Word: chains
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...relayed to suppliers in Bangladesh, Vietnam and South Korea. William Fung, Li & Fung's group managing director, calls this intricate logistical dance "borderless manufacturing." You might think that an activity without borders could be managed from anywhere, and maybe it could. But in practice, the global supply chain has a headquarters, and it is in the Chinese special administrative region and former British colony whose economic demise has been trumpeted more times than Paris Hilton has hit a party...
Where Hong Kong companies have truly distinguished themselves is in the growing field of supply-chain management. Rather than merely sourcing, they can supervise the entire production process, handling everything from design to quality control to transportation. Some firms even conduct investigations of factories to ensure that they comply with labor and safety regulations, thereby protecting U.S. companies from attacks by human-rights groups. "We're doing more in terms of services than we ever comprehended," says Cicetti...
...named Richard Elman, sources commodities ranging from soybeans to petrochemicals to aluminum. A Chinese steel mill searching for a reliable supply of iron ore can hire Noble to find it, deliver the ore and then market the steel made from it. For some products, Noble controls the entire supply chain--for example, it grows oilseeds in Argentina, stores them in Noble-owned warehouses, ships them to China from Noble-controlled Argentine ports, processes and refines them in Noble factories on the mainland and delivers the oil to customers. With 72 offices in 42 countries, Noble is the second largest coal...
...Certainly, there's less nervousness in financial markets today about the risks of instability in one country spreading elsewhere, as the example of Thailand suggests. The country became the epicenter of the 1997 Asian financial crisis when its currency plunged and set off a chain reaction that hurt emerging markets from Russia to Vietnam. Nearly a decade later, Thailand last month risked triggering a similar meltdown when the country's central bank imposed capital controls in an attempt to curb a big appreciation of the national currency, the baht. Coming just three months after a military junta seized power...
...William Fung, Li & Fung's group managing director, calls this intricate logistical dance "borderless manufacturing." You might think that an activity without borders could be managed from anywhere, and maybe it could. But in practice, the global supply chain has a headquarters, and it is in the Chinese Special Administrative Region and former British colony whose economic demise has been trumpeted more times than Paris Hilton has hit a party. Hong Kong's air may be foul and its public-education system may lag that of competitors like Singapore, but somehow or other, it continues to reinvent itself. Almost...