supply chain

Everyone knows Apple, meaning Steve Jobs, was demanding and micro-managed design. But much of Apple's success comes from being just as obsessive about controlling their supply chain and operations.

With more than a dozen US based retail RFID pilots and/or rollouts underway, many suppliers have gotten on the bandwagon to gain early competitive advantage.

When it comes to the supply chain, best practices gleaned from the likes of Apple and Cisco simply don't apply to all companies' problems. Here's some advice on how to think more critically about improving supply chain.

Let's call it the Wall Street Effect: Many companies now face tremendous pressure to ensure that all corporate data is "up to the second," just like those traders on The Street who bask in sub-second financial data and those consumer "day traders" who now demand equal speed.

When Oprah Winfrey endorses a company's product, the marketing team whoops and the supply chain team grimaces. History shows that if you're going to get the "Oprah Effect," you better be ready to deliver the goods.

AMR Research has just released its first-ever industry and academic study of U.S.-based university programs that focus on supply chain management. The research is an analytic combination of what 126 companies said they wanted in supply chain grads and what 19 university programs offered today.

Without question, today's supply chain applications can provide unmatched visibility into a company's supplier base, help spot inefficiencies and allow for better, smarter decision-making on logistics and inventory. But if several manufacturers in your Chinese or European network suddenly shut down, there's not much software can do at that point. You're on your own.

Somali pirates who brazenly attacked container ships in the Indian Ocean have garnered a lot of recent attention. But for companies that source products from Chinese manufacturing partners, there are even greater and longer-term business risks due to pirating attacks on companies' intellectual property and supply chains.