Global Logistics: New Directions in Supply Chain Management

by Donald Waters (Editor)

Now integral to the long-term plans of nearly all businesses, the field of logistics is evolving remarkably fast, encompassing communications, IT and sustainability. With contributions from a range of logistics specialists, this widely adopted text has been newly revised to represent the current trends, best practices and latest thinking in global logistics, including up-to-date analysis of China and Eastern Europe.

Genres: Nonfiction, Business

436 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 2007

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't understand how come there is at least a 7th edition of this book. But maybe supply chain management is just talking nonsense and the technical real-life issues of how goods are transported are addressed in another field.

[Jason Tonkovic · Rating 3 out of 5]

This title is well organized and offers a glimpse into general logistics trends. Decent read for someone looking to broaden horizons outside of their current service or focus area in the field. I found an abundance of strategic reasoning, backed by a few commercial examples supporting chapter ideas. The real-world application principles were slightly lacking, but the statement cases provided useful alternative viewpoints.

A good introductory primer that embraces wider interconnectivity within supply chains. Particularly Chapter 6 defining agile operations. I am always a proponent of agile methods, and one statement concerning misalignment stood out to me:
"How this often happens is that research and development (R&D) wants to innovate and expand product ranges, sales wants to create more opportunities to sell, while supply chain and operations want to avoid margin reductions from cost of complexity in operations. A lack of process integration leads to uncontrolled efforts disconnected from market opportunity."

That can very well hold true no matter what business you are in.