Demanding more attention
With the globalization of supply chains, procurement leaders are faced with an ever-growing mountain of challenges. Businesses are becoming more complex and the management of global supply bases is becoming more and more challenging. Doug Macdonald of IBM discusses in his article the expanding role of procurement officers and how technological advances, namely supplier intelligence technology, can help them better manage the masses of internal and external supplier data. Click here to read the full article.
A visible future for 2013
Over the last 12 months, businesses have had to contend with a host of challenges including natural disasters, declining product life cycles and new technologies that have completely changed how organizations operate. According to a new article from Crimson and Son, the outlook for 2013 is much the same as economic anguish and political unrest continue to threaten business operations. The article, which was featured in SHD logistics, presents various methods as to how firms can use the supply chain to overcome risk and flourish in the New Year. Click here for the full article.
Sloppy sales leave little to celebrate
In the last few years Britain has suffered some real economic difficulty including a recession in 2008 and then another two years later in 2010. This week however, Phillip Ihman from the BBC reported further woe for UK businesses as the much anticipated surge in Christmas sales failed to materialize. According to the article, during the first week of Christmas shopping, demand was down 3% compared with the same time last year. The economic turmoil is unfortunately not just limited to the retail sector as production and trade also slip. Could this poor performance during the final quarter indicate that a triple dip recession is afoot? For the full article, click here.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy and successful 2013. The next weekly wrap-up will be on 1/4/2013!
