Articles
Global Economy
Global Logistics—January 2016
It’s Not Easy Beijing Green China reached its highest level of air pollution on record in December 2015. The smog in Beijing was so bad that the government issued a series of red alerts (the highest alert on a four-tier scale) spanning days. The alerts forced more than 2,000 factories to reduce or shut down […]
Read MoreSpring Clean Your Trade and Compliance Processes
This is the time of year when many of us begin our spring-cleaning projects around the home. Yet it is a good idea to also consider some spring cleaning of your organization’s trade compliance processes, perhaps dusting off some plans set earlier and readying programs for developments coming in the remainder of the year. Prep […]
Read MoreSeven Tips for Finding the Right Chinese Partner
China is a major trading partner for the United States, and the relationship is key for both countries. U.S. trade with China is booming, but there are issues that continue to linger, such as the U.S. trade deficit and China’s trade surplus, a Chinese fiscal policy that keeps currency artificially low compared to the U.S. […]
Read MoreGlobal Logistics—August 2015
UPS Peddles Electric Cargo Bikes in Europe E-commerce growth and last-mile expectations place a greater burden on shippers and carriers to find more efficient means to deliver parcels—especially in congested urban areas. That’s why UPS is currently testing the feasibility of using electric cargo bikes to pick up and drop off packages in downtown Basel, […]
Read MoreGlobal Logistics—July 2015
TPP: Fishing for Accountability Buried within the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) are provisions that will help protect global fisheries—and consumers—from widespread fraud in the seafood supply chain. It’s a pet project of the Obama Administration, which specifically created the Presidential Task Force on Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing and Seafood Fraud in June 2014 […]
Read More6 Global Supply Chain Challenges To Ignore at Your Own Risk
Along with the many benefits that come from sourcing outside the United States, such as low-cost manufacturing, several issues must be properly managed to ensure a successful supply chain. Finding a rock-bottom price in China or India is not the problem, but landing great costs while avoiding distance, timing, quality, and language problems can be […]
Read MoreGlobal Logistics-June 2015
GCC States Warm to Regional Collaboration Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states —Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Oman, and Bahrain—have long been hamstrung by independent-minded sovereigns who prefer to think and act unilaterally. Despite the formation of the trade bloc in 1981, collaboration, especially around transportation and logistics, often goes wanting. It’s why […]
Read MoreA Supply Chain World Tour
Demand-driven logistics spans the world…in practice and in print. For a host of reasons, U.S. shippers and consignees are taking control of how they pull—and push—global product to market. Shifting demand dynamics, geopolitical volatility, currency fluctuations, government interference, lengthening and deepening supply networks, and cost reduction directives have conflated to consternate even the best supply […]
Read MoreRethinking the Global Supply Chain
Shifting global dynamics and internal business process changes are compelling manufacturers and retailers to challenge the status quo and reinvent their supply chains.
Read MoreGlobal Logistics—August 2014
Only the Good Drive Young With all the talk about the U.S. driver shortage, it’s easy to forget that similar labor constraints exist elsewhere around the world. For example, recruiting younger people into the trucking industry has become a challenge in the United Kingdom, according to Barriers to Youth Employment in the Freight Transport Sector, […]
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