My apologies, but with the CSCMP show this week, I wasn't exactly "daily" with these daily jabs. I did manage to get a video review of each day of the show done though (See CSCMP Day 3 Video Review, which has links to all three videos - the first two with Gene Tyndall). Thanks for all the great feedback on these, by the way.
At CSCMP and everywhere else, the turmoil in the stock and financial markets obviously casts a shadow over almost everything. One thing this says to me is that we have to more than ever put a premium on supply chain agility - and have the forward visibility and intelligence necessary to react as early as possible to new information.
Consider your 401k or other investments, as the markets tumble. Is there more than just a handful of us who can say we couldn't have lost a lot less money - or maybe even made some profits - if we had kept more on top of market developments, and made changes to our investments daily as new information became available?
At CSCMP, Limited Brands supply chain exec Rick Jackson said his company is "playing defense but thinking offense." Meaning, it will be looking for opportunities to increase market share or its competitive position as others weaken. That takes agility.
Over the past few weeks, we have stunningly seen fuel prices drop as much as 25%. Are you able to quickly reset trade-offs that may have favoried inventory over transportation as logistics costs soared? Not only has the basic math of that equation changed sharply, in just a few weeks, but there may be other reasons to back off on inventories right now. That will become apparent to all. The question is who reacts more quickly.
But OPEC is meeting, with threats to reduce production to get oil prices back up. Will it succeed? Who knows.
All I do know is that today, the supply chain environment is unbelievably even more dynamic than the crazy world we operated in just a few months ago. Those that can move faster than the competition can gain huge competitive advantage in the midst of these changes.
I’d love your thoughts on this.
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