Is Your Supply Chain Ready to Enable Profitable Growth and High Performance? Ascet Volume 7, September 13, 2005
Growth is clearly back on the executive agenda. Yet executives increasingly find that growing profitably is extremely challenging due to the complexity and volatility characteristic of today’s business environment. Further complicating matters is the fact that, after several years of intense focus on cost reduction, most companies’ supply chains are operationally efficient but are not tuned to support growth. As companies pursue profitable growth, they will have to move past operational efficiency – largely table stakes in today’s environment – to construct a growth-enabling supply chain that is information rich and technologically robust, highly flexible, tightly integrated and organized and measured to address the needs and preferences of highly dynamic customers. In short, a company’s supply chain will spell the difference between success or failure in its chosen markets.
John Matchette, Accenture, Hans von Lewinski, Accenture - London

 SRM for the Real World Ascet Volume 6, June 15, 2004
Frictionless Commerce is the leading provider of software that manages real-world supplier relationships through adaptive software.
Marc Osofsky, Frictionless Commerce

 Microsoft Case Study: The Pepsi Bottling Group Salesforce Automation Ascet Volume 5, July 26, 2003
The Pepsi Bottling Group's mission statement says it all: "We Sell Soda." The need to plow through big binders full of demand forecasts, promotions, and per-store authorized product lists was restricting PBG's sales reps' ability to use the limited time they have at each store to close sales. A new "Smart Selling" application delivered on lightweight handheld Pocket PC's gives each rep all the tools and information needed to sell effectively.

 Software for the High-Resolution Supply Chain Ascet Volume 6, June 15, 2004
OAT is the leading provider of integrated EPC software solutions for the High-Resolution Supply Chain™.

 Special Interview: Dick Hunter Ascet Volume 6, June 15, 2004
Dick Hunter, master of supply chain at Dell, speaks with ASCET publisher Barry Jacobs about RFID, real-time sales, and how to achieve supply chain excellence.
Dick Hunter, Dell

 Charting the Business Process Outsourcing Universe Ascet Volume 6, June 15, 2004
By carefully selecting the right provider, organizations can use business process outsourcing to support strategic planning, introduce best practices, and position themselves as leaders in the marketplace.
Jaume Ferrer, Accenture, C. Edwin Starr, Accenture

 Getting Ready for the Rebound: Leaning the EMS Supply Chain Ascet Volume 6, June 15, 2004
The ability to master time is the key metric for EMS success. As the global economy appears poised to pick up pace, many organizations are embracing the principles of lean manufacturing.
Jonathan Oomrigar, Oracle Corporation

 Rethinking Warranty Management to Achieve High Performance and Differentiation Ascet Volume 6, June 15, 2004
Escalating costs, along with changing regulatory requirements, strong market pressures, and a desire to achieve higher levels of performance, are turning warranty management from an irritating necessity into an eyebrow-raising executive issue.
R. Douglas Derrick, Accenture

 Segmenting the Supply Chain Ascet Volume 6, June 15, 2004
Advances in data warehousing technology provide the ability to store detailed information across all aspects of the supply chain, improving customer service without increasing inventory costs.
Jerry Hill, Teradata

 Returns Management: A Forgotten Lever for Supply Chain Efficiency Ascet Volume 5, July 26, 2003
There is a large cost-reduction opportunity in returns management, but it takes focus and discipline to find it and begin realizing the benefits.
Chistopher D. Norek, Ph.D., Chain Connectors, Inc.

 Service Management: A New Revenue Source Ascet Volume 5, July 26, 2003
After-sale services and parts can contribute as much as 50 percent of all profits for the typical manufacturing company. But to capitalize on that opportunity, the supply chain must be explicitly designed to support superior, and profitable, service management.
Mike Dennis, Accenture

 A Prescriptive Model for Cost Management in the Supply Chain Ascet Volume 5, July 26, 2003
This study provides a summary of best practices in strategic cost management among select leading-edge purchasing and supply management organizations today.
Lisa M. Ellram, Ph.D., C.P.M., C.M.A., Arizona State University

 Excellence in Manufacturing Execution and Customer Response Ascet Volume 5, July 26, 2003
Today’s supply chain revolution requires the visibility of products being manufactured at different shop floors worldwide and the complete integration of demand and order entry with all manufacturing execution systems.
Rakesh Kumar, Oracle Corporation

 A Collaboration Enabler: Sharing Profit and Cost Data Ascet Volume 4, May 16, 2002
Genuine collaboration between sellers and buyers can be stimulated when suppliers share open-book profit and cost data. Managerial accounting is morphing into managerial economics for better decision-making.
Gary Cokins, SAS

 Collaborative SCM Improvements with Standardized Technology Ascet Volume 4, May 16, 2002
Today's environment demands that supply chains are fully integration and that trading partners collaborate. To successfully integrate their supply chains, companies must use the Internet.
Bob Reary, PeopleSoft, Inc.

 Enterprise Service Management: The Key to Service Excellence Ascet Volume 4, May 16, 2002
Service excellence generates increased profits and customer loyalty and retention.
Jonathan Wright, Accenture, Jerry Quinn, Xelus

 The Foundation is in Place - It's Time to Transform Ascet Volume 4, May 16, 2002
Savvy executives are using both the Internet and supply chain partnerships to transform their supply chains to deliver differentiated capability, value, and competitive advantage.
Ralph Drayer, Supply Chain Insights, LLC

 "Sell It, Then Build It" - How Electronics Manufacturers Are Using Collaborative Trading Networks for Competitive Advantage Ascet Volume 3, April 15, 2001
Electronics manufacturers operate in one of the most volatile and competitive markets in the world.
Duncan Klett, Webplan Inc.

 100% E-Corporation: The Story Behind Intel's Customer-Focused Success Ascet Volume 3, April 15, 2001
In 1998, Intel took its first order over the Web. Today, the company averages $2 billion in monthly e-commerce revenues and is moving rapidly toward machine-to-machine automation. This brief look at Intel's supply chain automation history shows what challenges one of the world's most successful manufacturers has overcome, what issues it faces today, and how industry standards and a customer orientation are helping it solve them.
Andrea Williamson, Intel Corporation

 How Can Suppliers Counterpunch the Internet-enabled Powershift to Buyers? Ascet Volume 3, April 15, 2001
Buyers are dictating terms, conditions, and pricing. Suppliers face additional risks from exposing more from their websites. How can they recover any of the power they are losing?
Gary Cokins, SAS

 JC Penney: Taking the Internet to the Catalog and the Storefront Ascet Volume 3, April 15, 2001
Dave Evans discusses with ASCET publisher Barry Jacobs how JC Penney integrated catalogs and bricks-and-mortar stores.
Dave Evans, J.C. Penney

 Minimizing the Cost of Managing Supply Chain Exceptions Ascet Volume 3, April 15, 2001
The Stanford Supply Chain Management Forum posits that competition after the Millennium will be across supply chains, not individual companies. As such, many companies focus on enabling a collaborative planning, forecasting and replenishment (CPFR) supply chain model that strives to integrate demand and supply processes, to co-manage these processes with trusted supply chain partners and to share information and plans for future use with these same partners.
Irene Woerner, SupplyEdge, Inc.

 New Business Models in Service Management Ascet Volume 3, April 15, 2001
The consistent and proper application of traditional procurement metrics will go a long way to enable e-procurement initiatives to deliver their promised benefit.
Mike Dennis, Accenture, Adam Wolf, Accenture

 Taking Control of E-Business Selling Ascet Volume 3, April 15, 2001
The right e-commerce-related software applications should enable corporations to offer their customers superior convenience, choice, and value by controlling the key elements of e-business selling through all phases of the customer life cycle.
Alan Naumann, Calico Commerce, Inc.

 E-Business and the Supply Chain: Is It Simply supply-chain.com? Ascet Volume 2, April 15, 2000
E-business is changing the Industrial Age models of customer acquisition, procurement, pricing, and customer satisfaction as well as how we measure the performance of a corporation. Focus on the customer is all-important.
John Fontanella, AberdeenGroup

 Setting New Supply Chain Standards: A Chemicals Industry E-Commerce Case Study Ascet Volume 2, April 15, 2000
To quickly gain advantage from Internet technology - and begin integrating their supply chains - some companies have enlisted e-procurement technologies to streamline the purchasing process and increase leverage with suppliers. Others have focused on providing "virtual service" via 24/7 applications that allow customer self-service. Yet neither approach offers the kind of comprehensive capabilities required to fully optimize the supply chain.
Kenneth M. Smith, Geon Company , Douglass A. Grimm, Geon Company , Michael S. Sweeney, Accenture

 The Web's Effect on the Service Value Chain Ascet Volume 2, April 15, 2000
From plaything of the academic and military communities to a revolutionary platform for business, wealth generation, and information exchange, the Internet is changing the way we do everything - and opportunities abound for the quick and resourceful. The supply chain is no exception to this transformation: the extension of Internet technology to the service value chain will increase geometrically over the next several years.
Stephen E. Reiter, ServiceMaster

 Third Generation E-Business and the Supply Lattice Ascet Volume 2, April 15, 2000
Online commerce is drawing a greater share of customers and markets. Although automated back-end systems and user-friendly Web interfaces are improving customer relationships, this is only the earliest step in an online revolution. The next step is to solve the main problem of the supply chain, which is the efficient incorporation, integration, and utilization of information provided by multiple suppliers. Supply Chain Management should give people a greater governing role in defining business rules.
George Moakley, Intel Corporation

 Closer to the Customer: Customer Relationship Management and the Supply Chain Ascet Volume 1, April 15, 1999
Customers are becoming increasingly fickle and sophisticated, and technology has given them a plethora of choices and unprecedented access to information. As power shifts to the consumer, organizations are trying to find new ways to understand and reach their customers. The focal point of this trend is Customer Relationship Management (CRM), a disciplined, holistic approach to identifying, attracting and retaining customers. More than ever, the customer is always right, and those organizations that embrace CRM stand to gain tremendously.
Dale Renner, Seisint, Inc.

 CPFR: Realizing the Promise of Efficient Consumer Response Through Collaborative Technology Ascet Volume 1, April 15, 1999
Collaborative Planning, Forecasting, & Replenishment (CPFR) is a key enabler behind synchronized supply chain strategies. By placing supply chain partner trading relations at the center of the replenishment decision making process, CPFR can provide competitive advantages to market leaders. CPFR can often be accomplished with minimum change to existing business processes using internet-based technologies such as BetweenWare.
Richard Sherman, Syncra Software

 Increasing Customer Loyalty through Service Parts Management Ascet Volume 1, April 15, 1999
If companies are to succeed in capturing the hearts of their customers, they must look not only at the products they sell, but also Service Parts Management ­ the type and level of support provided after the sale. By paying proper attention to the importance of service parts, acknowledging the increasing complexity of service parts management, and developing innovative solutions, companies can increase customer satisfaction and create value for driving enhanced profitability.
Thomas Jenkins, Accenture