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Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility: Page 295

Taking Supply Chain Visibility to New Levels

RFID is finally becoming the solution that will make integrated supply chain management possible. 2009 promises to be a banner year for the technology, with the introduction of new and more ambitious applications.

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Supply Chain Network Design: Architecting a Green Future

The focus on green network design allows companies to reach to the core of the green supply chain movement by optimizing resources and reducing waste.

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What Does Obama Mean to the Supply Chain World?

Certainly we expect the new president to favor legislation protecting consumers as well as incentives to reduce job losses to low-cost manufacturing countries. But it is not clear how much of an effect he will be able to have, at least in the short term. We do expect to see significant investments in infrastructure/public works projects and a continuation, for now, of recent defense spending levels.

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Risk Management Emerges from the Shadow of Compliance

With new crises seemingly emerging weekly, risk management has taken on a new urgency. Leading companies recognize the importance of a solid supply chain risk discipline, but grapple with scope, ownership, metrics, and ties to other types of strategic and operational risks facing the business.

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Global Recession, Obama's Policies to Affect Supply Chains

The election of Barack Obama in the United States, the repercussions of the global "financial bailout" and a potential increase in environmental regulations will affect supply chain operations at multiple levels. The ability to quickly monitor and absorb these changes in supply chain structures will be the main agenda for 2009.

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Rebalance Supply & Demand to Prepare for Recovery

2009 is certainly shaping up to be a difficult year for manufacturers. Tight credit markets, poor consumer confidence and retail sales, along with low manufacturing activity, suggests that overall supply chain investment activity will be reduced and cost-savings activities will be prioritized.

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There Are Seven Market Trends to Watch for in This Vertical in 2009

If history is our guide, sales of food and beverage products will rise in the economic downturn. Food staples (cereal, bread, milk) along with convenience meals will gain volume as more families eat at home. It appears that 2009 is a time for food and beverage manufacturers to create big brands in big economies.

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The Green and Smart Supply Chains of the Future

The green imperative is expanding into virtually all walks of life and all facets of the economy. Demonstrating green credentials is increasingly a minimal stakeholder expectation and business risk management factor, and is shifting from an order-winning to an order-qualifying attribute. Swallow that carbon pill! A whole swath of additional environmental expectations may well be just around the corner, as well as a whole new way of looking at "green" and the environment.

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Looking Green in the Eye

For the last three years global corporations have added "green" and "sustainability" to the supply chain agenda, in particular with respect to climate change and carbon footprint reductions. This trend coincided with unprecedented economic growth and record-breaking energy prices. With recession looming, supply chains will face their true commitment to the environment as they adjust operations.

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Responsibility as Strategic Advantage: The Maturing of Green

For those who maintain that companies have no business getting involved with responsibility-driven endeavors because, after all, "the business of business is business" there is often a lack of awareness of the business benefits-and practical imperatives-associated with responsibility-driven endeavors. Likewise, critics who point out that it is only for shameless cost or reputation-related motives that companies adopt responsibility-driven platforms often fail to acknowledge the many positive social and environmental outcomes even of initiatives with top or bottom line-driven goals. Case study interviews with firms of all sizes indicate that these critiques illuminate an outmoded way of understanding the social, economic, and environmental imperatives of this historic moment.

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It's Time for More Innovation in Green Supply Chain Management

To be honest, I'm a bit "greened out" at the moment. I feel like I did a few years ago, when RFID was all the rage. The first few months of RFID were exciting, learning about the technology and listening to executives at Walmart, Gillette (now P&G), and other early adopters talk about their ambitious plans. But as the months went by, there were fewer and fewer new developments to discuss or analyze. Every conference had the same set of speakers, and all the case studies (what few there were) started to sound the same. I think we've reached a similar plateau with green supply chain management.

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Culture is Key: Sustaining the Business Eco-system

Corporate responsibility agendas revolve around a triple bottom line (TBL) framework geared to benefit: people, planet and profit. A great deal of business-focused, sustainability research emphasizes a transformation of business processes that support the goals of planet and profit and neglects the centrality of people in making it happen.

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