Growth and Renewal in the United States: Retooling America's Economic Engine*

New research by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) examines the growth challenge facing the United States and explores how U.S. business and government can contribute to the economy's renewal by reinvigorating their drive toward higher productivity. As baby boomers retire and the female participation rate plateaus, the U.S. economy will receive significantly less lift from increases in the labor force and will have to rely increasingly on productivity gains to fuel growth. The report finds that the United States needs a 34% acceleration in productivity growth if it is to match the GDP growth rates of the past 20 years—and that this is possible. Three‐quarters of the necessary productivity growth acceleration can come from the efforts of private‐sector companies operating within the current regulatory and business environment. Even the best‐performing companies and sectors still have headroom to boost productivity by emulating the best practice of others and tapping into new innovations, and coming up with new innovations of their own. The remaining one‐quarter—and more—can come from government and business working together to address barriers that now limit growth. MGI lays out a seven‐point agenda for action to spur productivity.     

Interlocking of information systems for international supply and demand chains management

This paper is concerned with coordination aspects of supply chain management and, in particular, investigates setup coordination between two and three stages of a supply chain. The problem arises from a real application in the production chain of a kitchen furniture plant. In different stages of the plant, items are grouped according to different attributes. A setup is required in a stage when the new batch has a different level of attribute from the previous one. Two objectives are considered, i.e., minimizing the total number of setups and minimizing the maximum number of setups of the stages. The problem is to determine a sequence of batches in search for Pareto-optimal solutions with respect to the two objectives. Several metaheuristics, including genetic algorithm, simulated annealing, and iterated local search (ILS) have been proposed for the two-stage problem. In this paper, we develop a constructive heuristic, which combines a least flexibility first principle and a greedy search, for the two- and three-stage problems. Computational results show that the proposed heuristic performs significantly better than the genetic algorithm and simulated annealing. Although the proposed heuristic is inferior to the ILS, which employs two constructive initial solution heuristic, for the two-stage problem, it can be easily extended to the three-stage problem.     

银行业：并购之外可有蹊径？

20世纪90年代并购浪潮的势头已经削弱,美国银行业要寻找兼并以外的其他途径增加盈利:只有通过更好的价值定位和提高生产率来实现。银行要实现这些目标,必须在业务模式、客户目标、贷款和资产管理方法、运营和电子支付等方面进行革新。首席执行官在制定相关举措时会更多地顾及公司各项业务。     

How do supply chain management and information systems practices influence operational performance? Evidence from emerging country SMEs

This study first provides a comparative analysis of the impact of supply chain management (SCM) and information systems (IS) practices on operational performance (OPER) of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in two neighbouring emerging country markets of Turkey and Bulgaria. Then, we investigate moderating effects of both SCM–IS-linked enablers and inhibitors on the links between SCM and IS practices and OPER of SMEs. To this end, we first empirically identify the underlying dimensions of SCM and IS practices, and SCM–IS-related enabling and inhibiting factors. Second, a series of regression analyses are undertaken to estimate the impact of the study's constructs on OPER of SMEs. The results are discussed comparatively within the contexts of both Turkish and Bulgarian SMEs and beyond. The study makes a significant contribution to the extant literature through obtaining and analysing cross-national survey data of SCM and IS practices in emerging country markets.     

A causal analysis of the impact of information systems and supply chain management practices on operational performance: Evidence from manufacturing SMEs in Turkey

This study has empirically tested a framework identifying the causal links among supply chain management (SCM) and information systems (IS) practices, SCM–IS related inhibiting factors and operational performance based on a sample of 203 manufacturing SMEs operating in the manufacture of fabricated metal products and general purpose machinery within the greater metropolitan area of Istanbul in Turkey. Moderating effect of SCM and IS related enabling factors on the above mentioned relationships is also investigated in this study. Tests of hypotheses indicate that both SCM and IS practices positively and significantly influence the operational performance of sample firms. The results of the structural model also indicate a strong support for negative relationships between SCM–IS related inhibitors and the implementation levels of both SCM and IS practices. Similarly, a strong support was found for the hypothesized negative relationship between SCM–IS inhibitors and operational performance of SMEs. Finally, we verified the moderating impact of SCM–IS enablers on the link between SCM practices and operational performance. A similar moderating impact was also found with regard to the relationship between IS practices and operational performance.     

Business processes inter-operation for supply network co-ordination

In a global supply network, the overall improvement of operational efficiency and customer satisfaction can only be achieved through greater co-ordination and collaboration of all the network members. However, full benefits of close co-operation within a global supply network can only be achieved when the business processes of the individual companies can inter-operate. Currently available commercial solutions are inadequate in supporting full network co-ordination in terms of business process changes and technical arrangements. This paper proposes a system that aims to improve the co-ordination of production planning and control activities across the supply network. To achieve this, it is important to develop new business processes and principles for company collaboration and corresponding information systems. This process starts from the identification of business and system requirements, which underlie the general business solutions for network co-ordination, developing the guiding design principles and subsequent process design and system implementation.     

跨越鸿沟的五大应对之策

那些对社会政治问题于企业之重要性始终心存疑问的管理者在看过《麦肯锡季刊》对这一问题所做的引人注目的民意调查后，一定会疑云顿消。