Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Direct Connection

A new tool to measure and assess risk

CSCMP, along with the University of Tennessee and research analysis firm IHS Markit, has created a tool designed to improve market intelligence, decision-making, and risk mitigation efforts for supply chain professionals.

How do today's supply chain leaders assess risk and measure supply chain capability in key markets around the globe? What tools are available to add additional data points to improve access to information and decision-making abilities?

To help answer those questions, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) has partnered with the University of Tennessee (UT), Knoxville's Global Supply Chain Institute and research and analysis firm IHS Markit to produce a tool that improves market intelligence, decision-making, and risk mitigation efforts for supply chain professionals.


The EPIC Global Supply Chain Readiness Index employs a data-driven approach that combines UT's quantitative analysis with IHS Markit's rich on-the-ground qualitative insights from more than 55 countries around the globe. This tool is designed to provide foundational and contemporary input to supply chain leaders to drive more informed decisions about how to best operate in these markets.

The "EPIC Global Supply Chain Readiness Index 2020" report is based upon concepts developed in a book authored by faculty from the University of Tennessee and ESSEC School of Management (Paris, France) entitled Global Supply Chains: Evaluating Regions on an EPIC Framework. The EPIC framework originally introduced in the book provides a methodology and approach that allows firms to better assess the suitability of different locations as sites for global supply chain operations, including sourcing, manufacturing, and distribution. With data sets selected by UT and analysis provided by IHS Markit, the EPIC Report 2020 will update the previous work and give supply chain executives insight about the capabilities of supply chains globally. The EPIC framework provides the structure for assessing various regions around the globe for supply chain readiness in regard to economy (E), politics (P), infrastructure (I), and competency (C).

As your professional association, CSCMP is committed to both developing and arming supply chain professionals to be successful in their pursuit of excellence throughout their careers, as well as advancing our discipline and accomplishing CSCMP's mission of a truly integrated, end-to-end supply chain. We believe this new report will enable supply chain organizations to make better, more informed decisions that will improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their supply chains.

 

Recent

More Stories

screen shot of AI chat box

Accenture and Microsoft launch business AI unit

In a move to meet rising demand for AI transformation, Accenture and Microsoft are launching a copilot business transformation practice to help organizations reinvent their business functions with both generative and agentic AI and with Copilot technologies.


The practice consists of 5,000 professionals from Accenture and from Avanade—the consulting firm’s joint venture with Microsoft. They will be supported by Microsoft product specialists who will work closely with the Accenture Center for Advanced AI. Together, that group will collaborate on AI and Copilot agent templates, extensions, plugins, and connectors to help organizations leverage their data and gen AI to reduce costs, improve efficiencies and drive growth, they said on Thursday.

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

chart of global supply chain capacity

Suppliers report spare capacity for fourth straight month

Factory demand weakened across global economies in October, resulting in one of the highest levels of spare capacity at suppliers in over a year, according to a report from the New Jersey-based procurement and supply chain solutions provider GEP.

That result came from the company’s “GEP Global Supply Chain Volatility Index,” an indicator tracking demand conditions, shortages, transportation costs, inventories, and backlogs based on a monthly survey of 27,000 businesses. The October index number was -0.39, which was up only slightly from its level of -0.43 in September.

Keep ReadingShow less
employees working together at office

Small e-com firms struggle to find enough investment cash

Even as the e-commerce sector overall continues expanding toward a forecasted 41% of all retail sales by 2027, many small to medium e-commerce companies are struggling to find the investment funding they need to increase sales, according to a sector survey from online capital platform Stenn.

Global geopolitical instability and increasing inflation are causing e-commerce firms to face a liquidity crisis, which means companies may not be able to access the funds they need to grow, Stenn’s survey of 500 senior e-commerce leaders found. The research was conducted by Opinion Matters between August 29 and September 5.

Keep ReadingShow less

CSCMP EDGE keynote sampler: best practices, stories of inspiration

With six keynote and more than 100 educational sessions, CSCMP EDGE 2024 offered a wealth of content. Here are highlights from just some of the presentations.

A great American story

Keep ReadingShow less

The uneven road we traveled in 2024

Welcome to our annual State of Logistics issue.

2024 was expected to be a bounce-back year for the logistics industry. We had the pandemic in the rearview mirror, and the economy was proving to be more resilient than expected, defying those prognosticators who believed a recession was imminent.

Keep ReadingShow less