Last month, I attended the Silicon Valley ISM meeting where Economic Club of San Francisco President Ingo Bischoff made a spirited case for the US to return to the gold standard. At it’s core, I understood Ingo’s argument - a mix of history, politics, economics and philosophy - to be a matter of trust. With […]
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Last Friday, the Huffington Post published the results of their small business survey and the news was grim. With around 600 responses, crunching the numbers revealed:
“Just about a third of the businesses that responded have had layoffs already, and almost half have reduced hours. Overall, they say layoffs are about equal to 15% of the […]
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Clearly in this business economy cash is not only King, it’s pocket Kings with the flop on the way (for you WSOP fans!). To protect their businesses and ensure sufficient cash flow in this tight credit environment, organizations are doing everything they can to hold on to the cash they have and free up even […]
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The credit crisis is the supply chain risk getting most of the attention these days. But in the recent online Town Hall forum, IACCM President & CEO Tim Cummins, pointed out another risky behavior that many companies engage in. Tim said a “hero culture”, where saving the company from disaster in the nick of time, […]
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A member of the Buyer & Supplier Contracts Group on LinkedIn recently posted a very interesting question to the community:
In this Volatile market scenario is it ethical to renegotiate the existing contracts? Is this the only way to survive in the business?
In the current economic and credit climate, I’m sure a lot of companies are […]
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News this week that Tesco is looking to double its payment terms with suppliers to 60 days should certain raise some eyebrows within (and beyond) cash-strapped food service and retail sectors. Yet, hopefully, it will not cultivate a cult of imitators.
While cash is certainly king in today’s economy, this is not the time to withhold […]
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In a blog post last Friday, Jason Busch brought up an interesting twist on the credit crisis…namely the ability of businesses to pass along increased supply chain costs to the end customer in an environment of tightening belts and lowered spending. He cites a story out of the UK where Marks & Spencer and […]
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While it may not have the news-cycle cachet of a $700 Billion bailout, or the immediate voyeuristic drawing power of the battle of the banking titans (i.e. Wells/Citi/Wachovia), the struggles that suppliers are facing finding cash flow and short-term credit can have immediate and long-term impact on supply chains if those suppliers fail or are […]
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According to a CFO.com survey released on Wednesday, “”[as a result of the credit crisis] 61 percent of finance chiefs are concerned about their companies’ access to day-to-day financing.” This concern is especially acute for small to mid-sized suppliers for whom short-term credit is the primary operational bridge allowing them to make it from […]
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Like most of you, I spent the last week glued to my financial TV news outlets, rss feeds, Wall Street Journal and (because I was traveling) the USA Today Money section, trying to make some sense of the turmoil rocking the banking sector. When giant, old institutions like Lehman Bros. and AIG fail, and […]
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