External articles

Will China Lose Its Cost-Competitiveness in Pharma Manufacturing by 2015?
September 2010 — Life Science Leader
With macro trends impacting China's pharmaceutical manufacturing, Western companies have a range of options to stay cost-competitive, but the solution will need to be aligned with the company's strategy, supply chain capabilities, and product / supplier portfolio — and the solutions have varying degrees of reward and implementation complexity.
By Axel Erhard, Vishal Bhandari, and Saurabh Tejwani
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A Focused Journey to Achieve Carbon Neutrality
25 August 2010 — SupplyChainBrain
The expertise and experience of the sustainability practice guided the development of the internal carbon-reduction program, and at the same time the rigor of the internal analysis and resulting innovations provided insights for clients’ sustainability programs.
By Mike Wise
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Rebalancing Quality Priorities
18 August 2010 — IndustryWeek.com
To reenergize their quality focus, companies should manage quality as a customer experience, address quality issues with sophisticated risk management approaches, and transform the quality function to become a source of strategic value.
By Joachim Ebert, Vijay Natarajan, Andrew Newsom, David Qu
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Indirectly Accountable
July 2010 — CPO Agenda
Indirect procurement may be shrugging off its “paper clips and printer paper” reputation, but are organizations managing these spend categories to their full potential?
By Simon Rycraft and Jan-Fokke van den Bosch
[Read Article] — From the contents page, click on “report from A.T. Kearney”

Is Your Training Past Its Sell-By Date?
August 2010 — Talent Management Magazine
It's easy to overlook the impact of talent management on CPG success, but retailers are quick to recognize the value of CPG companies that have high-quality sales talent management programs.
by Beth Bovis, Donna Stella, Melanie Mityas, Brian Lynch
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Rethinking IT Application Outsourcing Contracts
July/August 2010 — Supply Chain Management Review
With IT application development and maintenance outsourcers fighting to hang on to business, now is the perfect time to revisit outsourcing contracts.
By Bob Haas, Arjun Sethi and Venkat Tummalapalli
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To Boost Sales, Stock a Little of Everything
Q2 2010 — Supply Chain Quarterly
The answer to the problem of low-volume SKUs may seem counterintuitive, but experience shows benefits from stocking small quantities of every product at every store and centralizing replenishment decisions.
By Laurent Chevreux
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The End of Outsourcing (As We Know It)
10 August 2010 — Bloomberg Businessweek
Who will emerge as the new leaders? Google and Amazon.com, brands that we associate with search and retail, will become better know for outsourcing.
By Arjun Sethi and Olivier Aries
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New neighbors, new threats — an all-cloud mobile future?
11 August 2010 — Connected Planet Online
The battle continues: Device manufacturers, Web services players and traditional telcos are expanding their product and services footprint to occupy key customer control points.
By Bernhard Kickenweiz
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Where the Money Isn't
Summer 2010 - MIT Sloan Management Review
In theory, IT innovation is important — except it's often not a priority in company budgets.
By Bob Haas, Christian Hagen
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Getting from Here to There - How railroads can save our highways from gridlock
Second Quarter 2010 — The Milken Institute Review
In the search for ways to increase the productivity of surface transportation, some of the lowest-hanging fruit is getting short shrift -- we estimate that every $1 invested in the intermodal transportation network would yield $5 to $8 of benefits in terms of less congestion, reduced shipping costs, and fewer traffic injuries.
By Randy Garber and Amiya Setu
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Is there a cloud at the end of the telco pipe?
5 April 2010 — Connected Planet Online
For all the talk of telcos trying to get a higher share of chief information officers’ wallets, there is little to show in one of the hottest recent trends: software as a service or cloud computing.
By Augusto Morais
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Oil-Sands Lessons
April 2010 — Oil and Gas Investor
Improving the design and execution of large oil-sands capital projects could significantly reduce life-cycle costs, and research provides seven keys for managers of smaller projects.
By Neal Walters, Vance Scott, and Hakan Civi
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How to Unlock $43 Billion in Value by Improving Working Capital Management
April 2010 — PharmaPro
Raising the average working capital performance level of pharmaceutical companies to that of the industry’s top quartile would result in freeing up $43B of cash -- money which could be productively invested in research, marketing and other value generating initiatives.
By Carol Cruickshank, David Hanfland, Paul Inglis, Shiv Shivaraman
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Globalization enters a new era: What course will it take?
March/April 2010 — Corporate Finance Review
Globalization is entering a new era and it will take collective, purposeful policies to ensure it continues.
By Paul Laudicina
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Driving Growth through Ultra-Low-Cost Product Development
17 February 2010 — Industry Week
For emerging and developed markets, ultra-low-cost products are here to stay and offer rich rewards for companies that follow 10 imperatives for success.
By Joachim Ebert, Shiv Shivaraman, and Paul Carrannanto
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Supplier Carbon Management
11 February 2010 — Procurement Leaders
Having worked closely with the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) on a detailed study, A.T. Kearney offers several pointers on how to drive carbon reduction through supplier relations — from better training to supplier dumping and improved metrics.
By Stephen Easton and Daniel Mahler
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iCPO, We’ve Got an App for That!
January/February 2010 — Supply Chain Management Review
A future where most of your coworkers reside not in the next cubicle over, but across the corporate campus, in another city, state or even the other side of the globe. Far from being the exception, this is the new normal.
By Carrie Ericson, Hugo Evans and Joe Raudabaugh
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Crystal Ball 2.0: Crazy Ideas for 2010
14 December 2009 — Telephony Online
Alex Liu, A.T. Kearney partner and lead for Americas Communications & High Tech, reviews the results of his 2009 predictions and makes a few new ones for 2010, commenting that "The future is getting less cloudy."
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Brazil — A Country of Regeneration
September 2009 — Inside Supply Management
Brazil is positioning itself as a near-shore alternative for organizations that are re-evaluating global sourcing strategies.
By Ricardo Ruiz-Huidobro and Markus Stricker
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Time to Renegotiate Those 'Mega' IT Deals?
July/August 2009 — Financial Executive
As the global economy slows down and financial executives move to trim costs and improve efficiency, the IT mega deal is ripe for renegotiation.
By Bob Haas, Jonathan Zanger and Juan Llanos
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The Real Storm Is Yet to Come, Can Wireless Turn the Tide?
11 May 2009 — Telephony Online
Bad news and good news -- scenario planning will help wireless carriers get ready to take more bold action so they are prepared for the real storm that is approaching.
By Bernhard Kickenweiz
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Some Thoughts about how to Survive the Retail Crisis
12 January 2009 — Mass Market Retailers
Retailers who successfully act on basic tenets will improve their survival chances, strengthen their companies, and position them to take full advantage of the cyclical upturn when it returns.
By Esteban Bowles, Sanjay Srikanth and Anthony Romano (recent EVP and chief supply chain officer at Ann Taylor Stores Corp.)
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Making a key decision in a downturn: Go on the offensive or be defensive?
January/February 2009 — Ivey Business Journal
In an economic downturn, decision-making is distilled in to a clear-cut choice: Do you go on the offensive, aggressively pursuing growth, or do you become defensive, protecting your revenues and profit margins?
By Graeme K. Deans, Chaitan Kansal and Steve Mehltretter
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Cost and Sustainability: The Dual Challenge for Retailers
22 September 2008 — Mass Market Retailers
There is a near perfect storm facing retailers,including those that traditionally thrive in tough economic times: an economy increasingly battered by rising global commodity costs, a severe housing crisis and high gasoline prices.
By Dean Hillier and Raju Karki
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Emerging Markets Full of Promise
11 August 2008 — Mass Market Retailers
Michael Moriarty, A.T. Kearney Lead for Americas Consumer & Retail, discusses the impact of the current credit economy on global retailers.
By Michael Moriarty
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Podcasting: A New Way to Create, Capture and Disseminate Intellectual Capital
August 2008 — Information Outlook
In today's Web 2.0 world, leading-edge organizations need to harness the many different ways of capturing knowledge.
By Helen Clegg and Susan Montgomery
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More Passengers and Reduced Costs—The Optimization of the Berlin Public Transport Network
Fall 2008 — The Journal of Public Transportation
The Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) has succeeded in increasing its revenue by more than 22 percent in three years. This increase was made possible by restructuring the transportation network as part of an integrated marketing strategy.
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Pruning 'Bad' Complexity
July/August 2008 — BAI Online
Customized products can help or hinder financial institutions depending on how they manage the attendant complexity.
By Joe Reifel, Christian Hagen and Eric Stettler
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How to Define and Maximise Intangible Benefits from Hosting Sporting Events
3 June 2008 — SportAccord
Every event host is keen to ensure a successful legacy, but how can benefits that are defined by being "invisible" have a value?
By Emmanuel Hembert, Don Schumacher (National Assoc. of Sports Commisions), Candace Stasynec (City of Edmonton), Ilias Tatsiopoulos (National Technical Univ. of Athens) and Dr. Claude Stricker (AISTS)
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Get Control of Your Inventory
April 2008 — Supply & Demand Chain Executive
To a chief financial officer, inventory is often a line item on the balance sheet that measures inventory turns against the income statement. This COGS analysis provides an overall view of how much inventory is held across the company's supply chain. What it doesn't provide are the reasons why the inventory is there in the first place.
By Sumit Chandra, Mirko Martich, Shalin Shah and Kumar Venkataraman
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How to achieve maximum value from data synchronization
February 2008 — Canadian Grocer
In an industry such as grocery where net profits are in the low single digits, every small improvement can mean the difference between profit and loss.
By Paul Inglis
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Posted with permission from Canadian Grocer.

Low-Cost-Country Sourcing
January/February 2008 — eSide Supply Management
There are many factors that herald Latin America's rising popularity as a low-cost-country sourcing alternative to Asia.
By Ricardo Ruiz-Huidorbo
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Lean product management: High-tech manufacturers boost profits by reducing product complexity
11 January 2008 — Manufacturing Business Technology
The combination of lightning-swift product development cycles and intense price competition has left electronics and computer hardware manufacturers looking for new approaches to improve their cost positions.
By Joachim Ebert and Michael Baum
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Hitting Back: Strategic Responses to Low-Cost Rivals
January 2008 — Strategy & Leadership
The way to beat low-cost competitors that have the potential to become serious competitors is to identify and deal with them early, before they get a foothold in a market.
By Jim Morehouse, Bob O'Meara, Christian Hagen and Todd Huseby
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Tailor catalogs to capture savings
13 December 2007 — Purchasing.com
Most companies put enormous effort into clinching the sourcing deal with a supplier, but less effort into teaching employees outside the procurement organization how to buy under the new contract terms. Online catalogs can solve the problem.
By Randy Watson and Suman Sakar
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Stars and Keepers
7 December 2007 — ChiefExecutive.net
About half of all mergers and acquisitions fail to deliver value, depending on what study you’re reading. There is one culprit that's seldom identified but is especially important when the deal involves not the acquisition of physical plants or new geographic markets, but something softer and more difficult to manage—intellectual capital.
By Andrew Green, Melanie Schmidt and Chris Barbin (Appirio, Inc.)
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The Three Things You Need to Get Right in Your Extended
Value Chain
December 2007 — Supply & Demand Chain Executive
As companies increasingly rely on extended supply chains, focusing on these critical operational resources can ensure top performance.
By Steve Mehltretter and Vadim Kapustin
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One on One with Paul Laudicina: Challenges and Opportunities in a New World
26 June 2007 — Consulting Magazine
Paul Laudicina took over as CEO of A.T. Kearney last fall. Consulting Magazine sat down with him to get his take on the future of the business.
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It's Not Easy Being Green
April 2007 — Inside Supply Management
These suggestions may give you a head start in helping your company choose the right path toward environmentally friendly best practices.
By Daniel Mahler and Linda Olsson
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Guru interview: Dan Starta
April 2007 — Emerald for Managers
A.T. Kearney’s Daniel Starta talks about the next wave of new technology and the importance of perfect timing to reap its benefits.
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From CPO to CEO
April 2007 — Inside Supply Management
The road to the corner office may not be such a long haul after all, based on recent advancements by supply management professionals.
By John Blascovich
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Value-Based Sourcing: Comparing Apples with Oranges
Winter 2006-07 — cpoagenda.com
A.T. Kearney consultant Jules Goffre explains how moving from a sourcing process based on minimising cost to one based on maximising value means embracing supplier differences.
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Guru interview: Christian Hagen
March 2007 — Emerald for Managers
A.T. Kearney's Christian Hagen talks about how organizations that understand which technologies will set them apart can invest more effectively.
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Update 2007: The Regional Agenda - USA
January 25, 2007 — World Economic Forum
"Hopefully our talk will be broad - not just Iran/Iraq, but also focus on the cogent domestic issues facing the United States," Paul A. Laudicina, Chairman of the Board and Managing Officer, A.T. Kearney, USA, urged panelists and participants, some of whom had stayed up to see President Bush's State of the Union address. And the discussion was broad, but Iran and Iraq dominated the remarks.
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What Makes Demographics Drive Other Trends?
November 5, 2006 — University of Chicago Graduate School of Business
Demographics are the "sleeper driver" that will affect several other trends, according to Paul Laudicina, managing officer and chairman of the board for A.T. Kearney, in this interview with dean Edward Snyder of the University of Chicago's Graduate School of business.
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A New World of Risk: Protect Your Company When It Takes the Global Plunge.
September 15, 2006 — CIO.com
This summer's train bombings in Mumbai hit close to home for American CIOs with offshore operations in India. This time, no U.S. companies reported major interruptions. But in an increasingly integrated world, CIOs can't afford to be reactive in their management of global risk, says Paul Laudicina, recently appointed chairman of A.T. Kearney and author of World Out Of Balance: Navigating Global Risks To Seize Competitive Advantage.
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Is the World Really Out of Balance?
July 24, 2006 — Global Services
Paul A. Laudicina is A.T. Kearney’s newly elected Chairman of the Board. He is also known for his 2004 bestseller World Out of Balance on integrating risk into business and planning for change, rather than reacting to it. Laudicina spoke with Juhi Bhambal, Global Services’ Executive Editor-Print, in his first exclusive with the media after his election.
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