Even as Chuao focuses on larger-scale logistics, managers keep an eye on little details.

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In Germany, where Deutsche Bahn is roaring ahead with its express trains and its global freight and logistics business, many managers came from Lufthansa, bringing airline techniques.

ECONOMIST: Face value

Unfortunately for the harder-headed managers who prefer logistics to human development, none of the four operational practices showed a significant effect on company performance.

ECONOMIST: What's in the journals, September 2008

Just in industries directly related to autos, trillions of dollars change hands each year flowing to and from auto insurers, auto financiers, service and repair shops, rental agencies, taxi operators, fleet managers, oil companies, transportation and logistics companies, emergency rooms, health insurers, medical practices, personal-injury lawyers, government taxing authorities, road-construction companies, parking-lot operators, and on and on and on.

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For example, supply chain managers are accountable for more than just delivering economy and efficiency to the sourcing of products and logistics of delivery.

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Increasingly, supply chain managers are accountable for delivering more than economy and efficiency to the sourcing of products and to the logistics of delivery.

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