‘Too big to fail’: How USAID’s $9.5B supply chain vision unraveled
Ten years ago, USAID unveiled the largest contract in its history, aimed at transforming health supply chains in lower-income countries. It has not gone according to plan.
Ten years ago, USAID unveiled the largest contract in its history, aimed at transforming health supply chains in lower-income countries. It has not gone according to plan.
Over the course of this year, several analysts have reported that online retailers are coming down off of their peak sales seen during the pandemic. So, what does this mean to the supply chain, and shopping habits going into the busy 2023 holiday shopping season?
North Carolina State University Professor of Supply Chain Management Robert Hanfield and Architecture & Tech Oklahoma State University Assoc Dean for Academic Affairs - College of Engineering Sunderesh Heragu discuss Black Friday shopping and the supply chain troubles.
With the arrival of Thanksgiving comes the holiday that shoppers look forward to every year: Black Friday.
One of the best ways to get a picture of a nation is through its numbers and, perhaps more importantly, its averages.
Jeff Cohen
Chief Strategy Officer
INFORMS
Catonsville, MD
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443-757-3565
An audio journey of how data and analytics save lives, save money and solve problems.

With seemingly no limit to the demand for artificial intelligence, everyone in the energy, AI, and climate fields is justifiably worried. Will there be enough clean electricity to power AI and enough water to cool the data centers that support this technology? These are important questions with serious implications for communities, the economy, and the environment.
It’s college graduation season, which means over 4 million seniors will graduate in the next few weeks, flooding the job market with new candidates. One area that has shown high potential for the right candidates is artificial intelligence and machine learning. Both disciplines are part of the larger data and analytics career path.
Drugs being explicitly developed to treat rare diseases are getting more expensive.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as the new secretary of Health and Human Services, is the nation’s de facto healthcare czar. He will have influence over numerous highly visible agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration, among others. Given that healthcare is something that touches everyone’s life, his footprint of influence will be expansive.
The recent US-China agreement to temporarily reduce tariffs is a major step for global trade, with tariffs on US goods entering China dropping from 125% to 10% and on Chinese goods entering the US decreasing from 145% to 30% starting May 14. While this has boosted markets and created optimism, key industries like autos and steel remain affected, leaving businesses waiting for clearer long-term trade policies.
With sweeping new tariffs on Chinese-made products set to take effect this summer, Americans are being urged to prepare for price hikes on everyday goods. President Donald Trump's reinstated trade policies are expected to affect a wide swath of consumer imports, including electronics, furniture, appliances, and baby gear. Retail experts are advising shoppers to act before the tariffs hit and prices rise.
Twenty years ago, few people would have been able to imagine the energy landscape of today. In 2005, US oil production, after a long decline, had fallen to its lowest levels in decades, and few experts thought that would change.
In the case of upgrading electrical and broadband infrastructure, new analysis from the University of Massachusetts Amherst reveals {that a} “dig once” strategy is almost 40% more economical than changing them individually.