The topic of supply-chain risk management is fraught with agonizing questions. Should global businesses emphasize risk prevention, or steel themselves to respond to whatever disaster might occur? Should they seek to transfer risk, or concentrate on achieving better risk-management up front? Should they attempt to do all of the above? The wrong answer can mean the death of an organization.
David Ecklund, director of the Global Supply Chain Executive MBA program at the University of Tennessee, shines some light on the difficult issue of managing the "talent supply chain." He specifies the core competencies that are required of today's supply-chain professionals.
Why is there a critical shortage of people who are qualified to manage global procurement? And how can the problem be remedied? We get some answers from Mickey North Rizza, formerly research director with Gartner Supply Chain and now vice president of advisory services at BravoSolution.
Wal-Mart has long had what is virtually beyond question the largest retail supply chain, as measured by number of suppliers, global reach, volume of material, and overall spend on supplier goods. Wal-Mart also has been touted as an innovator in supply-chain management, but it's more accurate to say it uses its sheer size and market power to manipulate the supply chain.
TZA has developed a new release of its cloud-based ProTrack warehouse labor-management system. TZA is a consulting and engineering company specializing in the optimization of labor performance and operations across the supply chain.