Wednesday, June 4, 2014
TWIF Flattener #8 - Insourcing
Use one of the current events sources linked at http://svhs-hwc-fall2014.blogspot.com/2014/06/approved-sources-for-twif-current.html to find a recent news article that relates to, supports, or refutes Friedman's assertion that insourcing was a "flattener." Your comment should include the title of the news article, a link to the article, and a summary of the article including an explanation of how the article relates to this point. Don't forget to check your rubric for evaluation criteria!
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“Google, Barnes & Noble Take on Amazon with Same-Day Book Delivery”
ReplyDeleteFrom the Christian Science Monitor:
http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2014/0807/Google-Barnes-Noble-take-on-Amazon-with-same-day-book-delivery-video
By Bryan Cronan
In Chapter 2 of The World Is Flat, Friedman discusses insourcing. This business practice, an extension of supply-chaining, involves a third party that teams up with another company to analyze, redesign, and manage that company’s global supply chain and delivery. In this article by Bryan Cronan, I discovered that Google has teamed up with Barnes & Noble Booksellers. In this arrangement, Barnes & Noble uses Google Shopping Express services to offer one-day delivery on books. Cronan explains that the main reason for this partnership was to “challenge their mutual rival Amazon.” The new corporate alliance will also help both involved companies: Google’s shipping service will attract more public notice and popularity, and Barnes & Noble can gain business by offering a cheaper shipping rate than its competitor Amazon.
The article “Google, Barnes & Noble Take on Amazon with Same-Day Book Delivery” coincides with the discussion about insourcing in The World Is Flat. In that section, Friedman supplies information about UPS and its little-known services that plan and manage other companies’ delivery supply chain. He argues that this type of service provides small companies, who otherwise could not create a global supply chain, with equality to large ones. Furthermore, insourcing allows companies to focus on their actual product and not on its delivery: “Nike would rather spend its cash and energy designing better tennis shoes, not supply chains” (Friedman 169). In my opinion, insourcing in this way is a very clever and beneficial business practice because it lets shipping companies specialize in efficient and innovative shipping, while other companies specialize on their particular product without worrying about delivery or supply chain management. Reading Cronan’s article helped me learn about another substantial use of insourcing that I had not previously realized: teaming up against shared corporate enemies.
Overall, although not on as large of a scale as UPS, Google Shopping Express is helping to create a cheaper, competitive, and more efficient supply chain through insourcing. Cronan’s article revealed that there are other benefits to insourcing besides just gaining efficiency in delivery. In conclusion, the article reinforces and expands upon Friedman’s general argument with a similar discussion about insourcing.
UPS and FedEx Christmas Shipment Delays Cause Anger
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-25516386
In chapter 2 of the World is Flat, Friedman explains that the 8th flattener is in-sourcing. He also talks about how companies such as UPS and FedEx are a big part of flattening the world since people rely on these companies so much to supply them with everything they order and they ship things all around the world and it only takes a week or less. This article is about how over Christmas in 2013, there was a delay in deliveries in many shipping companies. It also tells how people became outraged at the delay which just goes to show how much we rely on these companies and it affects many people if they can not perform their jobs.