This post by Caldwell Tanner on College Humor on the “5 Browsers and the Modes of Transportation They Resemble” is really cool. You have to check it out. The graphics are great!
When:
… and that’s just the tip of the iceberg with respect to the total savings available to you, if you won’t splurge for supply management technology, especially when many enterprise systems can now be obtained at a cost of only five figures a year (which is ten times less than they used to cost), then you’re a Complete Idiot and should join your kin in the tundra biomes of the Arctic. Continental, Delta, United, and Alaska Airlines all fly to Anchorage, and you can book flights through all of the major web portals. Get to it! The rest of us need to move forward.
Today’s post is from David Henshall, Founder of Purchasing Practice. Dave can be reached at dhenshall <at> purchasingpractice <dot> com.
In this four part series, we examine eight dimensional capabilities that will help you overcome the myths surrounding global sourcing. In today’s post, we will focus on the final dimensions of politics, local context, and enabling infrastructure. (Yesterday’s post addressed risk and opportunity.)
Dimension #6: Politics
Politics matters in LCCS. As stated in my introduction to the series (Part I), much of the political noise from politicians, humanitarians and environmentalist can be misleading, resulting in flawed policies and strategies for governments and companies alike. This noise generally consists of allegations of:
The problem with many of these allegations are that they come from a benchmark of western standards applied in a developing nations context. The assumption is that if we apply these standards it must surely help the people in developing countries. However, there is a real risk that codes of conduct, when applied inappropriately, may worsen social and environmental conditions for workers in these communities. To avoid such unintended consequences, Wilding & Braithwaite (of the Cranfield School of Management) advise companies that they must:
Some companies panic in response to negative media exposure of poor working conditions or the use of child labour at their supplier factories, and choose to sever their connections with these suppliers. Companies need to resist this ‘cut and run’ response and engage deeper with suppliers in applying policies which fit the local context.
Dimension #7: Local Context
Dr. Peter Lund-Thomsen, a visiting Researcher with the Copenhagen Centre for Corporate Responsibility, advises that organisations need to take the social, economic, environmental, and linguistic contexts into which codes of conduct are being implemented into consideration if we want to avoid producing unintended, often negative, consequences for the intended beneficiaries of codes.
The implementation of codes in isolation is unlikely to bring about sustained improvements in working conditions. Lund therefore advises that the emphasis needs to be placed on incorporating the concerns and voices of the ultimate beneficiaries of codes of conduct in the design, implementation, monitoring and impact assessment of codes.
Dimension #8: Enabling Infrastructure
For buyers, technology is a key component. The capability to view supply chain data on a single platform can be critical to achieving the real time visibility necessary to successfully mitigate the risk in extended supply chains. Technologies such as RFID can also support the transactional visibility as goods move between handling units in the supply chain.
Buyers can play a role in enforcing local legislation and in providing the necessary expertise, resources, and infrastructure that enable developing country suppliers to meet their legal obligations.
Organisations who engage with suppliers over the long term, in terms of providing the necessary resources and expertise that will enable them to improve their social and environmental performance, are likely to be the most successful in maximising the benefits of LCCS. The ‘cut-and-run’ response in relation to negative media publicity is likely to do more harm than good if the aim is to improve the workers’ conditions and reduce environmental pollution at supplier factories.
Thanks, Dave.
… that it hasn’t built yet, as reported by Dan Gilmore in funny stories from a career in supply chain that were actually scary, sad, insightful, humiliating, and, well, just plain stupid (in that order), is the following:
How much are you going to pay us to teach you how to build this solution so you can eventually sell it to others?
The reality is that there are a lot of shops out there these days that can build a decent software solution, given a specification, but not many shops have the right business knowledge, experience, and insight to design a truly great solution. So, if the shop expects you to provide the IP, make sure you get a great deal on the solution because that IP is valuable.
A recent article over on the Harvard Business Review that chronicled “eight things executives hate about IT” just handed you a checklist that you can use to make sure your request for that new IT system isn’t immediately denied. All you have to do is find a system that doesn’t have any of these issues.
I’m not saying finding such a solution will be easy, but if you can do it, you’ll probably get your system (provided it doesn’t cost more than the GDP of some smaller countries).