Is outsourcing success an oxymoron?
Phil Fersht and his team wrote a pretty stern column recently : “Let’s cut to the chase here – “outsourcing”, for most buyers, is like purchasing a wedding dress – a one-time transaction followed by seven years of relationship struggles and future legal wrangles.” I have been married 22 years and it’s so easy to [...]
In Mild Dissent and Some Agreement
Re: Larry Dignan’s ZDNet Piece “Apple’s supply chain flap: It’s really about us” When he died, the cover of the New Yorker had a cartoon of him checking into heaven and St. Peter looking him up on, what else? An iPad. So began the mythologization of Steve Jobs. There was a lot to like about [...]
IPad, Mercantilism and the Chinese Plantation
“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function.” ~F. Scott Fitzgerald This is not a post about CRM. If you could apply Fitzgerald’s definition of a first-rate intelligence to a thing or group endeavor—always a dubious [...]
Apple and US labor
Steve Jobs supposedly told President Obama ““Those (iPhone) jobs aren’t coming back,” according to this article in the New York Times. Apple’s labor in China is also showing up in much hand-wringing in the Presidential race. Let’s explore a few other dimensions of the issue: The Chinese labor is a small part of the iPhone [...]
Is Apple’s Supply Chain Rotten at the Core? (Part 2)
In the first part of this post, we considered some of the accusations that a number of NGOs have recently leveled against Apple when it comes to supplier environmental practices. These accusations come on top of the many labor practice…
Apple and Supplier Audits — How Far Does the Apple Fall From the Green/CSR Tree (Part 2)?
In the first post in this series, I analyzed trends in Apple’s supplier auditing programs and shared a bit of input on how both physical and virtual audits may allow the tech giant to extend its supplier management reach even furt…
Foxconn: An Outsourcer Takes to Outsourcing — Worker Dorms
If we were the Academy and we could grant an Oscar for the greatest “ironic production” of the year, the drama of Foxconn would be sure to win our favor with this headline from the NYT. Perhaps the story itself is not all that surprising. Foxconn, the giant contract manufacturer responsible for all those Apple [...]
Friday Green Numbers round-up 05/28/2010
And here is this week’s Green numbers: Infographic: Gulf oil spill by the numbers Amazing infographic of BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill – puts it into perspective. tags: Gulf of Mexico, oilspill, bp, greennumbers Quantum teleportation achieved over 16 km Scientists in China have succeeded in teleporting information between photons further than ever before. [...]
Will Apple’s Supply Chain Let it Down with the New iPad?
There’s been much buzz in the Apple community about whether Apple will be able to meet initial demand for its new iPad. Many Apple enthusiasts would agree with the statement that Apple’s new product supply chains usually take time to flex to keep up …
The CIA Meets High-Tech Supplier Management: Safeguarding Apple’s Supply Chain
If you think Apple’s development and production initiatives follow a secretive approach inside the company’s four walls only, guess again. Apple takes as much interest in how its supply chain partners guard information as it does in how its own emplo…
