Today, businesses of all stripes are sowing the seeds of Big Data everywhere. And if we think Big Data is big, just think how that data multiplies and branches out when rooted in the multifaceted field of supply chain management.
When TransCanada first proposed the Keystone XL pipeline in 2008, the company hoped it would be done by 2012 and begin carrying heavy crude from the Alberta oil sands in Western Canada down to the U.S. Gulf Coast. Six years later the pipeline remains in limbo, stymied by Department of State reviews, route adjustments, lawsuits, environmental and economic studies, and (most important) an Obama administration that appears truly divided on the issue. Last month the State Department announced that no decision would come until after November's midterm elections.
In almost every town in Mexico, you will find at least one garish La Michoacana ice-cream parlour, a Mexican business success story, possibly as well known as Dunkin' Donuts is in the United States. But it is not a corporation, nor a brand, nor a franchise. It is a confetti of independent, family-owned ice-cream parlours.