As is the case with many of the issues plaguing the supply chain industry, human rights and labor violations have proven difficult to combat as their underlying causes continue to evade companies looking to root out illegal practices. Given the highly diffuse, globalized nature of modern supply chains, the use of forced labor, child labor, and harsh or underpaid working conditions pervade global supply networks despite efforts to bolster fair labor practices.

Huawei's plan to burst into the U.S. smartphone market isn’t going quite as planned. Despite a promising product portfolio, the Chinese smartphone giant is still struggling to crack the US market. It boils down to tightening US restrictions against Chinese tech and telecommunications companies. What’s the rationale behind these blockades, and what is Huawei doing to circumvent them?

This is a follow-up piece to our previous post, 4 reasons for the supply chain talent shortage. 

As the true determiner of whether a business sinks or floats, supply chain needs a workforce composed of smart, talented people. But why is it so hard to attract the best of the best to a career in supply chain?

In a recent survey, 40 percent of surgeons admitted to having cancelled a case due to a lack of available supplies. What inefficiencies need to be addressed in the healthcare supply chain to make sure this kind of thing doesn’t happen?

In a world where market trends are fast-evolving and unpredictable, companies must be able to respond to disruptions and changing customer whims on a dime. This requires the ability to flexibly reallocate inventory based on demand, and quickly locate component alternatives when supplier issues arise. But as their operations grow more fragmented across the globe, businesses are stuck with rigid inventory management and ordering systems that aren’t designed to react to rapid demand shifts.

Did supply chain problems have anything to do with Toys "R" Us going out of business? The company's jingle famously declared "I don't wanna grow up"—but it is exactly this reluctance (or at least inability) to mature amidst a rapidly-evolving retail landscape that led to the company's ultimate downfall.

Supply chain disruptions are inevitable, whether resulting from natural disasters, technical failures, worker strikes, or other unforeseen incidents. And as supply chains have become increasingly diffuse over time, the likelihood that disruption in one region will have consequences that reverberate across the globe, is higher than ever before.

In a 2017 survey by the Business Continuity Institute (BCI), 65 percent of respondents had experienced at least one supply chain disruption in the last year, with 44 percent of the disruptions occurring at Tier 1. Such incidents have a significant impact on an organization's operational and financial performance; according to the World Economic Forum, for a Fortune 500 company the average estimated loss in market cap from supply chain disruptions is $3.2 billion.

Around the world, multinational companies are winning customers by creating products and campaigns that appeal to local populations. From creating an experience that feels more authentic, to developing products that have a region-specific appeal, what role does localization play in supply chains?

Sustainability and traceability go hand-in-hand. When the lifecycle of a good can be tracked from source to point-of-sale, businesses and their customers have both the tools and the incentive to act responsibly. We’re taking a look at what it means to have a traceable supply chain, and what businesses can do to move the needle on their own traceability initiatives.