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Free Articles From The Current Issue
Who keeps the engines of global commerce running?Although what supply chain professionals do every day impacts commerce everywhere in the world, their role in corporate success and competitiveness generally has remained in the background.
Emerging consumer markets: the new drivers of global economic growth
Consumption is still largely concentrated in North America and Western Europe, but consumers in emerging markets are stepping onto the world stage in greater numbers.
Global trade trends down as local consumption slowly grows
Global trade levels declined by 1.3 percent in Quarter 3 of 2011 while domestic consumption continued to grow.
Time to come home?
To offshore, nearshore, or "reshore"? A total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis can answer that question. For some companies, TCO analyses are suggesting that manufacturing close to the point of consumption is the best choice.
A hard look at the soft side of performance
Supply chain scorecards typically focus on operational metrics. But if companies want to capture a true picture of supply chain success, they need to measure employees' interpersonal performance, too.
Most Read Articles
Germany gets top marks for international trade logistics
Germany leads the world in providing logistics capacity to facilitate international trade, according to Connecting to Compete 2010: Trade Logistics in the Global Economy, a new report by the World Bank Group. The world's largest economy, the United States, only scored 15th out of the 155 national economies ranked by the bank's Logistics Performance Indicator (LPI) index.
World Bank Group economists surveyed about 1,000 international freight forwarders and express carriers and compiled their assessments to develop the country rankings for the LPI Index. The index summarizes a country's performance in such areas as customs clearance, infrastructure, market competition for shipments, quality of domestic logistics services, track and trace capabilities, and adherence to delivery schedules. The quality of public sector institutions and effective border clearance procedures heavily influenced each country's score.
Not surprisingly, the study found a substantial "logistics gap" between rich countries and most developing nations. Still, the report noted, some developing countries have made strides in such areas as modernization of customs, the use of information technology, and the development of private logistics services. "If developing countries want to come out of the (current economic) crisis in a stronger and more competitive position, they need to invest in better trade logistics," said Otaviano Canuto, World Bank vice president for poverty reduction and economic Management.
Among developing countries, South Africa was ranked highest on the logistics index in Africa; China was top scorer in East Asia, India in South Asia, Poland in Central and Eastern Europe, Brazil in Latin America, and Lebanon in the Middle East.
This was the second time the World Bank Group conducted this type of analysis. It published a similar ranking of country logistics performance in 2007.
- Germany
- Singapore
- Sweden
- The Netherlands
- Luxembourg
- Switzerland
- Japan
- United Kingdom
- Belgium
- Norway
[Source: Connecting to Compete 2010: Trade Logistics in the Global Economy, The World Bank Group]
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