Author Archives: Chris Chiappinelli
Hedging Against Supply Chain Disruption
In many ways, manufacturers are hamstrung by rising commodity prices, but they can fight back through some meaningful — and profitable — tactics.
The Voice of the Customer Grows Deafening
Manufacturers such as P&G and retailers like Best Buy are listening to customers more intently and turning suggestions into new products, even while struggling to leave behind the old era of R&D.
Posted in Customer Management Tagged Best Buy, Blue Label, crowdsourcing, customer sentiment, Domino’s, NPD, Procter & Gamble, Product development, R&D, VOC, voice of the customer 1 Comment
Protecting the Supply Chain, Virtually
Cyber-criminals launch a phishing scam aimed at, of all things, carbon credits. Don’t supply chain managers have enough to worry about?
Assemble Your SWOT Team
Managers at all levels of a manufacturing organization should take a new look at the SWOT analysis to turn their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats into competitive advantage.
Posted in Customer Management Tagged market analysis, marketing, Opportunities, product segmentation, Strengths, SWOT analysis, Threats, Weaknesses 2 Comments
How to Make RFID Pay Off for You
Incorporating RFID into end products is a new way to shoulder the costs of a promising but hamstrung technology.
Posted in Customer Management, Supply Network Tagged manufacturing, radio frequency ID, retailer mandate, RFID, tags, Wal-Mart, wireless infrastructure 2 Comments
Customer Prospecting, 2010 Style
Some manufacturers may be late to the Internet party, but they’d be well-advised to join in now; a new and valuable form of sales intelligence is available only online.
The Risky Rebound
When customer demand goes away, it’s easy to adjust operations. Figuring out when customers will return is the hard part.
The Incredible Shrinking Supply Chain?
The concept of localized production that enables shorter supply chains is gaining prominence, and brings with it a basket of new considerations for manufacturers.
Posted in Supply Network Tagged emerging markets, local production, regional supply chain, Supply Network 2 Comments
Knowing Your Demand
Too often, when manufacturers need demand sensing most, it fails to deliver.
Posted in Customer Management Tagged CRM, Customer, customer relationship management, demand forecasting, inventory Leave a comment
Toyota’s Biggest Blunder