Most companies have digital platforms that support specific functions, such as supply chain management, product design, or operations, and they tightly regulate who may join the platform. The Chinese appliance manufacturer Haier has extended its supply chain management platform to facilitate a broader range of collaborations from innovation and design to supplying materials and components to solving technical problems and providing new services. The platform allows Haier to capitalize on the expertise and resources of its ecosystem, rapidly exploit new business opportunities, respond quickly to disruptions, and achieve efficiencies in a wide range of activities.

Corporate "lean" programs, often modeled after the Toyota Production System, can be powerful instruments for improving the performance of manufacturing plants. They help to emphasize parts of the production process that add the most value and eliminate those that don't. However, misplaced expectations can make implementation difficult and reduce the benefits. The authors argue that if managers better understood the expected rates of improvement, then implementations would go more smoothly. The authors studied the implementation of the Volvo Group's production system. Volvo Group, a leading maker of trucks and other heavy vehicles. The company introduced the Volvo Production System in 2007, and since then has been implementing it in its factories around the world. The authors visited 44 of Volvo's 67 plants and interviewed 200 managers. They found that there were four distinct stages of change in the rate of performance improvement and that there was a strong relationship between a plant's maturity in a production system implementation and its performance; progress roughly followed the shape of an S-curve: a plant's rate of improvement changes in the shape of a bell curve as the plant becomes more mature in implementing the production system. Performance improves slowly at first, and then at an increasing rate before the improvement rate gradually decreases. To measure the performance of the plants, the authors focused on nonfinancial metrics related to the quality, cost, delivery and safety of the plant's output. They then used statistical methods to find patterns. Volvo's assessment process provides a structure to help local managers compare their plants. It also provides a mechanism for transferring expertise and best practices. The assessments have a strong symbolic impact: They communicate the company's commitment to the production system. Implementing a production system is a long journey, but the authors conclude that it's a worthwhile endeavor.

Would you send a half-empty truck across Europe or pay to airfreight coats to Japan twice a week? Would you move unsold items out of your shop after only two weeks? Would you run your factories just during the day shift? Is this any way to run an efficient supply chain? For Spanish clothier Zara it is. Not that any one of these tactics is especially effective in itself. Rather, they stem from a holistic approach to supply chain management that optimizes the entire chain instead of focusing on individual parts. In the process, Zara defies most of the current conventional wisdom about how supply chains should be run. Unlike so many of its peers, which rush to outsource, Zara keeps almost half of its production in-house. Far from pushing its factories to maximize output, the company focuses capital on building extra capacity. Rather than chase economies of scale, Zara manufactures and distributes products in small batches. Instead of outside partners, the company manages all design, warehousing, distribution, and logistics functions itself. The result is a superresponsive supply chain exquisitely tailored to Zara's business model. Zara can design, produce, and deliver a new garment to its 600-plus stores worldwide in a mere 15 days. So in Zara's shops, customers can always find new products--but in limited supply. Customers think, "This green shirt fits me, and there is one on the rack. If I don't buy it now, I'll lose my chance." That urgency translates into high profit margins and steady 20% yearly growth in a tough economic climate. Some of Zara's specific practices may be directly applicable only in industries where product life cycles are very short. But Zara's simple philosophy of reaping bottom-line profits through end-to-end control of the supply chain can be applied to any industry.

Many companies are not tapping the full potential of their foreign factories. They establish and manage foreign factories to benefit only from tariff and trade concessions, cheap labor, capital subsidies, and reduced logistics costs. They therefore give these factories a limited range of work, responsibilities, and resources. But there are companies that expect much more from their foreign factories and, as a result, get much more. They use them to get closer to their customers and suppliers, to attract skilled and talented employees, and to create centers of expertise for the entire company. The author provides a framework to help managers classify the current role their foreign factories play.