http://blogs.gxs.com/larkinb Integrating Retail Supply Chains Sun, 11 May 2008 13:16:55 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en When Kansas won the NCAA men’s basketball championship in April, it confirmed the tournament predictions of many basketball experts: Memphis wouldn’t and couldn’t win the championship because of their poor free throw shooting.  It just took Memphis to the last minute of regulation in the championship game to prove those ... http://blogs.gxs.com/larkinb/2008/05/09/making-your-business-free-throws/ It is amazing that thousands of companies have tried to implement global data synchronization yet studies show that the data is still as bad after the project as it was before – perhaps even worse.  One retailer employed a consulting firm to audit the products and data they receive for ... http://blogs.gxs.com/larkinb/2008/04/22/the-myth-of-global-data-synchronization/ This is my third entry regarding the Olympics.  But will it be my last?If you haven’t worked out what you need to regarding the Olympics with your Chinese suppliers by now, it appears it is too late.  Smart carriers have been working with their contacts to secure their capabilities during ... http://blogs.gxs.com/larkinb/2008/03/26/the-olympics-is-the-third-time-the-charm/ A few weeks ago I wrote an entry about the potential challenges to companies that receive shipments from China.  The gist was that the Olympics may impact some shipments into and out of China for a month this summer.   You can find the original entry here: Olympics.  This entry is ... http://blogs.gxs.com/larkinb/2008/03/07/redux-need-goods-from-china-better-stock-up-before-olympics-start/ We are entering an age when B2B industry organizations are moving their focus from traditional transaction-oriented programs to higher-order, line-of-business challenges.  It is not that EDI and other B2B standards are not important.  They certainly are.  However, the work done over the last 20+ years has yielded many mature B2B ... http://blogs.gxs.com/larkinb/2008/02/27/high-tech-moving-beyond-traditional-b2b/ Looking to travel to China for the Olympics? Your flights in August might be better than they were last August.  Chinese airlines have been ordered to improve customer service and reduce flight delays before the Olympics.  The Chinese government has also required that overbooking of flights be stopped and that ... http://blogs.gxs.com/larkinb/2008/02/13/need-goods-from-china-better-stock-up-before-olympics-start/ Inspired by the radio program, Only a Game, I offer up Supply Chain and B2B Haiku.  The program featured Super Bowl haiku this past weekend and I figured if they could do it for football, why not supply chain and B2B?  The suggestions are supported by recent AMR and Stanford ... http://blogs.gxs.com/larkinb/2008/02/04/supply-chain-and-b2b-haiku/ When it comes to managing their EDI infrastructures – especially their maps – retailers have it rather easy.  They define their formats and then tell their suppliers to deliver their EDI documents in that format.  Suppliers, on the other hand, have a significant challenge on their hands.  They have to ... http://blogs.gxs.com/larkinb/2008/01/18/edi-map-risks-what%e2%80%99s-your-exposure/ One would think that we’d come far enough in our business lives to outgrow old fashioned means of sharing critical business information  While we don’t necessarily need to utilize the latest and greatest technologies, you’d think we’d at least get out of the dark ages.  Unfortunately we keep slipping back ... http://blogs.gxs.com/larkinb/2007/11/29/is-your-vital-corporate-knowledge-residing-in-a-gray-haired-vault/ I was recently reminded of the story from the 1980s or 1990s where a software company started paying its programmers to find and fix bugs.  If I recall the story properly, the incentive program was halted rather quickly (within a week or two) after at least one programmer received a ... http://blogs.gxs.com/larkinb/2007/11/26/incentives-that-hurt-your-business/