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Business Strategy Alignment: Page 452

Are Retail Channels So Merged That Categorizing Where Sales Take Place Isn't Meaningful?

Arguing that "the line between stores and the internet is blurring so much," Macy's has become the first major publicly held retailer to stop reporting its e-commerce stats.

Become a Supply Chain Top 25 Peer Voter

Now more than ever, the supply chain is being buffeted by forces nearly impossible to predict - making increased levels of efficiency and agility more important than ever before. But you can become a Supply Chain Top 25 Peer Voter and help rank manufacturers and retailers who are leading the way in supply chain.

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Should Forecasts Be Based on the Past?

Analyst Insight: CFOs today have a keen sense of the cost of volatility and uncertainty in terms of the link between cash/margins and the supply chain, yet they are largely in the dark when it comes to the quantitative techniques available to improve forecast accuracy, which tends to deteriorate as volatility increases. Major changes are being made in forecasting methods to address this volatility. - Sree Hameed, Vice President, ChainLink Research

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Logistics Providers Must Improve European E-commerce Offering, Report Says

Although mail, express and logistics companies are benefiting from the growth of e-commerce in Europe, to date few service providers have developed the sophisticated services which e-retailers demand.

Getting a Handle on Your Total Delivered Cost

Analyst Insight: It's no secret that companies in logistics-intensive industries are facing a variety of commercial and operational challenges. For example, consumer products and goods companies experience "margin squeeze," in which they pay more for commodity raw materials but typically are not able to pass along corresponding price increases to retail customers. High fuel prices, increasing wage rates in low-cost countries and concerns over supply chain disruption are causing manufacturers and retailers alike to rethink global sourcing strategies. - Ryan Godsil, Tony Ross, Alex Bajorinas and Jim Morton, all of Ernst & Young LLP

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E-Commerce Has Explosive Impact on Food & Beverage Industry

Analyst Insight: The food and beverage industry will see many changes this year. To stay ahead of the curve, food retailers will have to understand that the environment is changing and innovate toward a more flexible omnichannel supply chain. - Tim Pyne, Vice President of Retail, Consumer & Food, Tompkins International

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How Do I know If I Have a Profitable Supply Chain?

Analyst Insight: The lack of understanding of the supply chain by the financial team is the third-highest obstacle in achieving supply chain performance. The supply chain is a complex system with increasing complexity. Many unknowing financial leaders try to manage it through Excel spreadsheets which is inadequate to truly understand the trade-offs. - Lora Cecere, Founder of Supply Chain Insights

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To Meet Fuel-Efficiency Standards, Automakers Must Continually Shed Pounds from Their Products

Automakers are putting some of their best-selling vehicles on a diet in a race to meet strict new fuel-efficiency regulations that will kick in by the middle of the next decade.

Factors to Consider When Determining If You Need an ERP System

To ERP, or not to ERP, that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous ERP vendors, Or to take arms against a cloud of component solutions"¦

Sales Growth, Profit Margins Among Private U.S. Companies on Upward Swing, Report Finds

Nearly all employer firms in the U.S. are private (with listed companies representing less than 1 percent), so the performance of private manufacturers is a key barometer of the sector as a whole, according to a report from Sageworks, a provider of financial analysis solutions. In the six-month period ending in January 2013, private manufacturing companies were seeing 9.5 percent annual sales growth, up slightly from the six-month period ending in December 2012.

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Balancing the Triple Bottom Line of People, Planet and Profits

Analyst Insight: Sustainability is a global business megatrend with cross-functional implications that for-profit corporations cannot afford to ignore any more than IT or quality management. Sustainability means balancing environmental impacts, social welfare and profit-making activities to promote value along the so-called "triple bottom line." Given increasingly conscientious consumers and growing limits to resource availability, success in the era of climate change will be reserved for companies that have sustainable supply chains and operations. - Nada Sanders, Professor and Iacocca Chair, Lehigh University; Director of EcoNautics Sustainability Institute

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International Maritime Organization Studies Ways to Further Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions

International experts are meeting at International Maritime Organization headquarters this week, in the form of an Expert Workshop, to begin updating the inventory of greenhouse gases from international shipping.

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How a Leading U.S. Floral Distribution Company Reduced Warehouse Labor Costs by 45% with RFID

Recycled Tagging Fasteners: Small Changes Make a Big Impact

Mobile geolocation service for track delivery, cargo shipment and freight transportation. Logistic Import Export business (Elements of this image furnished by NASA)

Enhancing High-Value Electronics Shipment Security with Tive's Real-Time Tracking

Franchise business e-commerce online e-marketplace or digital marketing branch expansion for growth or use technology to analyze product consumer data website management plan for sale service concept.

Moving Robots Site-to-Site