The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has placed never-before-seen focus and demand on global supply chains. Michael Knemeyer, professor of logistics at Fisher, says that while the disruption has been unprecedented, supply chains will become more resilient because of lessons learned from the pandemic.

James Hill, chair of Fisher's Department of Management Sciences, says that although the supply chain is set up to handle increases in orders, panic buying, such as the kind seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, tends to drive up production, labor and logistics costs for manufacturers, who then pass that cost on to the distributors.

As governments and health officials around the world struggle to contain the coronavirus outbreak, common measures that companies take to safeguard their supply chains against disruptions are ineffective for the coronavirus outbreak, said Keely Croxton, a professor of logistics at Ohio State University.

Freezing the flow of goods between the U.S. and Mexico would have a significant impact on Ohio because of the interconnectedness of global supply chains, according to Tom Goldsby, the Harry T. Mangurian Jr. Foundation Professor in Business at Fisher. 

Thanks to the popularity of delivery services like GrubHub, UberEats and Amazon Prime Now, consumers are influencing companies’ supply chain strategies whether they know it or not.

In his research, Vince Castillo, assistant professor of logistics at Fisher, examined how crowdsourced delivery is impacting the most important — and costly — aspect of the retail supply chain.

Steve DeNunzio, director of the Master of Business Logistics Engineering (MBLE) program at Fisher, shares insights into how the MBLE program is helping students succeed in supply chain. 

Middle Market companies fear tariffs are putting their profits at risk, increasing costs and disrupting supply chains.

As technology reshapes the work of the supply chain manager, so-called “soft skills”, such as critical thinking, problem-solving, interpersonal effectiveness and empathy, are increasingly important, says Keely Croxton, associate professor of logistics at Fisher.

“Our food chain, our supply chain our just-in-time manufacturing approach doesn’t lead us to allow a lot of room for error,” said Phil Renaud, executive director at the Risk Institute. “So, if you don’t have the resilience approach to business then you will lose most likely market share. [Customers] will go elsewhere and it won’t take very long for that to happen.”

Bernard “Bud” LaLonde, professor emeritus at Fisher College of Business and a recognized thought leader in logistics and supply chain management, passed away on December 1. He was 84.

Doug Farren, managing director of the National Center for the Middle Market, discussed research focused on the mid-sized companies that provide the raw goods and services used by other organizations.

“The research shows that the best middle-market suppliers tend to be the largest and fastest-growing middle market companies," according to Professor Thomas Goldsby.

Supply chain management is increasingly recognized not simply as a way to hold down costs and keep operations running smoothly, but as a path to competitive advantage by satisfying customers with more value, innovative service and speed, writes Doug Farren, of the National Center for the Middle Market.

Fisher's Mike Knemeyer and his colleagues argue that Theo Epstein’s job assembling a champion on the field is a model for the supply chain leader’s quest to build a winning supply chain.

Middle market companies in the supply chain are team players, working closely with customers and their own suppliers, especially at the larger end of the spectrum. That's one of the findings in a report from the National Center for the Middle Market that looked at how these companies operate within the larger "ecosystem" of the supply chain, said Thomas Goldsby, chair of the department of marketing and logistics at Fisher.

The largest and fastest-growing middle market firms with successful supply chains develop deep, collaborative relationships with their most important customers, according to new research from The National Center for the Middle Market (NCMM).