infonet-economy

The world of maritime transportation is undergoing dramatic changes. In our presentation and workshop, we address and evaluate the design of maritime import supply chains from Asia to Europe. We would like to thank all participants of the Swiss Shippers' Council's maritime transportation seminar 2010 for their support and the lively discussion.

We would like to extend a special thank you to more than 25 participants in our workshop complementing our presentation

Shipping goods and raw materials in supply chains within the required time and with the requisite quality from suppliers to customers is a basic necessity for successful sourcing and procurement. China has become a "Global Workshop" of huge scope and needs to provide well-developed infrastructure and logistics centres which enable the successful management of supply chain undertakings. This article provides an overview of the common infrastructure and illustrates how they continue to be developed, as well as detailing what further investments are being made. Based on demands for logistics, we show how China has sought to satisfy these requirements by increasing available infrastructure over the last 15 years. Finally, we give a brief insight into the satisfaction of infrastructure based on a survey with European production companies in China.

Management Summary:

With widespread coverage in the media, at conferences and in numerous articles in economy magazines, Supply Chain Finance (SCF) has become one of the hottest topics in business administration. SCF is not a recent concept. It has long been known as a significant part at the intersection of Supply Chain Management (SCM) and trade finance. What has changed during recent years is the decision of numerous companies to convert the approach and its opportunities into deliverable benefits.

The rules of the game in trade finance have changed. With the latest credit crisis, companies see their supply chains threatened by a lack of liquidity. This cash dry-up makes corporates look to more tangible sources of financing their businesses. Financial institutions are increasingly responding to corporate demands to increase efficiency in their financial supply chains. With competition no longer among individual companies but among entire supply chains, every area of end-to-end cost reduction is being explored. Therefore, SCF solutions could help leading companies make their whole supply chain more competitive.

Recent research seems to confirm that the credit crunch is driving the adoption of SCF. Both banks and corporates are keener than ever to make their scarce capital stretch as far as possible. The global economic crisis has resulted in reactions that are fueling the widespread adoption of SCF. The credit crunch is making buyers and suppliers deplete their cash positions. Whereas suppliers are trying to encourage their customers to pay earlier, buyers are increasing their payment terms. In an attempt to cope with these problems and fully utilize the value creation potential of a company's supply chain, SCF promises rewards. By taking a more holistic view of flows of trade, this approach focuses on collaboration between trading partners as well as the increased transparency, automation and dematerialization of the entire supply chain, thereby reducing overall costs and risks for all affiliated parties. SCF promises to enhance enterprise value because it decreases tied-up working capital and enables higher capital efficiency.

Because of the novelty of SCF, there are still many research gaps. On the one hand, the lack of research leads to hesitation about the implementation of SCF solutions within companies because there is little quantified evidence about achievable cost savings and other potential benefits. On the other hand, there is very little information about the market potential for SCF solutions.

This study aims at providing orientation within this new topic by investigating the need and nature as well as characteristics and enablers of SCF. Based on an exemplary SCF model, the worldwide market size for such solutions and potential cost savings to companies engaging in this area are analyzed and calculated. These underline the generally stated attractiveness of SCF solutions by creating win-win situations; for the affiliated actors in the end-to-end supply chain as well as for external service providers.

The importance of supply chain management has increased over the last few decades. Today, entire supply chains are competing with each other instead of individual companies. As such, supply chain management has become a way for companies to set themselves apart from competing companies and their supply chains. Interestingly, supply chain management mainly focuses on efficiency-oriented topics rather than effectiveness-driven issues, in particular the design of supply chains from manufacturing sites downstream, instead of upstream from the customer.

The Supply Chain Differentiation Guide offers a modern approach to supply chain
management. While for many years "one-size-fits-all" approaches to supply chain
management were very common, the current efforts of managers and academics alike focus on the simultaneous management of multiple supply chains. Despite the interest of the business sector in the management of multiple supply chains, academia has largely neglected this topic to date. The Supply Chain Differentiation Guide addresses this shortcoming, introducing both established and cutting-edge management methods to the context of supply chain differentiation and providing inspirations for how to improve corporate operations.

Externes Wachstum durch Fusionen und Akquisitionen erfreut sich bei Logistikdienstleistern einer ungebrochenen Beliebtheit. Die für den Erfolg besonders kritische Integrationsphase birgt in dieser Branche jedoch einige Besonderheiten. Eine aktuelle Studie der Universität St. Gallen zeigt, wie auf diese spezifischen Herausforderungen reagiert werden kann.

Der Logistikdienstleistungsmarkt konsolidiert sich zunehmend. Mega-Deals sorgen regelmässig für Aufsehen in den Medien. Aber auch zahlreiche nicht börsennotierte, eher mittelständisch geprägte Logistikunternehmen schliessen sich zusammen. So wurden im Zeitraum von 1989 bis 2006 in Europa pro Kalenderjahr knapp 80 Fusionen und Übernahmen von Unternehmen der Logistikbranche beobachtet. Dabei dominieren mit einem Anteil von 90 Prozent Zusammenschlüsse innerhalb der Logistikbranche. Branchen¬übergreifende Akquisitionen kommt hingegen mit 10 Prozent lediglich eine untergeordnete Bedeutung zu.

Der vorliegende Aufsatz analysiert Unternehmenszusammenschlüsse als relevante Wachstumsform in der Logistikbranche. In Bezug auf den Charakter der Zusammenschlüsse lässt sich eine deutliche Dominanz von horizontalen Verbindungen innerhalb der Logistikbranche erkennen. Dabei sind die meisten Mergers & Acquisitions auf eine geografische Ausweitung des bereits bestehenden Leistungsangebots ausgerichtet. Ferner wird anhand von Branchenkonzentrationsmessungen dargestellt, dass Unternehmenszusammenschlüsse (und andere Wachstumsformen) allenfalls vorübergehend zu einer Steigerung der Konzentration der Anbieter in der Logistikbranche geführt haben. So ist die absolute Konzentration, also die Verdichtung von Umsätzen auf einzelne Marktakteure, in dem betrachteten Zeitraum mit leichten Schwankungen praktisch unverändert auf niedrigem Niveau geblieben. Auch die relative Konzentration hat in den analysierten Jahren von ihrem bereits relativ hohen Niveau keine weitere Steigerung erfahren.

Das Management der Behälterkreisläufe ist eine Aufgabe des Supply Chain Mana-gements - In den meisten Supply Chains werden Behälterkreisläufe noch nicht sys-tematisch gesteuert - Das Behälter-Management Konzept muss sich an den Zielen des Supply Chain Managements ausrichten - Die Aufgaben des Behälter-Managements lassen sich in die Handlungsfelder "Operative Behälterbewirtschaftung", "Behälter-Management-Organisation", "Behälterfinanzierung", "IT-Unterstützung" und "Behälterentwicklung" einteilen - Die Implementierung des Behälter-Managements kann durch ein Prozessmodell unterstützt werden.

- Das Management der Behälterkreisläufe ist eine Aufgabe des Supply Chain Managements
- In den meisten Supply Chains werden Behälterkreisläufe noch nicht systematisch gesteuert
- Das Behälter-Management Konzept muss sich an den Zielen des
Supply Chain Managements ausrichten
- Die Aufgaben des Behälter-Managements lassen sich in die Handlungsfelder "Operative Behälterbewirtschaftung", "Behälter-
Management-Organisation", "Behälterfinanzierung", "IT-Unterstützung" und "Behälterentwicklung" einteilen
- Die Implementierung des Behälter-Managements kann durch ein Prozessmodell unterstützt werden