In this recurring post, I highlight some of the best thought-leadership articles and reports that cross my desk. I note why they rise to the top of the pile and are worth reading (or skimming), even if they focus on functions or industries outside your areas of interest. Among the criteria I use to make the selections are freshness and provocativeness of insights and timeliness, analytical rigor, depth of prescriptions, and overall readability.
Earlier this year, Leff colleagues forecast that supply chains would continue to be an important topic in the news as companies rethought their operational exposures postpandemic. Now, on top of the impact of the pandemic, supply chains have again been in the news with the blockage of the Suez Canal by a giant container ship and sourcing cotton from the Chinese province of Xinjiang. In the past few months, professional services firms have continued to publish on the future of supply chains. Here are a few of the most insightful articles:
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We observed strong opposition to the Trump administration among some professional-services firms. Most recently, leaders of Accenture, BCG, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and West Monroe partners joined dozens of other business executives in an open letter demanding that the administration move ahead with the presidential transition. “Every day that an orderly presidential transition process is delayed, our democracy grows weaker in the eyes of our own citizens and the nation’s stature on the global stage is diminished,” they wrote.
This impressive article—a summary of a longer report from the World Economic Forum in collaboration with BCG—looks at how companies can cut their carbon emissions by focusing on their supply chains. Their findings suggest deep knowledge of the subject: for example, “Eight global supply chains account for more than 50 percent of annual greenhouse gas emissions. Only a small proportion of these emissions are produced during final manufacturing. Most are embedded in the supply chain—in base materials, agriculture, and the freight transport needed to move goods around the world.” The authors offer nine initiatives that companies can take to address their supply chain emissions.
Taking a stand on the presidential election
We observed strong opposition to the Trump administration among some professional-services firms. Most recently, leaders of Accenture, BCG, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and West Monroe partners joined dozens of other business executives in an open letter demanding that the administration move ahead with the presidential transition. “Every day that an orderly presidential transition process is delayed, our democracy grows weaker in the eyes of our own citizens and the nation’s stature on the global stage is diminished,” they wrote.
Taking a stand on the presidential election
We observed strong opposition to the Trump administration among some professional-services firms. Most recently, leaders of Accenture, BCG, Deloitte, EY, KPMG, and West Monroe partners joined dozens of other business executives in an open letter demanding that the administration move ahead with the presidential transition. “Every day that an orderly presidential transition process is delayed, our democracy grows weaker in the eyes of our own citizens and the nation’s stature on the global stage is diminished,” they wrote.
BCG
Supply chains as a game-changer in the fight against climate change”
Booz Allen Hamilton
Supply chain vulnerability trends to watch out for”
These authors from Booz Allen Hamilton take an angle on supply chain vulnerabilities that I hadn’t seen explored by professional services firms: cyberattacks and how to defend against them. They call supply chain vulnerabilities “one of today’s most pernicious IT security challenges.” The piece is brief, but the authors do enough to convince the reader that they know what they’re talking about. We don’t always see that in short articles or blog posts, where authors seem content to raise an issue without demonstrating much authority or insight.
Kearney
Build a robust supply chain by putting a spotlight on the weak spots”
I usually avoid highlighting articles that promote a firm’s proprietary tools because that seems more like straightforward marketing than thought leadership. I make an exception here because the Kearney authors have drawn interesting lessons from their use of the tool about weaknesses in the supply chains of consumer goods companies. And they don’t overdo the sales pitch.
McKinsey & Company
Building a digital bridge across the supply chain with nerve centers”
These McKinsey authors address a narrower aspect of the supply chain story—the management of supply chains through “nerve centers.” They contrast this approach with the supply chain “control towers” currently used by many companies. What I like about this article is the level of detail they provide, suggesting that the authors have real-world experience doing the work.
Roland Berger
Supply Chain Act: How best to prepare now”
This piece from Roland Berger is especially timely, given the focus on cotton imports from China’s Xinjiang province. German legislators are considering an “Act on Corporate Due Diligence in Supply Chains,” which would criminalize human rights violations such as forced labor and child labor. The act applies only to companies with headquarters in Germany and that have more than 3,000 employees. It would come into force in January 2023.
The article primarily lays out the details of the proposed law, including the key issue of Tier 1 and Tier 2 suppliers. (Companies often complain that the business practices of those companies are hard to monitor.) It is thin on prescriptions, but I could imagine how governments around the world, big companies, and nongovernmental organizations would find this discussion quite informative.
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