Jan Husdal

Should you join the Supply Chain Network SCN?

I joined two days ago, and it has been very rewarding so far. The Supply Chain Network SCN markets itself as the place where supply chain academics and professionals connect and providing visibility to SCM professionals around the globe.The sign-up is fairly straightforward. Initially I was put off a bit because I was required to leave quite a bit of personal information (professional expertise and such), but then again, how can you connect if you don't know anything about that person? So, this is actually a good thing. On the other hand, as I discovered later, if you prefer to leave "nothing", you can always type "-" instead of adding any information.

Why "risk" is the buzzword in supply chain management

A new field has emerged with the field of supply chain mangement. It's called supply chain risk. What is supply chain risk? Today I will take a closer look at the chapter on supply chain risk in Logistics & Supply Chain Management by Christopher Martin, as reviewed in my previous post.

A supply chain is often imagined as a streamlined flow from a supplier to a company, from where it flows effortlessly on to a customer. So much for the theory. In reality, the emergence of various supply chain management strategies and practices contribute to considerable chaos within these supply chains, see image left, taken from the book Logistics Management and Strategy by Harrison and van Hoek. It is not surprising then that supply chains have become vulnerable, where even minor disruptions may result in chain-wide impacts across the whole supply chain. Along with supply chain risk, supply chain vulnerability is also and new and emerging field in the realm of supply chain management.

Book Review: Logistics and Supply Chain Management

This book by Martin Christopher, Logistics & Supply Chain Management, is one of the better if not among the best books on supply chain management. Written by Professor Martin Christopher of the Cranfield School of Management ,the book deals particularly with best practices in supply chain management in the current era of globalization. Responsiveness, reliability and relationships are the basis for successful logistics and supply chain management. Strategies like Just-In-Time (JIT), Lean and Agile thinking are reviewed, and last not least, there is a very solid chapter on supply chain risk, which I will highlight in a separate post later.

Supply chains compete, not companies

"Supply chains compete, not companies" is the motto on Martin Christopher's web site, www.martin-christopher.info. Martin Christopher is is Professor of Marketing and Logistics at Cranfield School of Management. His work in the field of logistics and supply chain management has gained international recognition. He has published widely and his recent books include Logistics and Supply Chain Management and Marketing Logistics.

Martin Christopher's particular research interests lie at the interface between marketing and logistics reflecting his belief that these two critical activities underpin superior supply chain performance.

Currently there are three major fields of research in which Martin Christopher is engaged with colleagues from Cranfield:

1. Agile Supply Chains
2. Supply Chain Risk & Sustainability
3. Creating Value Through Networks

On Martin Christopher's web site you can read more about him and his research interests, download his articles and find a number of interesting supply chain links.

In my next post I will review the lastest edition of his book Logistics & Supply Chain Management: creating value-adding networks.