If Qualcomm were to plan for orders from Apple, there would be a ripple effect through the supply chain.

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The sector employs some three million people across a huge supply chain and has a strong multiplier effect on the UK economy.

BBC: Business

More companies, he reckons, are starting to realise that if they can move goods through a supply chain faster and more efficiently, the effect on their performance can be profound, going well beyond being able to keep stocks low.

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Because data can be stored, aggregated and reused in many ways, user data is in effect put back into the supply chain where it creates value on the long term.

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Temporary factors, including the damping effect of higher food and energy prices on consumer purchasing power and spending as well as supply chain disruptions associated with the tragic events in Japan, appear to account for only some of the recent weakness in economic activity.

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In terms of the effect, I believe that the effect of the -- on the supplies chain that was caused by -- the global supply chain, especially in automobile manufacturing, that was caused by the earthquake and tsunami, that that has certainly diminished.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing