Rethinking Supply Chain

Rethinking Supply Chain outlines how organizations can close the gap between the supply chain capabilities they have and the supply chain capabilities they want. The supply chains built pre-covid are no longer suitable in the current volatile business environment. Rethinking Supply Chain explores why and how organizations can upgrade their supply chains to level 5 maturity, enhancing them to be more sustainable, strategy-driven and resilient. It outlines the dangers of using outdated supply chain practices, sharing what goes wrong when organizations run level 5 complexity and variability with a level 1 capability. It shows how organizations can improve their strategic planning, supply chain design, sales and operations planning and business planning processes to respond to new dynamic levels of variability and complexity. It is supported by practical frameworks and roadmaps. This book outlines why supply chain reconfiguration is needed, how to define a business case for change and the steps needed to drive effective transformation. Rethinking Supply Chain also explores how to integrate sustainability into the heart of supply chain design and operations and examines the trade-offs organizations must navigate, depending on whether they wish to be at par, differentiate or dominate on sustainability drivers.

Supply Chain Strategy and Financial Metrics is a step-by-step guide to balancing the triangle of service, cost and cash which is the essence of supply chain management. Supply chains have become increasingly strategy-driven, and this Supply Chain Triangle approach puts the supply chain at the heart of the strategy discussion instead of seeing it as a result. Supply Chain Strategy and Financial Metrics fully reflects the 'inventory' or 'working capital' angle and examines the optimisation of the supply chain and Return on Capital Employed. Including case studies of Barco, Casio and a selection of food retail companies, this book covers building a strategy-driven KPI dashboard, target setting and financial benchmarking. Regular examples and diagrams illustrate how different types of strategies lead to different trade-offs in the Supply Chain Triangle. This ground-breaking text links supply chain, strategy and finance through financial metrics, therefore creating value for the shareholder. Online supporting resources include worksheets covering basic financial concepts such as cash flow and working capital, with example data sets and guidelines/exercises to make it interactive.

Rethinking a supply chain strategy is not a trivial problem. Supply chains tend to be rather complex entities, and the act of thinking strategically about them, what we call supply chain 'strategizing', reflects this complexity. The absence of an established answer in the supply chain management literature regarding how to rethink the supply chain strategy of an organization further compounds what is already a daunting problem. Between 2006 and 2016, a team of researchers at MIT's Center for Transportation and Logistics (CTL) explored the problem of supply chain strategizing, as part the Supply Chain 2020 Project. After a decade of research in collaboration with world-class organizations, significant progress was made. Many questions remain open, and will continue to be explored by an offshoot of the SC2020 Project, called the MIT Supply Chain Strategy Lab.But we feel it is time to share with the community of supply chain managers the insights we have derived so far on how to re-think the supply chain strategy of an organization. That is the purpose of this text.

EPUB and EPDF available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence. Today, production processes have become fragmented with a range of activities divided among firms and workers across borders. These global value chains are being strongly promoted by international organisations, such as the World Bank and the World Trade Organization, but social and political backlash is mounting in a growing variety of forms. This ambitious volume brings together academics and activists from Europe to address the social and environmental imbalances of global production. Thinking creatively about how to reform the current economic system, this book will be essential reading for those interested in building sustainable alternatives at local, regional and global levels.

Beyond Fintech: Technology Applications for the Islamic Economy is a follow-up to the first-ever Islamic Fintech book by the author (published in 2018) that provided linkages between Islamic Finance and disruptive technologies like the blockchain. In the wake of fintech as a new trend in financial markets, the ground-breaking book stressed the relevance of Islamic finance and its implications, when enabled by fintech, towards the development of the Islamic digital economy. While the earlier work discussed the crucial innovation, structural, and institutional development for financial technologies in Islamic Finance, this new research explores the multiple applications possible in the various sectors of the economy, within and beyond finance, that can be significantly transformed. These revolutionary applications involve the integration of AI, blockchain, data analytics, and Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices for a holistic solution to tackle the bottlenecks and other issues in existing processes of traditional systems. The principles of accountability, duty, justice, and transparency are the foundation of shaping the framework in achieving good governance in all institutions — public or private, Islamic or otherwise. Technologies like AI, blockchain, and IoT devices can operationalize the transparency and accountability that is required to eradicate poverty, distribute wealth, enhance micro-, small- and large-scale initiatives for social and economic development, and thus share prosperity for a moral system that enables a more secure and sustainable economy.

Much has been written about Covid-19 victims, how scientists raced to understand and treat the disease, and how governments did (or did not) protect their citizens. Less has been written about the pandemic’s impact on the global economy and how companies coped as the competitive environment was upended. In his new book, "The New (Ab)Normal", MIT Professor Yossi Sheffi maps how the Covid-19 pandemic impacted business, supply chains, and society. He exposes the critical role supply chains play in helping people, governments, and companies to manage the crisis. The book draws on executive interviews, pandemic media coverage, and historical analyses. Sheffi also builds on themes from his books "The Resilient Enterprise" (2005) and "The Power of Resilience" (2015) to enrich the narrative. The author paints a compelling picture of how the Covid-19 virus is changing many facets of human life and what our post-pandemic world might look like. This must-read book helps companies to redefine their business models and adjust to a fast-evolving economic landscape. The stage is set In Part 1 of the book, “What Happened,” the author looks at how companies fought to mend the global economic fabric even as the virus ripped more holes in it. Part 2, “Living with Uncertainty,” views the crisis through a supply chain risk management lens derived from Yossi Sheffi’s previous books. This perspective shows how companies create corporate immune systems to quickly recognize and manage large-scale disruptions. The ongoing pandemic is creating a new normal in life, work, and education—covered in Part 3, “Adjustment Required.” Consumer fears about the contagion as well as government mandates require businesses in industries such as retail, hospitality, entertainment, sports, and education to create “safe zones” for workers and customers. Many elements of the book – especially in Part 4, “Supply Chains for the Future” – show how the virus accelerated preexisting trends in technology adoption. China was the epicenter of the pandemic; it also was the first nation to be disrupted and recover. Part 5 of the book, “Of Politics and Pandemics,” explains why reports that companies are abandoning China in favor of other offshore manufacturing centers do not reflect reality. Fundamentally, The New (Ab)Normal is about businesses trying to create a better future in a time of extreme uncertainty – a point emphasized in Part 6, “The Next Opportunities.” The outlook is not necessarily gloomy. The advance of technology is accelerating, a trend that can level the playing field between small and large companies. Nimble small businesses are using a growing array of off-the-shelf cloud computing and mobile apps to deploy sophisticated technologies in their supply chains and customer interfaces. The New (Ab)Normal Another new normal is working from home. Remote working enables individuals to live anywhere and companies to recruit talent from anywhere. Education, especially higher education, faces a major disruption (and major opportunity) that is likely to shake the high-cost model of in-person education in favor of online or hybrid education. Regrettably, the book recognizes one trend accentuated by Covid-19--the growing inequality, and anticipates that the new normal will be more stratified.

John Gattorna and Deborah Ellis are long-term collaborators on the design and management of enterprise supply chains. Dr John Gattorna has been one of the most influential voices in the development of the modern supply chain. His long-held vision of the supply chain as the central nervous system of an organisation and as a major source of competitive advantage if done well has inspired both supply chain professionals and CEOs. To support this vision, he has led the development of frameworks and tools to guide design using customers as the sole frame-of-reference, thus ensuring precise alignment between enterprise supply chains and the markets/customers they serve.In 2018 John was awarded the Council of Supply Chain Management (CSCMP) Distinguished Service Award for his contribution to the profession, and in the same year was inducted into the CSCMP Hall of Fame. Deborah Ellis has consulted with leading companies for over 20 years on logistics and supply chain strategy. Like John Gattorna, the emphasis of her work has been on developing tailored supply chains that generate market advantage. She has worked with him, and partnered with clients, to apply, refine and extend the frameworks and methodologies that simplify the supply chain task, while generating value for the customer and the business. Since 2017 they have together presented the Global Supply Chain Thought Leadership Retreat Series for senior supply chain executives in the Asia Pacific, South Africa and Europe. These by-invitation-only events have been very well received, and this book has evolved from the research and discussions associated with those events.