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Managing supply chain risk can be extremely daunting due to the many moving parts in a supply chain. This article highlights this risk and suggests what firms operating in the global environment can do to manage it. It explains how organizations consider global sourcing for reasons of organization, improvement, finances, and revenues. A major under-appreciated factor in dealing with offshore suppliers is the element of risk, with one key risk factor being the cultural gap between two firms. The first levels of risks are familiar and include preconceived circumstances and are often based on past experience. The next levels, however, are typically less likely to be risk factors, but their consequences are more severe when they do become factors. Categories of risk include culture, distance, communication, urgency, and intellectual property. Leaders most often consider intellectual property, but neglect one or more of the other potential pitfalls. To illustrate supply chain risk, this article considers the example of a global French automotive parts firm with a problematic Greenfield operation in China. The operation’s supply chain crises resulted in the French firm spending far more than it had expected with a low-cost supplier. This article proposes fundamental changes to the French firm’s approach that would have led to cost savings: 1) source two suppliers at the outset; 2) spend the necessary time to understand the cultural and operational dynamics in China; and 3) embrace visibility as a simple and effective risk-assessment tactic.

...You can't control people through policies, procedures and policing. You can only do it through a strong risk management culture and absolute integrity in all leaders. Leadership on Trial, A Manifesto for Leadership Development, p. 39, comment recorded in Montreal. This observation is one of the thousands shared by the 300 C-suite executives, who participated in a series of candid discussions spearheaded by a group of Ivey faculty over the past year. Our basic purpose in bringing together these executives was to find out if better leadership could have made a difference in preventing the financial meltdown that led to the recent global economic crisis.

Most of the everyday communication between employees and managers is anything but truthful and candid.This iconoclast and management professor describes how leaders can create an environment in which the spoken truth will be recognized and rewarded.

The drive to build a sustainable company starts at the top, and is actively led all along the way by the CEO. Readers of this article will learn how the CEOs of two very different companies embraced sustainability and embedded the best practices for achieving it in their respective organizational cultures.

Many companies have outstanding products in terms of performance, technology and features. And yet, surprisingly, sales don't take off. Readers of this article will learn how leading products and services captivate the marketplace by having more than just the functions and features that customers value. Leading products also inspire and deliver benefits through emotional fulfillment that customers enjoy and seek out.

If a client doesn't control the consulting relationship, a project will fall short of expectations. Only when clients engage consultants based on merit and manage those consultants carefully, and only when company staff are seen as integral as the individual consultants, can companies hope to achieve or even exceed the goals they set. These authors tell readers how they can do that.

There may be no better training ground for being a good leader than the armed forces. This Ivey professor served in the Canadian Navy and the lessons he learned more than 20 years ago have guided his own life and his approach to teaching leadership. Readers will learn what those valuable lessons are in this article.

BP's horrible missteps after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded were almost predictable, given the culture of deceit and arrogance that executive actions had encouraged. While the accident could have been prevented, BP might have avoided its intense and deserved public flogging if only it had respected the best practices for managing a crisis and for managing. Readers of this article will learn what BP could and should have done differently.

In many organizations, employees know more about their work than their managers. This reality should force organizations that still cling to the old, top-down style of managing to recognize that many employees today are very capable of managing themselves. This author explains the Why and How of a new style of managing for today.

While American venture capital firms are coated with an aura of glamour they are also shrouded by a cloud of mystery. Just how do they operate? How do they raise their money? Why do some VC firms succeed while others do not? The authors of this article, who were given unprecedented access to key executives of prominent VC firms, answer these and other questions that will take readers inside one of the more mysterious, but critically important institutions in American business.

The smart, aware executive today is doing something different. He or she is asking questions. Almost like leading itself, asking has different techniques and styles. Readers will learn which ones are right and the best fit for them in this article.

Hunkering down may be the preferred strategy in tough economic times. But as these authors suggest, companies that recognize the opportunities and modify their business model, can actually grow. Managers will learn some key tactics that will make their companies stand up and out during tough times.

A manager who regularly steps in to solve a problem for an employee may think that he or she is helping. In fact, this well-intentioned manager is actually limiting - and hurting - the employee. The effective manager enables employees to utilize the full depth and range of their intellect and capabilities. In this article, readers will learn how managers can do that.

An interview with Tom Peters.

Coping with the complexity of today's business environment is not about predicting the future or reducing risk. It's about building the capacity, in yourself, your people, and the organization to adapt continuously and learn speedily, in order to maximize the chances of seizing fleeting opportunities. These authors' excellent suggestions will help today's leaders cope with complexity.

It may make sense to offer 12 varieties of lattes, at least to the company that markets the offering. In most cases though, too many choices create complexity and frustrate the customer. Moreover, there are times when the offering flummoxes the company's staff. Slimming and streamlining the offering is the way to go, says this author, who suggests 3 practical steps an organization can apply to simplify things.

No industry is as visible and active in the climate change debate as the energy industry. Almost every day, managers are addressing the short-term and long-term implications of their policies for dealing with this issue. The authors of this article studied 50 firms in the oil and gas industry and found that companies that address the short-term and long-term threats and opportunities of climate change can gain a significant competitive advantage.

Behind every successful leader is a vibrant culture that engages and energizes employees. In almost every case, that culture has been defined, shaped and personified by the leader. The CEO of a company in what is arguably the most competitive industry, financial services, describes the steps that he took, and that other leaders can take, to build a distinctive, dynamic culture.

Examining the failures of even the mightiest industrial organizations can be a valuable exercise. There are lessons to be learned and applied and others to be avoided at all costs. Managers who want to use those lessons to improve the performance of their own companies will find helpful suggestions in this article.

Call it unconventional or unorthodox, but Creative Execution which can be all of these things is designed to differentiate the company sharply and take it to previously unattainable heights. Leaders will understand why and how after they've read this article.