Until recently, China's internet economy was consumer driven. The country leads the world in the number of internet users, and Chinese enterprises deploy sophisticated e-commerce strategies. The same companies, though, have lagged behind the United States and other developed nations in using the internet to run key aspects of their businesses. That's changing.
Once again, ChainLink Research and SupplyChainBrain are conducting research into the business challenges companies are confronting and what strategies and solutions they plan to use to address those issues.
Will a strong system for protecting the privacy rights of computer and device users be in place 10 years from now? A sampling of technology experts says probably not. In a new survey by the Pew Research Center, more than half the 2,511 people polled said there will not be a "secure, popularly accepted, and trusted privacy-rights infrastructure" established by 2025.
The UK construction sector expanded at its slowest pace for 17 months in December against a background of concerns around supply chain pressures and skills shortages, according to a survey of buyers.
When the much-anticipated expansion of the Panama Canal is completed late next year, cargo ships the size of aircraft carriers will ferry goods from Latin America and Asia directly to East Coast ports and back. These ships - up to two-and-a-half times bigger than those currently allowed - will uproot trade patterns developed over the last century and will affect nearly every sector of the U.S. economy.
Relocation of manufacturing and product sourcing to emerging economies is no longer the gold standard for global businesses, according to a study from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville's, Global Supply Chain Institute.
The Amazon effect is raising consumer expectations for delivery services - expectations that logistics providers are struggling to meet without degrading margins, says Robert Lieb, supply chain management professor at Northeastern University. Lieb discusses this and other trends revealed in the annual survey of global 3PL CEOs.
In recent decades, companies in sectors from automotive and high-tech to retail and consumer packaged goods have come to realize that their supply chain is much more than the cost of getting products into customers' hands. These companies understand that it is the supply chain that translates corporate strategy into day-to-day interactions both within and beyond the organization. Ultimately, it is the supply chain that satisfies or disappoints their customers.
Bring your own device (BYOD) has become an accepted practice in business. Gartner predicts that by 2017, half of all employers will require workers to supply their own devices for work. Yet there are mixed reports about whether BYOD actually saves businesses money.