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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Traditionally in the Service Industry, Quality Assurance (QA) focused on ensuring the quality of (manufacturing and delivering) a service or product. Main focus was on preventing mistakes and defects, with techniques like Statistical Process Control (SPC), Total Quality Management (TQM) and Company Quality. The goal was to assure ‘fit for purpose’ (maximizing customer acceptance) and...

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Artificial intelligence is transforming virtually every sector, and in the process, raising urgent questions about how to use this technology effectively and responsibly. Wharton faculty leading a cutting-edge new program and alumni trailblazers weigh in on the power, potential, and pitfalls of AI. “AI is one of the most profound things we’re working on as...

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Repurposed supply chains of the future must have resilience and responsibility at their heart COVID-19 has disrupted supply chains around the world. But they’ve also been a vital lifeline to support the response, keeping essential medical supplies, food and other key necessities flowing where they’re needed most. There’s no doubt that the pandemic has tested...

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Agile supply chains deliver a seamless experience Customers now expect more from their purchasing experience. Exceeding these expectations could require an agile supply value chain—one made possible through digital supply networks. BEFORE the advent of digital technologies, fulfillment was largely an exercise in “sell and replenish” for companies. Now, Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies such as artificial...

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“My dear, here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place. And if you wish to go anywhere you must run twice as fast as that.” The Red Queen, in “Through the Looking-Glass” by Lewis Carroll Introduction Industry experts assert that data is the new gold. Even more valuable than...

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Enter third-wave economics; How the pandemic reshaped the dismal science As part of his plan for socialism in the early 1970s, Salvador Allende created Project Cybersyn. The Chilean president’s idea was to offer bureaucrats unprecedented insight into the country’s economy. Managers would feed information from factories and fields into a central database. In an operations room...

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In this episode, Ron and Joseph discuss supply chains and digitalization. Certainly, recent events and the disruptions that have gone with them have illuminated the need and benefits of digitalization. And it’s no longer just about digital documents required for moving products from one point to another, but to use digitalization – in all of...

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Whether political turbulence, economic challenges, or biological threats, we live in a world that is increasingly less predictable and where volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) is the new norm.  This has revealed vulnerabilities in the traditional business models and the manner in which organizations operate.  Doing business as usual is no longer a viable...

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The COVID-19 pandemic is transforming the way businesses operate faster and more profoundly than possibly any other event in the history of the world.  For instance, in 2019, if we were to tell business leaders that the bulk of their white-collar workforce would be working from home for an extended period of time, the echo...

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The coronavirus pandemic’s office exodus risks diminishing company culture unless leaders take action to support it. Within just a few weeks earlier this year, the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a massive shift to remote work that may change the office as we know it forever. Many large companies are urging employees to work from home for...

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To remain relevant and resilient, companies and leaders must strive to build business models using three key components for growth. In the face of a global health and economic crisis, many traditional companies have suffered tremendous losses, and some have shuttered their doors. Those that heavily rely on physical capital (for example, stores, goods) and...

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The rapid shift to remote work has created new challenges for organizations, but survey data shows organizations around the world are experimenting with creative solutions. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many employees to work from home, and the magnitude of the shift to remote work is staggering. Before the pandemic, about 15% of U.S. employees...

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When the Covid-19 pandemic subsides, the world is going to look markedly different. The supply shock that started in China in February and the demand shock that followed as the global economy shut down exposed vulnerabilities in the production strategies and supply chains of firms just about everywhere. Temporary trade restrictions and shortages of pharmaceuticals,...

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For many years, we have sought to understand and measure the productivity of knowledge workers, whose inputs and outputs can’t be tracked in the same way as a builder, shelf-stacker, or call center worker. Knowledge workers apply subjective judgment to tasks, they decide what to do when, and they can withhold effort (by not fully...

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Mark Zuckerberg recently shared his plans for the future of remote work at Facebook. By 2030, he promised, at least half of Facebook’s 50,000 employees would be working from home. “We are going to be the most forward-leaning company on remote work at our scale,” he declared in a follow-up interview. A few days before,...

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Traditionally in the Service Industry, Operational Excellence (OpEx) focused on the Operations function: Back and Mid Offices fulfilling the client’s request. Main focus was on decreasing handling and throughput time, with techniques like Lean Thinking, Six Sigma and Scientific Management. The goal was mainly to let humans work more efficiently. However, in the last years,...

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When the Mosaic browser, with its consumer-friendly interface, was released to the world in 1993, most had no idea how radically this first foray into the internet era would transform our lives – both personally and professionally.  As humans, we are generally poor at detecting and acting on early signals of change. And as business...

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With the COVID-19 pandemic, we have entered a very strange time, a transformative time.  Regardless of the immediate effects that are largely transitory (such as the rationing of certain products, the closing of restaurants and shops, and the recommendations and orders from authorities to stay in our homes); there will be real and significant changes...

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Companies investing more in new technology make more money. Here’s why, and how you can accelerate your digital transformation. Our latest research finds that companies that excel at digital transformation share six habits. Digital transformation leaders that exhibit these six habits enjoy better financial performance than companies that have yet to adopt them. To catch...

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Technology is everywhere; pervasive and inescapable.  Intended to make lives and work easier, less boring, and safer, while simultaneously accelerating the ways we interact with one another and doing business.  But as with the introduction of anything “new”, there is a level of anxiety that is felt by the people the technology will touch.  It’s...

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Chances are, when we were growing up, our parents would express their being thankful for a “Guardian Angel” and keeping us safe from harm and generally looking out for our well-being.  Certainly, some Guardian Angels seemed to have to work much harder than others. Today, we rely far less on poltergeists, apparitions, and the spirit...

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