Supply chains are just as susceptible to faddish behavior as anything else. We're social animals, so we tend to follow the crowd - especially if we believe that the crowd has a competitive edge. That's why so many companies flocked to China over the last couple of decades, in search of ever-cheaper sources of production. Or why outsourcing became such a hot trend over that same period of time.
We like the term "supply chain" because it suggests a tightly interlinked series of steps that results in the uninterrupted flow of product from the raw-materials stage all the way to the consumer. But the word "chain" also evokes a burden, and that's how many companies have come to view their operations in recent years. Hence the mania for outsourcing everything from design and manufacturing to logistics.
Give Congress credit for finally coming to agreement on a new surface transportation bill, after months of acrimonious debate and nine extensions of the old funding law, known as SAFETY-LU. The fact that the Senate and House of Representatives could agree on anything at all is, I suppose, reason to applaud, especially given the toxic atmosphere that chokes the political scene today. And this new measure is something more than a "kick-the-can-down-the-road" effort, given that it maintains current highway funding levels until September 2014.
Companies dream of one cohesive supply chain that can harmonize information and business processes worldwide. But what if your customers' needs in regional markets are so different as to make that dream impossible?
One could imagine European bankers emitting a collective sigh of relief over the latest election results in Greece, whose citizens last week gave a narrow edge to the conservative New Democracy party. In the process, they ratified the controversial $220bn bailout plan that is intended to keep Greece in the eurozone and avert economic disaster throughout the European Union.