Supply Chain

The company started the new year by reworking internal communication standards and clearing calendars of all recurring meetings with more than three people.

Small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) hold the lion’s share of the supply chain. However, they lack in adoption of new technology, impairing their ability to be nimble when large world events interrupt the status quo. Greater investment in enterprise software and advanced manufacturing can better insulate supply chain SMEs and the global market at large.

Rusty Vanneman, chief investment strategist at Orion Portfolio Solutions, says that persistent inflation -- for longer than most observers are expecting -- is going to keep the Federal Reserve hawkish for longer, which investors will have to adjust to by diversifying away from the mega-cap stocks that have been a particular drag on portfolios this year. He suggests that investors look to small-cap stocks, non-US issues plus real assets and value investments to smooth out the ride in the year ahead. In The NAVigator segment, John Cole Scott of Closed-End Fund Advisors and the Active Investment Company Alliance looks back at 2022 for the closed-end fund industry and reviews his forecasts, most notably how his basket of five funds for the year came out ahead of the market and poised to rebound in the new year. Plus, University of Toronto professor Opher Baron discusses how retailers are changing return policies in response to consumer habits and global supply-chain issues -- saying that consumers must pay more attention than ever to how stores handle returns -- and forensic accountant Tracy Coenen -- author of 'The Marriage Money Guide (for Women)' -- discusses financial fidelity and how couples can keep their finances on the level so that money doesn't make them lose their minds.

One marketing expert says consumers who game the returns system are not helping the situation

Three years since an Australian Minister last stepped foot in Beijing, Penny Wong is on her way to meet with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

The backdrop to the visit is thawing relations between the two countries and increasingly strained global supply chains.

Guest: Tinglong Dai is a Professor of Operations Management and Business Analytics at Johns Hopkins University

The onus is on companies to exercise better due diligence, focusing on high-risk areas, avoiding shady recruiters, improving supply chain visibility and using tech to monitor and authenticate.

New COVID-19 cases in Clark County and statewide continued to increase this week but at a slower rate, while hospitalizations dipped, new state data shows.

A Vietnamese warehouse equipment manufacturer is suing Amazon. com Inc.’s robotics business, claiming that the e-commerce giant backed away from promises made early in the Covid-19 pandemic to support the supplier with millions of dollars in new purchases. 

In October, the Chinese government declared its zero-Covid policy to be the best and most cost-effective. That has made the strict policy’s sudden end in the past several days a surprise to many, even the policy’s fiercest critics. The rapid change has also sparked concerns about how potential new public health risks will further disrupt supply chains. Will this mark the beginning of the end of China’s dominant role in global supply chains? 

Holiday shoppers are finding that discounts among some of the items on their shopping lists are a little easier to find this year due to higher inventories at retailers, along with slowing demand due to inflation and certain recessionary economic conditions. At the same time, they may also notice that some retailers are slower to reduce prices to generate sales.