For all of the parents in the Spend Matters audience, if someone asked you to suggest a premium you’d be willing to pay for safer toys, what would it be? 5%, 10%, 20%? According to a recent Chicago Tribune story, in 2008, “shoppers can expect price i…
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I’m glad that David M. over on Buyer Analytics found a Frontier Strategy Group study that hints at the importance of supply base localization — not just labor-driven low cost country sourcing. According to the research David quotes, “executives are …
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This morning, I’d like to welcome Aptium Global’s Lisa Reisman back to Spend Matters (by posting, she is giving me a break from my crazy travel schedule these past few weeks). In full disclosure, I have an economic interest in her firm, considering …
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This morning, I’d like to welcome Aptium Global’s Lisa Reisman back to Spend Matters (by posting, she is giving me a break from my crazy travel schedule these past few weeks). In full disclosure, I have an economic interest in her firm, considering …
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Earlier this fall, Supply and Demand Chain Executive featured a guest column that suggests companies engaged in global sourcing activity should create an “import czar position”. This executive would essentially serve as “a chief imports officer who c…
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Will the China Sourcing Boom Soon be Over for US Companies?
When we were in China a couple of weeks back, we had the chance to talk to a handful of sourcing experts and economist-types, trading thoughts on the future of US / Chinese industrial tra…
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I like what Neil Shister, Editor of World Trade Magazine, has to say about the the dangers of operating in unregulated supply chains. Unlike many who’ve jumped on the anti-China bandwagon, Neil takes a fare more objective perspective, noting that “th…
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With all the talk of logistical build-out in China — and the logistical woes of India, Vietnam and other emerging global sourcing locales — it would be easy to overlook the massive infrastructure investment going on in Russia at the moment. I recen…
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A Few Random Observations
It has been a year since we’ve been to China, but in that time, so much has changed. Last year, standing atop a high floor in a Shanghai skyscraper, you could see construction cranes as far as the eye could see in every …
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In China, it’s clear to me that you get out of supplier relationships what you invest in them. If you want only a cheaper price for what you’re sourcing, but do not want to invest in proactive quality control and supplier performance management, then…
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