural human characteristic – we want the bottom-line benefits, but we also want to get them with minimal effort and risk. The problem with this [...]
Fostering supply chain innovation…the Angel’s Advocate
I really enjoyed reading the last two posts from Mike Doherty and Jeff Harrop of Demand Clarity, “Wear your blunders with pride”, and “Forgetting what works”. Both posts address how to instill in an organization a culture or, even more challenging, in an entire supply chain, a culture that is receptive to change and innovation. [...]
Wear Your Blunders With Pride
Attitude plays a key role in business and in life. It shapes your views, how you see your customers, how you work with your colleagues, etc. For people hell-bent on improving supply chains, it’s everything. Much like sharks, your competitors are a mysterious, menacing force. You know they exist, but you seldom come face to face with them. [...]
