The CIA Meets High-Tech Supplier Management: Safeguarding Apple’s Supply Chain
If you think Apple’s development and production initiatives follow a secretive approach inside the company’s four walls only, guess again. Apple takes as much interest in how its supply chain partners guard information as it does in how its own emplo…
Aravo’s $50K Supply Risk QuickStart (Part 1)
Last week Aravo announced a new $50K Supplier Risk QuickStart program that offers one of the first affordable and integrated software/services programs to tackle multiple areas of supply risk. Having been briefed on it, and knowing Aravo’s overall ap…
Are Toyota’s Suppliers in Collusion? Antitrust and the Automotive Supply Chain
Earlier today, the news broke that government officials in the US, EU and Japan recently searched the offices of a number of Toyota suppliers that may be involved in cartel-like activities. According to The Wall Street Journal?s summary, ?Investigato…
When Apple Suppliers Fight the Media — Literally
Earlier this week, I shared how Apple is serious about supply chain security — and some of the ends to which it goes to keep suppliers in the dark. It turns out this behavior has led some suppliers to a new degree of paranoia, which recently resulte…
Will a Return to Automotive OEM In-Country Sourcing in the UK Signal Something Larger?
I won’t ever forget the shot heard round the global-sourcing automotive world when GM told its suppliers that they’d have to meet a “world price” for given parts and components if they were to remain suppliers to the then automotive giant. Others acr…
CFO Supply Risk Ignorance is Not Bliss — Looking Forward While Gauging the Damage
With a hat-tip to Bob Ferrari, I came across a December study conducted by CFO Research Services and American Express. The study surveyed finance executives on their views on economic recovery, and on their corporate behavior during the downturn. The…
China: Red Chips and a New Type of Supply Risk
Corporate scandals and arrests in the West often skirt the business headlines, making news one hour and quickly getting buried the next. The case is a bit different in China, however, which appears constantly ready to point a figurative finger at the…
Supplier Management: Is the “Toyota Way” on the Way Out?
I’m pleased to report that after a weekend driving around in a Toyota Avalon, a model impacted by the recent acceleration recall, I’m alive and well. The same can’t necessarily be said about Toyota’s supply chain. According to a recent article in Sup…
IBM Takes the CDI/EMPI Initiative with its Initiate Acquisition
Earlier today, IBM announced it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire Initiate Systems, a provider of customer data integration (CDI) and enterprise master patient index (EMPI) technology. According to the company press release, IBM describes Initiate as “a market leader in data integrity software for information sharing among healthcare and government organizations. Initiate’s software […]
Don’t Bet on a Sustained Recovery Just Yet (But Do Put Your Chips on Volatility)
Over on Spend Matters affiliate site Metal Miner, Stuart Burns recently took out his virtual pen and analyzed the latest U.S. GDP numbers which, on the face if it, may suggest a solid recovery. After all, it appears that we’re “expanding at the faste…
