Global Supply Chain Strategy, Policy, and Economic Analysis
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| Supply chain management should yield far more than cost reduction. It should result in delighted customers, marketing flexibility, and enhanced innovation and speed of doing business across multiple processes. While traditional operations improvement has focused on how to reduce cost without sacrificing service - reducing inventory without sacrificing service levels, reducing fixed cost by planning and scheduling work to avoid bottlenecks, and lowering transportation cost through structured negotiations - today's supply chain leaders are tailoring their supply chain management processes and systems to their business strategies, and achieving dramatic results. Companies seeking to develop an effective supply chain strategy turn to Boston Strategies International. Our work is more thorough than other consulting firms and we use appropriate tools at lower cost to deliver pragmatic, actionable recommendations regarding global supply chain
strategy, including merger & acquisition advisory, capital investment evaluation, market entry & exit strategies.
For more information about strategic planning, policy formulation and economic analysis, please visit our library of resources below.
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| Supply Chain Strategy Library of Resources |
| Supply Chain Politics and Advisory Services |
| Balancing Economic Risks: Tips for a Well-Structured Deal
The amount of infrastructure development currently underway worldwide is impressive by historical standards, and seems to be about to crest in the Middle East. The current wave of investment will drop off, starting in 2015, and when that happens there may be pressure to revisit some economic aspects of the agreements. This article proposes tools and techniques for owners and operators to minimize the economic risks of large capital projects in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC).
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| Oman could be the new load center for the Middle East, in due time. Its geographical location is tantalizing for shipping lines -- no need to traverse the Strait of Hormuz to serve Dubai, Saudi Arabia, and even Iraq. There's just one catch: there need to be adequate deepwater port facilities and intermodal connections to the north, including rail links. Oman is well on its way toward building this infrastructure. Click here to download the article.
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National Manufacturing: Energy Prices
| National Manufacturing: Energy Prices
Would a doubling of transportation or inventory carrying costs change your supply chain strategy? Would a 70% increase in the cost of foreign-sourced products cause you to re-evaluate your sourcing plan? Can your supply chain flex to adjust to major changes in input costs? Energy volatility appears to be here stay, and companies that are good at managing supply risk will have more cost-effective and resilient supply chains. This presentation will share the most profitable strategies that turn this problem into an opportunity.
Presented to National Manufacturing Week, 2007.
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| Energy Prices Reshaping the Supply Chain: Charting a New Course? (2007 State of Strategic Sourcing Study)
Would a doubling of transportation or inventory carrying costs change your supply chain strategy? Would a 70% increase in the cost of Chinese-sourced products cause you to re-evaluate your sourcing plan? Can your supply chain flex to adjust to major changes in input costs? Energy volatility appears to be here to stay, and companies that are good at managing supply risk will have more cost-effective and resilient supply chains. Boston Strategies International's fourth annual State of Strategic Sourcing Study explores these issues and more.
©2007 Boston Strategies International
Click here for free download.
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Energy Prices and the Supply Chain
| Energy Prices and the Supply Chain
Would a doubling of transportation or inventory carrying costs change your supply chain strategy? Would a 70% increase in the cost of Chinese-sourced products cause you to re-evaluate your sourcing plan? Can your supply chain flex to adjust to major changes in input costs? Energy volatility appears to be here to stay, and companies that are good at managing supply risk will have more cost-effective and resilient supply chains. Boston Strategies International's fourth annual State of Strategic Sourcing study explores these issues and more.
Price: $100
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| BONUS: Energy Prices and the Supply Chain Videocast
Continued strong demand and tight supply are keeping oil prices high. Industry is feeling the pain, as recent studies of prices, fuel, electricity, and consumer goods rising in response to energy costs. These issues and more make energy a hot topic for supply chain professionals, with operations, budgets, and strategies changing in the balance. What should you do to adjust your supply chain to accommodate the changes and gain, not lose, competitive advantage?
32 minutes ©2008 Boston Strategies International
Price: Free with purchase of Energy Prices Reshaping the Supply Chain
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| BONUS: 2007 State of Strategic Sourcing Audio Recording "Energy Prices Reshaping the Supply Chain"
David Jacoby, President of Boston Strategies International, presents the impact of energy prices on supply chains, and forecasts the impact on sourcing and supply management for the next 20 years.
32 minutes, 2007.
Price: Free with purchase of National Manufacturing: Energy Prices
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| Green Supply Chains by 2020
For nearly 30 years, companies have been doing everything they can to improve efficiency both within and between organizations, which was in large part responsible for the global growth throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Now the returns are diminishing and the very success that has enabled complex multinational supply chains is under attack for wasting energy and creating pollution. It is time to put supply chain in the public political agenda by asking governments to front major subsidies and tax incentives to help make supply chains truly green.
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| The Return of PPP. Mediterranean Governments Relying on the Private Sector for the Next Wave of Expansion.
Public private partnerships (PPP) had traditionally been justified on a project specific basis, with only a handful of projects under review at any point in time. The economic crisis has changed that paradigm: heavily-indebted governments worldwide will need the private sector to realize the next wave of capacity expansions. The motivation for PPPs is changing, and this will change the balance of power between port authorities and terminal operators.
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| Too Small to Fail: A New Model for Regulatory Oversight
The cost of the bailout is turning out to be much less than expected. In the Middle East, Abu Dhabi bailed out Dubai with $10 billion of equity, and this has not stopped industrial real estate values from plummeting in Dubai. However, while some had predicted a cost of $5-6 trillion or more for the US portion alone, it appears that the worldwide bailout will total less than a trillion dollars. Why did some companies perish while others got rescued? What lessons can we learn? Should we save or subsidize companies like holding companies (like Dubai World), real estate conglomerates, and ocean shipping lines (like COSCO and CMA/CGM) that took on extraordinary amounts of debt?
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Economic Impact of Freight Investments
| Integrating Supply Chain Benefits into the Economic Analysis of Freight Investments
While the research literature and the number of model applications is fairly robust with respect to transportation and economic impact models, data and methodologies to model the supply chain linkage between transportation effects and broader economic impacts is relatively sparse. This presentation identifies the key sources of supply chain program benefits derived by companies that move goods. It also provides preliminary estimates of the supply chain and logistics benefits to industries from improvements to the freight transportation system.
Presented to Technology Entertainment Design Conference, 2006.
Price: $100
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| The US Transportation Challenge
Some countries are practically drowning in transportation infrastructure investment while others are under-investing for the future. What is behind the imbalance? This study investigates how the US economy is being slowed down by a lack of investment in transport infrastructure, and provides comparative benchmarks with other nations.
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| A Framework for Public-Private Partnership Policy Development
Mega-investments are reshaping global supply chain economies. Dubai is investing $300 billion by 2012, and Saudi Arabia an equivalent amount by 2012. Brazil has committed $108 billion by 2023, Shanghai’s Yangshan port complex will cost $26 billion, and the Panama Canal upgrade will cost $5 billion or more. The benefits – including economic growth and export competitiveness – are huge. Furthermore, not investing puts nations and multinational transportation providers at a disadvantage relative to those that are capitalizing on the biggest international trade boom of the last thousand years. But private capital is finite, especially given the current financial crisis, and there is no agreed process and no methodology for sharing the costs and benefits of very large transport infrastructure projects between public and private sector interests. The resolution to this issue will have a dramatic impact on national competitiveness and global economic growth.
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| USDOT Guide to Large-Scale Freight Investments
Economic trends paint a worrisome picture for the state of the U.S. freight system. U.S. domestic freight tonnage is predicted to increase by 57 percent between 2000 and 2020, and if trends continue, growth in freight volumes will exceed increases in freight capacity for the foreseeable future, causing congestion throughout the surface transportation system and decreasing the reliability of freight shipment times. As congestion increases and reliability decrease, the transport and supply chain costs will go up, raising prices for U.S. consumers and lowering the competitiveness of U.S. businesses.
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| Supply Chain Strategy Formulation |
| Oil and gas equipment and materials are often among the most complex of any industries. However, existing methods for dealing with complex pricing are limited. Buyers have attempted to simplify the "buy," both for administrative ease and for price leverage. They have tried product price sheets, auctions and exchanges, OEM service contracts, framework agreements, Lump Sum Turnkey (LSTK) contracts, and Build-Own-Operate (BOO) concessions. Each method has its strengths and weaknesses, but few reflect the true cost or value of the wide variety of complex items and services offered. As a result, the industry has moved toward a "lowest common denominator" oversimplification and commoditization of many items and services. Unfortunately, nobody wants low-price, low-value products, especially today when safety is paramount. Suppliers and buyers have a unique opportunity to add value that can increase the top line of both parties, by structuring their offering, and their pricing, in terms of solutions rather than products. But the road is a challenging one.
Please click here to request a copy of this presentation.
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| Leading Supply Chain Transformations with Credibility. Blending Vision, Realism and Competence.
Academic theory has shown that the best way for individual companies to maximize their own benefit in simulations of the prisoners’ dilemma is by playing “tit-for-tat,” mimicking other players’ moves but never offering more than what the other party offers you. So wouldn’t supply chain leaders have to be naive to trust their supply chain partners and collaborate by volunteering data and forecasts of orders, shipments, and inventories? No, but the trust must be based on proven experience and demonstrated supply chain leadership.
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What's your Middle East Strategy?
Emerging markets such as China, India, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia have dominated the headlines due to their strong growth, and while they are suffering the effects of the recession their growth has been relatively less affected than major industrialized economies. This view often ignores the Middle East, which is on its own path toward being a third major economic pole.
Click here to learn more about economic growth in the Middle East.
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Supply Chain as a Geopolitical Weapon
| Supply Chain as a Geopolitical Weapon
Bangkok is growing to be a major transport hub for Asia, and new infrastructure projects across Thailand are improving land access. What role will Bangkok play as a transportation hub in Asia? This presentation will explore Thailand as an emerging strategic location, in the context of a more encompassing and provocative theme — can governments use supply chain management as a competitive weapon to accelerate regional growth?
Presented to 4th Thai Ports Conference, 2007.
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Supply Chain Strategy
| Supply Chain Strategy
Supply chain management should yield far more than cost reduction. It should result in delighted customers, marketing flexibility, and enhanced innovation and speed of doing business across multiple processes. While traditional operations improvement has focused on how to reduce cost without sacrificing service — reducing inventory without sacrificing service levels, reducing fixed cost by planning and scheduling work better without creating backlogs or bottlenecks, and lowering transportation cost through win-lose negotiations with carriers and 3PLs — supply chain leaders have linked their business strategy to supply chain management with dramatic results.
Price: $400
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| BONUS: Supply Chain Strategy Videocast
Supply chain management should yield far more than cost reduction. It should result in delighted customers, marketing flexibility, and enhanced innovation and speed of doing business across multiple processes. While traditional operations improvement has focused on how to reduce cost without sacrificing service — reducing inventory without sacrificing service levels, reducing fixed cost by planning and scheduling work better without creating backlogs or bottlenecks, and lowering transportation cost through win-lose negotiations with carriers and 3PLs — supply chain leaders have linked their business strategy to supply chain management with dramatic results.
26 minutes ©2008 Boston Strategies International
Price: Free with purchase of Supply Chain Strategy
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| The New Face of Purchasing
The coming decade promises to be a transformative one for the purchasing function. According to a major new study of over 350 global executives, after years of being perceived as a clerical, back-office function, purchasing is set to gain remarkable prominence in the corporate pecking order. Three external and inter-related forces are driving the elevation of purchasing: globalization, cost pressure, and innovation. This white paper identifies four ways in which the procurement function will respond and adapt between now and 2015.
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| The Art of High-Cost Country Sourcing
Do Western manufacturers have a path to profitable growth? You bet! Squeezed by intense price pressure and structurally high labor costs, there is a challenge but they can adapt and win in a big way. This article defines Boston Strategies International's concept of "High-Cost Country Sourcing" (HCCS).
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| Can Western Manufacturers Beat the Competition?
At the current rate of outsourcing and off-shoring however, Western manufacturing is arguably in danger of being marginalized. Can Western manufacturers survive? This article in summarizes Boston Strategies International's position on the future of Western manufacturing.
Price: Free
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| How Will Western Manufacturers Survive? (2008 State of Strategic Sourcing Study)
At the current pace of off-shoring, Western manufacturing is arguably headed toward extinction. What should leaders of Western manufacturing companies do? Will your company survive? How should you reposition the core competencies and product range? Should you tap a non-home country national to run the company or establish multiple headquarters? What should the headquarters be? How can you recruit people who have the right language, culture, and skills to lead the company into the global future? Boston Strategies International's fifth Annual State of Supply Chain Management Study is focused on answering these critical questions.
32 pages, 26 charts/tables/diagrams, 7 chapters, ©2008 Boston Strategies International
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How Will Western Manufacturers Survive?
| How Will Western Manufacturers Survive?
At the current pace of offshoring, Western manufacturing is arguably headed toward extinction. What should leaders of Western manufacturing companies do? Will your company survive? How should you reposition the core competencies and product range? Should you tap a non-home country national to run the company, or establish multiple headquarters? Where should the headquarters be? How can you recruit people who have the right language, culture, and skills to lead the company into the global future? Boston Strategies International's fifth Annual State of Supply Chain Management Study is focused on answering these critical questions, © 2008.
Price: $100
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| How Will Western Manufacturers Survive? Videocast
At the current pace of off-shoring, Western manufacturing is arguably headed toward extinction. What should leaders of Western manufacturing companies do? Boston Strategies International’s 5th Annual State of Supply Chain Study is focused on answering these critical questions. In this videocast, we will reveal the findings of this study and offer career-defining recommendations to supply chain professionals.
39 minutes ©2008 Boston Strategies International
Price: Free with purchase of How Will Western Manufacturers Survive?
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| Customization: The Strategy
Any color as long as it’s black,” said Henry Ford in 1908. Supply chain management has totally changed that paradigm, not only producing any color that customers want, but offering the instant flexibility that allows them to generate more sales and profit. David Jacoby, President of Boston Strategies International, wrote this white paper for the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Click here to request this paper from the publisher.
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| Customization: The Information Connection
Gathering, managing, and using customer data at the right time is crucial to moving from a Stage II supply chain company to a Stage III supply chain company. It is easy to say but hard to do. David Jacoby, President of Boston Strategies International, wrote this white paper for the Economist Intelligence Unit.
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| Innovation
Innovation used to be the job of the Research and Development department, but engineering improvements are of little value if they don’t reach the market in a timely fashion. Today supply chain managers are an integral part of innovative companies’ business strategy. David Jacoby, President of Boston Strategies International, contributed to this white paper for the Economist Intelligence Unit.
Click here to request this paper from the publisher.
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The Crossroads: Global Trade and Technology
| The Crossroads: Global Trade and Technology
For 40 years, a dearth of reliable information constrained companies and consumers from achieving what they knew could be done. But today, information technology is making more data available than we know how to use, and with radio frequency identification we will soon have more data than our computers will be able to process. Concurrently, global trade is exploding and the locus of economic power is shifting. The convergence of these two trends over the coming 30 years will present unprecedented opportunities for trade and commerce. How can you take advantage of this opportunity? This presentation will identify key areas of commercial opportunity presented by these extraordinary trends.
Presented to Beverly Chamber of Commerce, 2006.
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| The Oil Price Bullwhip: Problem, Cost, Response
The bullwhip effect costs oil and gas producers and their supply chain partners $2 billion per year - the equivalent of a "bullwhip tax" that adds 10% to the cost of every barrel of oil produced. Oil and gas producers, refiners, equipment suppliers, and component manufacturers can take steps to mitigate the cost.
Please click here to download this article from the Oil and Gas Journal.
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| Global Economic Trends
Supply chain activity will rebound as the economy does. Is the bounce back sustainable? What are the scenarios for economic ups and downs over the coming years? What will your supply chain costs be in 2010? This simplified excerpt from Boston Strategies International's keynote presentation to the Health and Personal Care Logistics Conference in Florida answers these questions.
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| The Bullwhip Effect in Global Trade - This is One Wild Bull
The financial sector is worse condition than it was in the 1930s. Nine percent of US bank loans are likely to fail - more than failed in the Great Depression, and this will take two or three years to rectify and result in a 7.5% loss of total asset value. What does this all mean for supply chain managers?
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W-Shaped Recovery or Long Wave?
The recession appears to be over, and economists are debating whether the recovery will be “U- shaped” or “W-shaped.” A “U-shaped” recovery is relatively straightforward- the recession leads to growth and the growth continues. A “W-shaped” recovery means that we experience a false recovery that is followed by a second recession. This is possible, even likely, because of the massive debt incurred by governments worldwide as they bailed out banks and ailing manufacturing companies. In a “W-shaped” recovery, bloated public debt and sagging exchange rates would force governments to raise taxes to balance their budgets and support high interest rates to attract foreign capital, both of which would hinder economic recovery.
Please click here to download the article.
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| How Long Will the East-West Trade Imbalance Last?
The East-West trade imbalance has cooled off since the US dollar has devalued. Is the change permanent? That depends on a variety of factors, but all parties must have an understanding of the Asian sourcing boom in order to make wise decisions and investments.
Price: Free
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