It pioneered the use of bar-code scanners, slick supply chains and inventory management tweaked to local purchasing preferences.

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Megastores are above all a product of the computer age: only with automated supply chains and inventory management can such retailers achieve such efficiencies and agility.

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Firms that are successful in building these capabilities have enormous opportunities, not just for risk mitigation, but for the creation of business value through proactive management of supply chains and identification of new areas for growth.

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This uncertainty is contributing to ongoing conservative cash management in some supply chains.

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Part of comprehensive water management means getting a better hold on supply chains.

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He and his colleagues at the Stanford Global Supply Chain Management Forum are in business to help firms run their supply chains more efficiently and effectively.

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Companies looking to streamline supply chains should look no further than their storage shelves, where innovations in inventory management can increase efficiency, and reduce long-term costs.

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In fact, multitasking is a requirement of operations management, that venerable branch of business studies that deals with how factories, supply chains, and research projects are run.

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She says that her company's innovations in content management, editing and color correction would transform film production "the same way SAP transformed supply chains" for industry.

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