A Decade of Supply Chain Management

Over at Global Guerrilla's, John Robb has posted an article about Brands and Hollow Nation-States in which he discusses how the nation state is becoming a brand, much has many corporations have so become.

This corporate movement toward placing an emphasis on branding did not emerge in a vacuum. Rather it is related to recent developments in corporate logistics. As A Decade of Supply Chain Management, in their overview of the last decade's developments in supply chain management, states:

# Offshoring and outsourcing see dramatic growth. Percent of “value added” by final seller of manufactured goods drops into the 15-25% range for many companies. Virtual supply chains go from vision to reality. It was early in this past decade when companies like Levi’s jettisoned their own plants to become brand companies.

This movement toward branding is closely integrated with a parallel movement toward tightly integrated global supply chains, which this article outlines.

These supply chains, in turn, are coming under increasing stress.