Global trade patterns are reconfiguring. More shifts are likely and businesses need to be aware of the potential trade-offs of different paths ahead. At a glance Introduction Trade reconfiguration has been making headlines. In 2023, Mexico became the United States’ largest goods trade partner. Vietnam’s trade with China and the United States has been surging....

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With digital opportunities sweeping the supply chain landscape, readiness and line of sight will be paramount to success. Advanced technologies are shaking up the supply chain world. With quickly evolving capabilities across generative AI, data analytics, automation, machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain and more, the ‘smart’ supply chain is well on its way...

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Summary. As they strive to make their supply chains more resilient, global companies are grappling with two challenges: the difficulty in discerning potential sources and the extended time required to find, vet, and onboard new suppliers. Companies such as Walmart, Tyson Foods, Koch Industries, Maersk, Siemens, and Unilever are using AI tools to swiftly find...

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New systems can learn autonomously and make complex judgments. Leaders need to understand these “autosapient” agents and how to work with them. Summary. AI has been subtly influencing us for years, but a new generation of vastly more capable technology is now emerging. These systems, the authors write, aren’t just tools. They’re actors that increasingly...

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A framework for navigating the worst of what AI, quantum computing, and other new technologies could create. Summary: Next-generation technologies are poised to cause society-shaking shifts at unprecedented speed and scale. Generative AI, quantum computing, blockchain, and other technologies present novel ethical problems that “business as usual” just can’t handle. To meet these challenges, leaders...

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The logistics sector follows the lead in process automation, technological innovation, and environmental conservation in a constantly changing terrain. Logistics organizations need to quickly adjust to innovative technologies, cutting-edge procedures, and strategic approaches in order to survive and prosper in this age of intense competition. As logistics technology continues to advance, the sector should anticipate...

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CEOs globally recognize the potential of artificial intelligence (AI), but most are encountering significant challenges in formulating and operationalizing related strategies. While over two-thirds see the need to act quickly on GenAI, a similar proportion also report being stymied by uncertainty in this space, making it challenging to respond at speed. While the vast majority...

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Companies are making their supply chains more cost-efficient, resilient and sustainable in an increasingly uncertain world. Over the last couple of decades, many supply chains have become linear global chains, stretched to their limit in pursuit of efficient, mass production with low-cost countries, just-in-time inventory and limited inherent resilience. These models were geared towards growing...

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Summary.   Modern work is inherently project-based and collaborative. We are all project managers to some extent. From film directors and restaurant owners to lawyers and accountants, many professions involve managing projects. For everyone, not just project managers, mastering timeboxing can be a gateway to bridging the gap between intention and execution. You’re probably already timeboxing, at...

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Operational excellence (OpEx) is an approach to business management which emphasises continuous improvement across all aspects of a business, within all its processes, by creating a culture where management and employees are invested in business outcomes and empowered to implement change. It allows organisations to reach higher levels of service and product delivery through better...

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Tender rejection data in the FreightWaves SONAR data platform shows that the freight market bottomed on May 14. Since then, conditions for carriers have slowly been improving. SONAR’s outbound tender rejection index (OTRI) tracks the balance of supply and demand in trucking by measuring the percentage of truckload freight that is rejected. In trucking, supply...

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Our core scenario is that 2023 is the year that supply chains return to normal and companies turn to long-term supply chain strategies. We identify 10 data points that show supply chains mostly returning to normal, though there are notable areas of concern. We also flag what’s next for each measure.  Excerpt from the beginning...

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A dual focus on developing people and managing them well gives a select group of companies a long-term performance edge. MGI’s previous research has shown that human capital development pays off for workers, with skills learned on the job accounting for almost half of the average person’s lifetime earnings. But does investing in people actually benefit...

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Human capital represents two-thirds of wealth for the average individual—and work experience contributes almost half of that value. he most important resource in any economy or organization is its human capital—that is, the collective knowledge, attributes, skills, experience, and health of the workforce. While human capital development starts in early childhood and continues through formal education,...

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Do you feel like you have a strong sense of purpose guiding your career aspirations? Purpose can be defined as an overarching intention that is personally meaningful to you and of consequence to the world beyond yourself. Your purpose can help you organize your life, give you a clear direction, and motivate you — especially when you encounter life’s inevitable...

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Funding for logistics start-ups tightened in 2022. Where are investors focusing their interest now? After surging in 2021, funding for logistics start-ups slowed substantially in 2022. Among the causes of the slowdown: a more challenging macroeconomic environment coupled with a decline in the growth of e-commerce. Investment in logistics start-ups fell by nearly 50 percent year...

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73% of Average Supply Chain IT Budget Will Be Allocated to Growth and Performance As organizations place greater emphasis on supply chain management, Chief Supply Chain Officers (CSCOs) intend to grasp their collective opportunity to invest in growth through new technology investments, according to Gartner, Inc. In a survey of 499 supply chain leaders from...

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Generative AI has hit the ground running—so fast that it can feel hard to keep up. Here’s a quick take pulled from our top articles and reports on the subject. Since the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, it’s been all over the headlines, and businesses are racing to capture its value. Within the technology’s first...

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Summary.   Some customer service experiences are simple and can be automated. But others, particularly those that involve challenging and complex customer needs, often require creative solutions by frontline employees. In these situations, should employees be empowered to break rules and protocols in order to come to a satisfactory conclusion? Research suggests that certain situations can benefit...

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Summary.   An outdated way of thinking about peak performance is: “maximum effort = maximum results.” But research shows that it doesn’t actually work that way in reality. Here’s what actually works: The 85% rule, which counterintuitively suggests that to reach maximum output, you need to refrain from giving maximum effort. Operating at 100% effort all of...

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Summary: Supply chains worldwide will continue to be caught between politics, economics and ecology in the future. Whether there will be more regionalization or nearshoring remains to be seen. The question will linger: Who will win and who will lose in this increasingly tense competition? Then logistics experts discuss the challenges and prospects for global...

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Summary: In a world that has never been more “on demand”, an agile supply chain can quickly adapt to market changes, anticipate spikes in demand, and meet customers’ delivery expectations. So, is your e-commerce business’s supply chain up to the task? Read on to discover the key things you should consider to run a truly...

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Why it Matters: Synthetic data — which resembles real data sets but doesn’t compromise privacy — allows companies to share data and create algorithms more easily. Companies committed to data-based decision-making share common concerns about privacy, data integrity, and a lack of sufficient data. Synthetic data aims to solve those problems by giving software developers...

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Why it matters: Industry is taking the lead on artificial intelligence research that has traditionally been the domain of academia. What does this mean for research that is in the public interest? Until the early 2000s, AI research in academia and in industry was split fairly evenly. But over the past decade, the balance has...

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Five smart moves that will help, by Peter Cappelli Summary. Complaints against Human Resources (HR), which are nothing new, have a cyclical quality. They’re driven largely by the business context. When companies are struggling with labor issues, HR is seen as a valued leadership partner. When things are smoother all around, managers wonder what the function...

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Supply chain issues and production bottlenecks brought to the fore by the pandemic presented opportunities to reshape freight operations Introduction In the years that led up to 2019, the twin rise of e-commerce and consumer expectations began placing unprecedented strain on global transportation networks and logistics providers.  Manufacturers and retailers responded by pushing their existing systems—a...

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In recent years the supply chain of today has met with unprecedented levels of disruption, from an inexorable and exponential rise in consumer demand, fuel shortages, to a global pandemic. Thankfully, we seem to be emerging out of the latter, yet still, such factors have caused the supply chain to grow ever-increasingly more complex. And,...

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Why It Matters. It’s not enough to excel at a steady state — firms also need the resilience to respond to irregular operations and conditions. Systems thinking can help. Fresh off a year-plus of supply chain disruptions and irregular operations precipitated by the global pandemic, organizations should make time to rethink resiliency and risk management....

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Why It Matters. MIT Sloan experts offer a systematic approach to organizational resilience that can help leaders manage risk and rebound rapidly when catastrophic events strike. Consider the recent system failures at Southwest Airlines that put the brakes on holiday travel. Or the Deepwater Horizon oil spill or the Norfolk Southern freight train derailment, both of which rapidly became...

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Summary. The pursuit of individual productivity is healthy and worthwhile. However, unless you work independently outside of an organization, the benefits of most “tricks” will be limited. To make a real impact on performance, you have to work at the system level. The author recommends four ways to improve productivity and efficiency by making changes...

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