Operations and supply chain management

To maintain competitive advantage in a multi-crisis world, operations and strategy must become even more intertwined.

A strong supply base will help U.S.-based manufacturers as well as the economies of Central and South America.

Following up on his pledge to provide greater support for manufacturing in his State of the Union address, President Obama has announced a proposal to cut the effective tax rate for manufacturers to 25%. A number of economists howled against this so-called “industrial policy” and criticized the president’s singling out manufacturing for “special treatment” — […]

They're simple but overlooked in health care.

It's the busiest time of year for North Pole Workshops. Production is in high gear, and the elves are on overtime in the sprint toward Christmas. But...

Like all good revolutions, just-in-time manufacturing is producing revolutionaries who don’t know when to stop. It is also producing over reactions from people determined to make them stop. Consider the curiously vexed debate about how to get materials to, and work in process through, the shop floor. Pick up virtually any manufacturing magazine these days […]

Can companies actually grow stronger during a recession? What can they do to capitalize on the problems that their rivals encounter during tough economic times? Suppose you have a sturdy balance sheet, low debt, and plentiful amounts of cash. How can you employ these strengths to take on rivals who have been weakened considerably? I’m […]

A look at the lean management strategies adopted by New York’s Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital.

The author of this article says he would be the last one to argue that the approach described here is a complete view of marketing. Then again, he is convinced that the approach enables marketers to achieve three important objectives. First, it enables them to identify the markets in which their companies have the best […]

5% of patients drive half of the health care spending in the U.S.

Not every challenge requires an algorithmic approach.

The competitiveness of the American economy depends disproportionately on the competitiveness of its multinational corporations, especially those headquartered in the United States. During the 2000s, however, a worrisome trend appeared. The role of multinationals in the American economy declined, and their activities in the rest of the world grew faster than their activities in the […]

Beyond the devastating and saddening human costs, the earthquake in Japan is another reminder of the complexity of the world’s supply chains and the great interdependencies in global production systems. The world’s supply chains are complex and highly optimized to deliver products efficiently at the lowest cost. They are characterized by a sequential mode of […]

As China's economy grows and opens further, the opportunity it presents to multinationals is changing. Foreign companies are moving to country development...

As commissioner of the New York City Police Department, Lee P. Brown faces two enormous challenges. The first is crime. In 1989 in New York City, 712,419 crimes were reported, including 1,905 murders, 93,377 robberies, and 3,254 rapes. As Brown is quick to point out, the situation has grown so severe that people in cities […]

It does a better job of using data and forecasts to make decisions.

The pandemic has cast a spotlight on a historically undervalued asset.

Seven takeaways from the CEO of Intermountain Healthcare.

Everything is continuous.

There's a secret about strategy that no one tells you: Every function has one, whether or not it is written down and whether or not it is the product...