Moving towards regionalism. As multilateral trade agreements negotiated through the World Trade Organisation (WTO) appear to be going nowhere, it is Free Trade Agreements (FTA) that will influence your supply chains. But, FTAs are not about free trade but preferential trade – a country gives preferences to one other country at the expense of others. This week, Australia signed its … Read More
Oil shock is one of your supply chain risks
It only takes one supertanker. Does your supply chain strategy consider a scenario of less oil? Economies operate the way they do because of the availability of oil, but if countries in which you operate are not oil producers, what are their risks concerning supply? As an extreme risk, a Middle East jihadist group has requested its affiliates to sink … Read More
Climate change drives competition in your supply chains
Know the risk of climate change. A partner of PWC in the UK stated in a recent article that “…more businesses are seeing climate change for what it is – a risk issue, a resilience issue and a business opportunity” It is good to read a realistic and practical statement from a person with influence in business. This takes the … Read More
Generate Innovation in your supply chains
Innovation and continuous improvement. Does your organisation have a program for applying innovative approaches to your supply chains? If your business is a 3PL, then such a program is very rare (as identified by the Australian Bureau of Statistics) and if you are a brand or product business, then your efforts will not be known outside the company. Innovation is … Read More
Port charges to double in two years – replan your Supply Chains
The value of a port. What if the charges for using your major import port doubled or trebled? Would you be alarmed and what could you do about it? Do you know what the port charges are? The importance of ports to the economy of a nation, state or province means that many ports are owned by state entities that … Read More