Friday Rant: Technology and Personal Communication -- Don't Let the Tail Wag the Dog

Okay, you're probably not in this week's WSJ listing of the 25 highest paid CEOs whose median compensation range is in the $500 millions. But based on a 60-80 hour work week -- all in -- you don't need to earn $2,500/minute for you and your team's ti...

Spend Matters Friday Latte

Post-recession supply chain? Supply chain contemplates post-recession future -- Opinion divided on whether supply chain will change modus operandi based on lessons learned from downturn. "When you come out of a recession, only 10 percent of the cos...

Guest Friday Rant: On Losing Perspective & Respect (Part 1)

This guest rant today is a contribution from an individual who is deeply involved in the procurement industry. The second installment, next week, will be a follow-up examining additional supplier/vendor management issues involving this situation, bas...

Friday Rant: What Private Equity Does Right in Procurement (Part 1)

In the past on Spend Matters, I've explored the topic of how and why private equity firms are becoming involved with procurement -- not just in their portfolio companies, but also with investments, looking at cost savings potential even in the due di...

Medical Care: When Cost Consciousness Curtails Consumption of What Was Perceived as a Free Good

A "free good', in economics parlance, generally describes a good that is available in as great a quantity as desired without impeding its availability to others and at no cost to society or the consumer. That many in the U.S. have historically treat...

Spend Matters Afternoon Coffee

The Cloud is gray and ominous, not white and fluffy? The Next 9/11: The Risk of a Supply Chain Cyber War -- In the early days of software-as-a-service, security was arguably the top concern many companies had about deploying a SaaS application. Whil...

Stepping on Supply Risk: Is China Dumping an Inferior Grating Product on the US?

Even though I have historically been conservative in my views on anti-dumping cases -- I think the burden of proof must lie entirely with those filing the complaints -- a recent case in the steel industry, is (so sorry for the pun), grating on me....

Risky Apple iPad Business: Putting all of its Supply Chain LCD Displays in One Vendor Basket

This week, Procurement Leaders reported on a story that's garnering headlines, suggesting that LG, a key supplier in Apple's iPad supply chain, might not be able to assure supply for the components in this hot, new tablet device. According to the sto...

CombineNet Opens a New Chapter (Part 1)

I recently spent half a day at CombineNet's headquarters in Pittsburgh to catch up with the current management team. Much of the time was spent reviewing how the company has evolved its solution strategy over the years, looking at product demonstrati...

Emerging Energy Trends -- Why Spend Management is Growing

Spend Matters would like to introduce a new series of posts with partner NPI Financial on a range of topical procurement and spend management/supply chain issues. Unpredictable costs in an unpredictable economy can make for business mayhem. Take e...

Spend Matters Afternoon Coffee

McDonalds takes their supply chain...local?? Why McDonald's New "We-Buy-Local" Ad Campaign Could Backfire -- It's great for McDonald's to strive for local sourcing. Moving to buying more product in-state reduces fuel needs, is less polluting, and ke...

China's Rising Exports: Putting Trade Surplus and Export Numbers Into Global Perspective

Earlier in the week, Business Week and Bloomberg shared the latest trade forecasts to come out of China, which provided evidence of a continued strong export market for the remainder of 2010, despite rising costs in the region and a US push for an ap...

A Trade Miracle of Sorts: Volumes Aren't Declining...Yet

Even though you can count me in the double-dip recession camp for numerous reasons -- not the least of which is leading indicators about consumer spending declines from the Consumer Metrics Institute (which you can read more about by following the ab...

The Manufacturing Supply Base Shake Up -- Much Ado in a Rapidly Changing Environment (Part 1)

Earlier this week, MFG.com released their findings from a recent survey of their marketplace user base, looking at risk and other factors primarily in the industrial supply chain. The sample size is large enough to present a useful snapshot about the...

Package Delivery Forecasts Validate Moderate Pace of Recovery

This morning's RSS feeds are abuzz with FedEx Corp having raised their earnings forecast 21% for fiscal Q1 ending 31 August, "citing an unexpectedly strong performance by its premium international delivery service" according to the WSJ. The forces b...

Get the Corporate United Quarterly newsletter delivered
to your inbox.

Email