Green Mountain preferred to keep the chain of coffee shops intact and operating under the Tully's name.
For a company like Apple (AAPL) that relies heavily on Japanese partners for critical components for its iPhone and iPad, the decision to keep its supply chain lean has painful implications when faced with the disruption caused the Japanese disaster.
But with interest rates low and housing inventory continuing to decrease, there is a runway for builders, property owners and companies throughout the housing food chain to keep reaping the benefits of a comeback.
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And we need more of those, so you keep on studying the supply chain management.
Besides, a company might want to keep control of its supply chain to protect its brand and knowledge.
Last month EU farm ministers approved a programme to destroy all older non-BSE tested cattle to keep them out of the food chain, affecting up to two million animals.
The losers will include those (like Borders, an extinct chain of bookshops) that keep selling things people are happy to buy online.
One chain may run lean to keep inventory costs low, whereas another may be more flexible to enable it to respond to new opportunities as they arise.
Half its clients need help essentially to squelch a competitor's project--a supermarket chain, say, wants to keep a big box out of town.
The secret of success in this new M2M world is creating a rich ecosystem that can maximize the value and keep costs low at each step of the chain that runs from the devices all the way up back up to the data center.
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The biggest union, Unite, wants to keep production, design and as much of the supply chain as possible in Britain.
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Buying from TGI Friday's wasn't an option, they found, as chain restaurants pay top dollar to buy and keep liquor licenses.
Over the past decade or so the just-in-time concept of having supplies delivered at the last minute, so as to keep inventories down, has spread down the global manufacturing chain.
One of the biggest reasons why Apple has managed to keep its margins high is through its tightly controlled supply chain, which gives it a greater bargaining power while negotiating the cost of its supplies.
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For now, a lack of catalysts may keep the stock performing in line with the market, although signs of overheating in the semi value chain are worth monitoring carefully.
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