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This case study discusses the challenges of implementing Flowcasting. It starts by summarizing the innovations made in supply chain management over the past fifteen years. It also describes the multi-level replenishment cycle as it existed in 2006 between CPGA and Sam's Club. The first section of the case study aims to stimulate thoughts about the disadvantages of the system in use at the time. Then, the case moves on to the implementation of Flowcasting, a breakthrough approach to supply chain management. Flowcasting is unique in two ways: 1) it is the first decision support system targeting three levels of the supply chain (retailer, the retailer's distribution centre, and the manufacturer's distribution centre), and 2) it involves the exchange of data between two separate sources (or companies), or a type of co-managed inventory.

As the planet warms, storms and floods are becoming wilder--killing thousands, disrupting supply chains and power grids, and causing billions of dollars in damage. Meanwhile, supplies of all kinds of resources are dwindling, and demand is rising. These two megachallenges--extreme weather and resource scarcity--could have an unprecedented impact on corporate profits and global prosperity, warns Winston. To manage these threats, companies must do what he calls "the big pivot." The big pivot represents a radical change in strategy, operations, and mind-set. Instead of focusing first on short-term earnings and treating environmental challenges as niche issues, firms must prioritize tackling the world's big problems and use the tools of capitalism to do so profitably. That means taking new approaches to vision, valuation, and collaboration: Companies must set long-term goals based on science and pursue innovations that seem heretical (dyes that don't need water, say, or services that replace products). They'll need new ROI tools that factor in unpriced costs and benefits. And they'll have to work with other organizations, including competitors, to reduce resource dependency (for instance, sharing methods for reducing energy use). By making these moves, firms will increase their resilience to volatile resource prices, electrical outages, and shifts in customer needs. They will improve business performance while advancing the common good.

As the CFO of UPS--and a founding member of its sustainability steering committee--Kuehn wrestled with the question of where and how to most effectively direct the company's resources. The approach he developed is rooted in two beliefs: Companies have a responsibility to contribute to society and the environment, and every investment a company makes should return value to the business. These beliefs don't have to be at odds, he writes, although they often mean that sustainability programs must be subjected to alternative financial evaluation models. In fact, the programs with the most impact not only align with companies' strategies but move in tandem with those companies' activities. UPS's breakthrough came when it recognized that efficiency would be greatest in any initiative where momentum existed and where the company was positioned to make a pivotal or tipping-point difference. To guide its sustainability choices and investments, UPS has implemented a clear process of (1) assessing its strengths; (2) choosing its spots; (3) finding momentum; (4) building productive partnerships; and (5) convening other sources of strength. This approach avoids missteps such as executive pet projects and directing the volunteerism of employees to tasks at which they are not actually good. Kuehn draws lessons from UPS's own experience and from that of others, including Campbell Soup, Pfizer, and Marks and Spencer.

Addressing global sustainability challenges--including climate change, resource depletion, and ecosystem loss--is beyond the individual capabilities of even the largest companies. To tackle these threats, and unleash new value, companies and other stakeholders must collaborate in new ways that treat fragile and complex ecosystems as a whole. In this article, the authors draw on cases including the Latin American Water Funds Partnership, the Sustainable Apparel Coalition (led by Nike, Patagonia, and Walmart), and Action to Accelerate Recycling (a partnership between Alcoa, consumer packaged goods companies, and local governments, among others) to describe four new collaboration models that create shared value and address environmental protection across the value stream. Optimal collaborations focus on improving either business processes or outcomes. They start with a small group of key organizations, bring in project management expertise, link self-interest to shared interest, encourage productive competition, create quick wins, and, above all, build and maintain trust.

Climate change presents clear and pressing threats to business--materials and product shortages, price volatility, legal bans or consumer backlash, and damaged transportation infrastructure, to name just a few. But there are opportunities as well. Lowitt, a consultant in the sustainability field, has developed a series of detailed checklists that will help smart managers reduce operational, regulatory, and reputational risk while finding new ways to cut costs, improve performance, enhance customer relationships, and otherwise increase competitiveness. The checklist recommendations, tested and refined through Lowitt's research into and work with firms including Coca-Cola, GE, and Owens Corning, cover four broad areas in the product life cycle: sourcing, manufacturing, distribution, and consumption. Actions range from educating and incentivizing employees to use climate change-conscious behavior to measuring and reporting key metrics to deter- mining when alternative materials, methods, sites, or contract partners may be called for. Like any such tool, the checklists don't provide a one-size-fits-all plan. Rather, they equip executives to customize their strategies according to factors such as their goods and services, risk tolerance, customer needs, and reliance on third parties throughout the value chain.

Manufacturers in developed countries can no longer rely on lean management practices to stay profitable. They face increasing competition from plants in large emerging economies that are able to produce on a large scale at a lower cost, while still providing high quality. The way forward, the authors suggest, can be glimpsed from analyzing past winners of Europe's annual Industrial Excellence Award. Those companies have succeeded by using one or more of these strategies: (1) Leveraging data flows to integrate closely with supply chain partners. Germany's Schmitz Cargobull, for example, has become a leading trailer manufacturer by using sophisticated information technology to help customers monitor their vehicles. (2) Creating value downstream in other parts of the supply chain. One example is Markem-Imaje, a maker of industrial printers for coding products; the company adds value for customers by offering a variety of ancillary services. (3) Collaboratively designing manufacturing processes that can rapidly evolve to meet customers' needs. A prime example is ASML, which works closely with customers and suppliers to make innovations in production technology for the semiconductor industry. (4) Specializing in customized products. Focusing on small runs of custom-designed products has been an effective strategy for companies like BuS Elektronik and the Daimler Group's Smart car division.

This is an MIT Sloan Management Review article. Executives typically think about productivity as something to be maximized. In service businesses, that means that companies often devote a lot of attention to designing automated processes that reduce their need for people -typically their most expensive resource. But in service businesses, increased productivity does not always lead to increased profitability. The authors analyzed data from more than 700 U.S. companies in service industries in 2002 and 2007. Their analysis suggested that, for a given level of technology, there is an inverted U relationship between productivity and profitability in service companies. In other words, service companies become less profitable if they are either too productive or not productive enough. However, because technology advances over time, the optimal productivity level increases over time. The authors found that several factors cause the optimal productivity level to be higher or lower. The optimal productivity level is not set in stone. As technology advances, the optimal productivity level increases. Online travel reservation systems offer an example. Advances in online technology enabled online travel service Expedia Inc. to increase its productivity by 15% from 2005 to 2010, with no damage to customer satisfaction. The authors argue that productivity in a service business should be treated as a strategic decision variable that depends on the business and the technology in question. One key question is the relative importance of customer satisfaction to the business model. When circumstances encourage the provision of better service quality (comparatively high profit margin, high price, low market concentration and low wages), companies should emphasize customer satisfaction more; when the opposite factors are present (high market concentration, high wages, low margin and low price), they can stress service productivity.

The authors' research suggests that understanding the underlying dynamics of project status reporting can help limit the chances of nasty surprises. In particular, they identify five "inconvenient truths" about project status reporting: 1. Executives can't rely on project staff and other employees to accurately report project status information and to speak up when they see problems. Many employees have a tendency to put a positive spin on anything they report to senior management. When the organizational climate is not receptive to bad news, truthful reporting can be inhibited 2. A variety of reasons can cause people to misreport about project status. Executives tend to attribute misreporting to poor ethical behavior on the employee's part. In fact, employees misreport for a variety of reasons; individual traits, work climate and cultural norms all can play a role. 3. An aggressive audit team can't counter the effects of project status misreporting and withholding of information by project staff. Executives may conclude that the best way to address the problem of misreporting is to rely on auditors to make sure that project status reports are accurate. However, once auditors are added to the mix, negative organizational dynamics can lead to a dysfunctional cycle that results in even less openness. 4. Putting a senior executive in charge of a project may increase misreporting. Although having a senior executive as a project sponsor often proves wise politically and can help in securing resources for a project, the involvement of senior leaders does not make it any easier to track project status.

The authors note that companies want to protect their supply chains from serious and costly disruptions, but the most obvious solutions -increasing inventory, adding capacity at different locations and having multiple suppliers -undermine supply chain cost efficiency. Surveys have shown that while managers appreciate the impact of supply chain disruptions, they have done very little to prevent such incidents or mitigate their impacts. The authors argue that supply chain efficiency, which is directed at improving financial performance, is different from supply chain resilience, in which the goal is risk reduction. Although both require dealing with risks, recurrent risks (such as demand fluctuations) require companies to focus on efficiency in improving the way they match supply and demand, while disruptive risks require companies to build resilience despite additional cost. Recently, managers have become much better at managing global supply chains through improved planning and execution and building operational reserves such as production capacity and inventory. However, the authors argue that reliance on sole-source suppliers, common parts and centralized inventories has left companies vulnerable to disruptive risks. Although sourcing from or outsourcing to distant low-cost locations and eliminating excess capacity and redundant suppliers can make supply chains more cost-efficient, they also make supply chains more vulnerable. How should managers reduce their supply chain's exposure to disruptive risks without giving up hard-earned gains in performance from improved supply chain efficiency?

Manoel Coelho, Director of Global Business Development at GlobalMed in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA, was looking ahead to the 2016 Rio Olympic Games and the opportunities the Games would offer for raising international awareness of the role and value of telemedicine. He worked closely with Dr. Antonio Carlos Marttos of Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital, who was the chief spokesman for the telemedicine initiative. Coelho's challenge was to assist Marttos in pitching the general idea of telemedicine to key decision makers, while also keeping his company in the line of sight as the preferred vendor. As Marttos envisioned it, mobile, suitcase-sized telemedicine units would be positioned at key venue sites throughout Rio to serve the needs of athletes and spectators. Telemedicine would allow for on-site diagnosis and connections to physicians at Rio hospitals, as well as to physicians in the home countries of athletes or spectators. GlobalMed embarked on the Rio Olympics project as a key initiative in its strategic mission to expand globally. The company, founded in 2002, had moved carefully and deliberately to establish its credibility in smaller projects at the Pan American Games in 2011 and at the London Olympics in 2012. Exposure via the Olympic Games would not only benefit GlobalMed, but the entire telemedicine industry. If the project moved forward, Coelho would need a comprehensive but adaptable project plan, including a thorough assessment of potential risks and challenges.

This case tackles the issue of recycling of poly-coated beverage cartons in the United States. In 2008, recycling access to the commodity was low, putting the industry at risk of losing market share to other forms of packaging. The protagonist of the case Alan Murray, then CEO of Tetra Pak North America, pulled industry leaders together under the Carton Council of North America (CCNA) to attempt to boost recycling access in communities across the U.S. to 60%, an amount that would allow the producers of products to carry the unconditional Federal Trade Commission logo on their packages. Still, improving access in small local communities would be difficult. In reading and discussing the case, students analyze the reverse supply chain for recycled cartons, the rationale behind lackluster access to recycling, and CCNA programs designed to reconstruct the reverse supply chain.

The case is based on an actual challenge faced by Christie's Hong Kong, the Hong Kong subsidiary of the renowned auction house. For its biannual auctions, the company needs to hire 200 to 300 temporary sales assistants and assign them to different positions on different days. The human resources team believes that the current manual process of hiring and assignment is labor intensive and is unable to cope with sudden changes. They are looking to streamline the process and use decision tools.

In 2012, Mr. Zablah, general manager at Operadora Logística Salvadoreña (OPLS), a third-party logistics operator (3PL) in El Salvador, had to introduce changes in company operations in order to outsource Christmas logistics operation of the largest supermarket chain in the country. To this end, he instructed the Process manager to do some research into world-class performance metrics and storage practices in order to compare them with those used by OPLS. He also asked the Operations manager to present warehouse options to run the Christmas operation. With this information, Mr. Zablah had to identify improvement opportunities and choose a warehouse.

From the late 1990s to 2006/2007, Samsung Electronics moved from one of 170 TV manufacturers to gain dominant TV market share year over year from 2007-2013. As digital technologies increasingly converged in 2013-2014, the industry faced new questions: What was the future of TV? The case considers Samsung Electronics TV Group's product development processes, as the company's mobile and TV offerings increasingly converged and consumer demands and behavior pushed the historically clear boundaries of product, content, engagement and interaction.

Since 1976, Yamato had enjoyed steady growth in the Japanese domestic parcel delivery market. Yamato had maintained its leading position in Japan through its highly acclaimed TA-Q-BIN service. However, with changing demographics and market conditions, the business landscape had been changing. Overdependence on the domestic delivery business limited the overall growth of Yamato. Furthermore, the growth of the TA-Q-BIN business in Japan was limited by the stagnant growth of Japan's economy. Makoto Kigawa, president and then chairman of Yamato Transport, had been relentlessly pursuing business restructuring as well as promoting productivity improvements. His goal was to increase the share of the delivery business related to overseas markets from four to twenty per cent of total revenue by the time of Yamato's centennial celebrations in 2019. How could he successfully implement the TA-Q-BIN service system in overseas markets such as Taiwan, Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Malaysia?

Namo Alloys, a medium-size, secondary-metal manufacturing firm, is seeking to expand by investing in new technology. The co-founder's challenge is to select a technology that aligns with the company's sustainable manufacturing philosophy by creating not only economic value but also sustainable societal and environmental values that will ensure triple bottom line value creation for all company stakeholders.

BGI has the largest installed gene-sequencing capacity in the world, and to Zhang Gengyun, general manager of the Life Sciences Division, this represented an opportunity to apply his training as a plant breeder and his early career work as a biochemist to improving important parts of the world food supply. But his biggest challenge was in scaling up his organization to address the multitude of opportunities he wanted to address. Along with its massive investments in gene sequencing machines and computing resources for data analysis, BGI had built a large cadre of data scientists who could develop and run programs to sift through the mountains of genetic data that were being generated every day. But the approach raised other questions. Could people trained in traditional fields of botany, biochemistry, and animal husbandry simply use the BGI sequencing platform as a black box, much as people in other industries relied on specialization and a modular division of labor? Or did it take the kind of cross-training and cross-boundary work in which Zhang himself had invested two decades of his professional career? Could the data scientists in BGI's "factory" grow sufficiently to understand the science, and was that now even necessary?

Since 1976, Yamato had enjoyed steady growth in the Japanese domestic parcel delivery market. Yamato had maintained its leading position in Japan through its highly acclaimed TA-Q-BIN service. However, with changing demographics and market conditions, the business landscape had been changing. Overdependence on the domestic delivery business limited the overall growth of Yamato. Furthermore, the growth of the TA-Q-BIN business in Japan was limited by the stagnant growth of Japan’s economy. Makoto Kigawa, president and then chairman of Yamato Transport, had been relentlessly pursuing business restructuring as well as promoting productivity improvements. His goal was to increase the share of the delivery business related to overseas markets from four to twenty per cent of total revenue by the time of Yamato’s centennial celebrations in 2019. How could he successfully implement the TA-Q-BIN service system in overseas markets such as Taiwan, Singapore, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Malaysia?

Namo Alloys, a medium-size, secondary-metal manufacturing firm, is seeking to expand by investing in new technology. The co-founder’s challenge is to select a technology that aligns with the company’s sustainable manufacturing philosophy by creating not only economic value but also sustainable societal and environmental values that will ensure triple bottom line value creation for all company stakeholders.