Operations and supply chain management

Supply chain management is all about software and systems, right? Put in the best technology, sit back, and watch as your processes run smoothly and the...

The competitiveness of the American economy depends disproportionately on the competitiveness of its multinational corporations, especially those headquartered in the United States. During the 2000s, however, a worrisome trend appeared. The role of multinationals in the American economy declined, and their activities in the rest of the world grew faster than their activities in the […]

Beyond the devastating and saddening human costs, the earthquake in Japan is another reminder of the complexity of the world’s supply chains and the great interdependencies in global production systems. The world’s supply chains are complex and highly optimized to deliver products efficiently at the lowest cost. They are characterized by a sequential mode of […]

As a boy, Bush watched "Emergency!" on television and was captivated by the romance and seeming magic of saving lives. As an adult, he found the reality...

The author of this article says he would be the last one to argue that the approach described here is a complete view of marketing. Then again, he is convinced that the approach enables marketers to achieve three important objectives. First, it enables them to identify the markets in which their companies have the best […]

A global shortage is impacting companies across every industry.

Many consumer goods manufacturers believe that superstore retailers are bad for their business and a scourge on their brands. But some manufacturers have...

In an era when businesses increasingly have to depend on their suppliers to lower costs, improve quality, and drive innovation, traditional contracts...

Think of a searchable database, not a set of files.

The U.S. may be the world’s leading innovator, but it won’t be for long if investors, regulators, and the legal establishment continue to penalize companies for risk taking, says Deborah Wince-Smith, president of the Council on Competitiveness. Recently, the council’s National Innovation Initiative, a leadership network of CEOs and university presidents, released a report in […]

As far as anyone could tell, Vigor Skin Care's star was rising, mostly on the strength of Ageless Vigor, its new line of enriched skin cleansers and cosmetics....

A new approach to leadership for the team at the top

In recent years a growing number of companies have expended considerable amounts of time and money to develop strategic planning skills in their profit centers and at higher organizational levels. We applaud this effort, but as we stand back and observe large and small companies alike apply this new talent and expertise, we are struck […]

The regularity of the growth cycles of living organisms has always fascinated thoughtful he observers regularity and of has the invited growth a cycles variety of living attempts to apply the same principles—of a predictable sequence of rapid growth followed by maturation, decline, and death—to companies and selected industries. One such concept, known as the […]

When the author launched what would become Marico as a division within his family's business, Bombay Oil, it was with product innovation: Instead of selling...

Employees are constantly in motion—making sales calls or taking service trips; visiting an international office for a few days or relocating there for a few years; soaring across oceans in the corporate jet or heading across town in the company car. Typically, these activities are administered by an assortment of departments and vendors. But we […]

Even in this contentious election year, all sides agree on one issue: The loss of American manufacturing jobs over the past decade has been a disaster...

It shouldn’t be just on the patient.

The phone call came out of the blue one morning in August 1985. It was from our Detroit sales manager, who told me that General Motors was dropping us from its highest supplier quality rating to the next to lowest level, four (on a one to five scale). We had 90 days to set up […]

Last week, Toyota announced it will close the plant of New United Motor Manufacturing Incorporated (Nummi), its one-time joint venture with GM to make...