The love affair between LCCS (Low-Cost-Country-Sourcing) and China has taken a few hits in recent years: bad press on humanitarian issues, unfavorable VAT rebate reductions, a weakened US$, and increasing government interference. It’s made more than one company turn a speculative eye towards central and eastern Europe (CEE).
And why not? There are a number of […]
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Mehdi Hassan, blogging for South Asia Biz, recently highlighted a Forrester report on the growing dissatisfaction with IT outsourcing in India. As Hassan points out, firms are struggling with the falling dollar, unrealistic expectations, scalability, possible tax code changes and believe it or not, scarcity of top IT talent.
I couldn’t agree more with the assertion […]
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Over the past year, Supply Excellence has been tracking a growing trend for companies to rethink their sourcing strategies. For example, General Motors has made re-sourcing a cornerstone of its (ongoing) turnaround plan. And just last week a major food and beverage company told me it was rethinking supply lines for core ingredients.
Mattel’s Chairman and […]
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With the run up in product recalls and food concerns last year, product quality and supply risk management have captured the attention of the C-suite and the general public. Supply managers have an opportunity to leverage this crisis to boost their brand in the organization and help their companies turn the strategic balancing of cost, […]
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Two years ago, when I suggested that a declining dollar and rising wage and capacity constraints in emerging markets could make the U.S. an attractive “low-cost” region for foreign manufacturers, most of you painted me as Chicken Little. Last year, I awoken your skepticism when I suggested that Detroit and regions of the South that […]
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Now that the ball has dropped and you’ve bid adieu to 2007, you are probably being bombarded with news reports and e-mails telling you what to expect in 2008. Supply Excellence is also throwing its hat in the prognostication ring, except with a twist. I’ve spent the past few months speaking with supply management executives […]
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Last weekend, I supported a Toys-for-Tots drive at my alma mater, Boston College. The organizers needed extra hands this year to inspect toys made in China to ensure they weren’t tainted with lead or other hazardous substances.
With precautions like this, you’d expect that manufacturers and importers would be stepping up their diligence and auditing of […]
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Recent changes in government subsidies and environmental policies raise questions about the sustainability of China’s white-hot economic growth and could add costs to your China sourcing budget.
In a surprising move last week, Chinese officials landed a one-two punch on the country’s economic fundamentals, cutting energy subsidies and introducing tighter pollution controls. The moves increase costs […]
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Earlier this year I questioned the viability of The Gap’s (RED) Program, which nobly donated a portion of profits for certain products to fund vaccinations against AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria in poverty-stricken regions of the globe. (The Gap even doubled-down on its charitable actions by sourcing the cotton for these products from local farms in […]
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One day after praising the Defense Department for its innovative approach to using outcome sourcing for jet fighter uptime, I take it all back. An expose in the Wall Street Journal this week reports that U.S. military procurement officials are under investigation for an alleged price fixing and kick-back schemes involving some of the nation’s […]
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