Category Archives: Strategy

Innovative Companies 2014: Breaking Through Is Hard to Do

Posted on October 29, 2014 by | Leave a comment

Boston Consulting Group publishes their list of the top innovative companies. the article indicates innovation is starting to take a back seat to cost cutting, and automotive companies are the biggest cutters.  But innovation is hard to come by.

bcg.perspectives – The Most Innovative Companies 2014: Breaking Through Is Hard to Do.

I am surprised there are so few cutting edge companies. Perhaps they stipulated a certain size to begin with.  It’s harder to look innovative in a very large company.  But I see that Tesla is there.

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Posted in Advanced Computing, Leadership, Logistics, Production Operations, Strategy

Maritime Insight

Posted on August 1, 2014 by | Leave a comment

A publication from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. The summer edition tells us a lot about the local conditions and interests at this very loage port city.

Maritime_Insight_Summer_EN.pdf.

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Posted in Logistics, Shipping, Strategy, Supply Chains

Amazon Versus the Delivery Giants

Posted on May 8, 2014 by | Leave a comment

Can Amazon compete with UPS and FedEx?  Is Amazon trying to?  No one knows, but Yossi Sheffi’s post at the MIT Supply Chain blog makes some suggestions about what might happen.  Or not!

Amazon Versus the Delivery Giants: The Retail Saga Continues | Supply Chain @ MIT.

 

I don’t buy Yossi’s argument about 3-D printing, because I think it will be a long time before Kinko’s can make the wide variety of products I want to buy from online sources or stores.  And another issue is sheer competition.  If Amazon starts eating their lunch, UPS and FedEx are going to reduce the favored status they give Amazon now.   Yossi points out that the two big package carriers might not really value the amazon business too highly– it’s low margin.

I suspect the future is even stranger than what we can see from here.

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Posted in Strategy, Supply Chains