Japanese Tipping Point: Handicapping the Potential for Global Automotive Production Shutdowns
Spend Matters and other procurement and supply chain resources have been warning for nearly all of the past two weeks that companies should take action immediately if they have indirect or direct supply interests in Japan (see rec…
Incenting Behavior: Spend Mgmt. Learning From an Automotive Purchase and IRS Section 179 (Part 1)
In the past few weeks, my wife and I finally decided it was time to buy a car for our business. The old minivan, which has had double family and work duty for four years, will continue to menace the streets of Chicago as it tears …
Did Toyota’s Lean Supply Chain Go Bad?
There’s been a lot of finger pointing in the press recently when it comes to Toyota?s suddenly accelerating escapades, which seemed to downshift into third gear with the accelerator floored (even to the point of a made-for-media car chase and forensi…
Will a Return to Automotive OEM In-Country Sourcing in the UK Signal Something Larger?
I won’t ever forget the shot heard round the global-sourcing automotive world when GM told its suppliers that they’d have to meet a “world price” for given parts and components if they were to remain suppliers to the then automotive giant. Others acr…
Is Contrarian Purchasing a Good Savings Strategy?
Recent headlines about Toyota have no doubt been music to the ears of its major rivals — especially Ford and GM. From a giant recall for gas pedals that stick (making the Audi 5000′s sudden-acceleration PR woes look tame by comparison) to botched hy…
Why is the Automotive Supply Chain Failing?
The Detroit Free Press recently ran a story that captures the
two essential reasons why more automotive suppliers will fail in 2010,
despite a forecasted upswing in the market. According to the story, the fundamental challenges
are twofold: …
Where Are The Snowdens Of Yesterday: A Cautionary Tale
Do you know the story of MSA (Management Sciences America)? That once proud business applications software vendor dominated the market for financial systems in the early 80’s, when it was the largest such software vendor by far. By 1991, it had been relegated to the software graveyard. And if you read about it’s flamboyant, larger than life CEO, [...]
Get Ready for the Much Smaller AOL
AOL’s strategy, the latest new one, is to shift away from being an ISP to being a “next generation publishing” entity. Without parsing what it means to be “next generation” when you are doing what Yahoo has been doing for years, this sounds like a reasonable strategy but the anchor that weighs it down is [...]
Can the UAW Be Owner and Representative?
Interesting times we live in… the UAW is finding itself increasingly at odds with it’s members over the negotiated but not yet approved Ford labor agreement.
On Sunday, 92 percent of workers at Ford’s Kansas City Assembly Plant voted against proposed contract changes. The vote there came after a stormy meeting at nearby Winnetonka [...]
