What does it take to succeed at global trade management?
By Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 5/1/2005 12:00:00 AM
A March 2005 survey report, New Strategies for Global Trade Management, finds that nine out of 10 midsize and large manufacturers say they now do business in China. And half of respondents say more than 25 percent of their suppliers are located internationally.
Nevertheless, more than half of all companies surveyed say their global trade management system is based on paper and spreadsheets.
The report—authored by Beth Enslow, VP of enterprise research, AberdeenGroup—gives the following recommendations for improving global trade management:
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Automate—but not until manual processes have been reengineered, and standardization enforced.
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Create institutional capacity for managing global trade cross-functionally, and implement corporatewide performance measurement.
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Eliminate complexity (of carriers, logistics providers, and IT systems) wherever possible, but design for flexibility and plan for contingencies because things will break.
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Challenge logistics partners to have the technology and information needed to manage processes effectively.
