Supply Chain Movement » manager

Strategies and tactics in supply chain event management

Martijn Lofvers — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:00:44 +0000

The authors of ‘Strategies and tactics in supply chain event management’ have bundled a number of articles about theories, methods and tools for dealing with various disruptions in the supply chain. The book is mainly intended for supply chain professionals and researchers and provides many practical insights, models, tools and examples of schedules and budgets. It discusses cases of best practices from various industries, including retail, pharmacy and aviation. Thus, the book focuses not only on disruptions, but also on distinguishing different scenarios.

Strategies and tactics by Raschid Ijioui, Heike Emmerich and Michael Ceyp

The book concludes with a number of interviews about the use of SCEM. These make it clear that while the term SCEM is not often used as such, many elements of it are embedded in underlying processes. At Ford, for instance, SCEM is embedded through the use of EDI with both internal and external partners. The important thing is to create transparency and to monitor business processes – and this book provides plenty of pointers for that.

The Contract Scorecard

Martijn Lofvers — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:46:38 +0000

With ‘The contract scorecard’, author Sara Cullen guides her reader, step by step, through the various elements of an outsourcing contract. The ‘contract scorecard’ consists of four quadrants: quality, finance, relationship and strategy. Cullen starts out with a clear explanation of the development of KPIs, the drawing up of KPI schedules and planning the scorecard, then explains every quadrant in turn.

The Contract Scorecard by Sara Cullen

The many field cases give a clear idea of just what can go wrong if it is not recorded what the two parties expect from a contract: breach of confidence, long drawn-out lawsuits and very high costs. Cullen repeatedly stresses the importance of communication between the parties involved, and gives a number of practical pointers to this end in the chapter ‘relationship’. In addition to the cases, the many examples of KPIs and documentation are extremely useful if you mean to evaluate a contract yourself.

Think Again

Martijn Lofvers — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 11:30:31 +0000

Even top managers with a proven reputation of intelligence can make fatal mistakes. How does that happen, and how can it be prevented? The book ‘Think Again. Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions and How to Keep It From Happening to You’ describes how the human brain works when one makes decisions.

Think Again. Why Good Leaders Make Bad Decisions and How to Keep It From Happening to You

The three authors, who work at renowned business schools, give examples of disastrous decisions by nevertheless capable leaders, like the acquisition of soft drink producer Snapple by Quaker, which eventually led to Quaker being taken over by PepsiCo. They also discuss strategic military mistakes, like Operation Market Garden and the Battle of Midway.

The causes for these wrong decisions are misleading experiences, misleading prejudices, inappropriate self-interest and misplaced attachment. In order to avoid making such mistakes, five types of safety precautions should be taken: new experiences, data & analyses, challenging group debates, governance teams and a monitoring process. These recommendations are extensively discussed in the (anonymous) case of a Germany company that considers moving its global headquarters. Fascinating stuff.

‘Think Again’ (2008), by Sydney Finkelstein, Jo Whitehead and Andrew Campbell. Published by Harvard Business Press, 236 pages, € 24,90.

Rating: ****