Holidays push online shopping toward mainstream

Holidays push online shopping toward mainstream (News.com). "More broadly, e-commerce sales continue to rise as mainstream consumers go online and get more comfortable using their credit cards on the Net. U.S. consumers are expected to spend about $16.8 billion online during November and December, an increase of 21 percent from the same period in 2002, according to Jupiter Research. That's partially thanks to the number of people shopping online, up by 10 million this year to 64 million."

Is Technology Delivering on its Productivity Promise?

Is Technology Delivering on its Productivity Promise? (Financial Executive). "When done right, there is no question that IT has the power to transform a business. Dell Inc., Cisco Systems Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are examples of companies that have mastered technology. Not only do such companies intelligently manage technology, they each recognize that the process of "work" itself will also change.

"How should work be redesigned?" "Who does it?" "Where does it get performed?" These are among the questions that must be asked and answered as new technologies are applied. The next round of technology-driven productivity improvement will require not only the intelligent application of technology, but also massive work changes."

Wal-Mart could save 8.35 billions per year by using RFID

Case Study: Wal-Mart's Race for RFID (eWeek). "The ability to know where every item is in the supply chain and store could save retailers billions of dollars per year. Here's an estimate of what Wal-Mart might save annually when RFID technology is deployed throughout its operations.

* $6.7 Billion: Eliminating the need to have people scan bar codes on pallets and cases in the supply chain and on items in the store reduces labor costs by 15 percent.
* $600 Million: Even with the most efficient supply chain on earth, Wal-Mart suffers out-of-stocks. The company boosts its bottom line by using smart shelves to monitor on-shelf availability.
* $575 Million:Knowing where products are at all times makes it harder for employees to steal goods from warehouses. Scanning products automatically reduces administrative error and vendor fraud.
* $300 Million: Better tracking of the more than 1 billion pallets and cases that move through its distribution centers each year produces significant savings.
* $180 Million: Improved visibility of what products are in the supply chain-in its own distribution centers and its suppliers' warehouses-lets Wal-Mart reduce its inventory and the annual cost of carrying that inventory.
* $8.35 Billion: Total pre-tax saving is higher than the total revenue of more than half the companies on the Fortune 500."

In business real-time supply chains are the future

Your Product's a Hit (Forbes). "In business the future is real-time supply chains. This development is made possible by a new wave of technology: radio-frequency ID chips the size of pepper grains, broadband wireless and Web-based "dashboards" enabling monitoring and management. Because smart supply chains can be done, they will be done. In fact, they are being done. Manufacturers and retailers now deploying smart supply chains will jump the learning curve and become the Wal-Marts and Dells of the 21st century. Don't imagine that you can withdraw from this arms race. Smart supply chains are becoming the sine qua non of modern business. "

Trade is just another technology

The Irony of Outsourcing (VentureBlog). "But we won't [ban new techonlogies], because technological progress makes us all wealthier. Our bargain with each other is that we can't stop the technology that hurts our own jobs (trade) as long as others can't stop us from producing the technology that hurts theirs. In the end, we'll do better living in a society that is advancing rather than one that protects all our current positions by preventing innovation."

Clayton Christensen on how companies can both endure and disrupt

The Industrialized Revolution (Fast Company). "Eighty percent of the cases used in the typical MBA program are about successful companies," says Christensen. "Students graduate with this notion that 'If I do everything that the people in those cases did, then my organization will grow and be successful, too.' But in many ways, the causality goes the other direction. If you're successful and growing, you can manage any way you want to. Growth makes so many dimensions of management easier. It's when growth stops that things get tough."

Claytonsen's new book The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustaining Succesful Growth is the sequel to his very good 1997 book The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail.

Online retail sales up 27 percent for Q3 2003

Online retail sales up 27 percent (news.com). "Online retail sales rose by 27 percent during the third quarter of 2003, according to a report released Friday by the U.S. Department of Commerce."

Dell on R&D, utility computing and Linux

The pragmatic radical (news.com). "We don't think percentage of revenue is a good measure of success in R&D. We look at it as--what do we need to spend to accomplish what we need to accomplish?" (Michael Dell, CEO of Dell, Inc)

Salaries and total cost of production

This Manufacturer Isn't Moving to China (Business Week). "Ken Kannappan, CEO of headset-maker Plantronics, explains why he's keeping most production in North America -- Mexico, that is."