It is clear to most of us that we live on a planet with finite resources. Although we all live within a strange paradox which assumes modern day economies can grow endlessly with an insatiable appetite for material resources. Currently we are showing few signs of decoupling economic growth from resource use; unless this decoupling…
Ever experienced the frustration of lacklustre customer service? Ever felt that the person on the other line was not really listening? Or wondered why they requested meaningless or irrelevant information? At TRG, we dislike poor customer service just as much as you do. In fact, it is our mission to make your life as simple…
(Image courtesy of cooldesign at FreeDigitalPhotos.net) Machine learning is a hot topic in the technology sector and its applications continue to change the way business is done. By analysing patterns and consistencies in a “teaching set” of data, machine learning can be used to solve many problems without (or with very little) human supervision. Machine…
The big international, independent, accredited third party inspection companies have facilitated international trade for hundreds of years. They have been the objective eyes and ears of distant importers – ensuring that products manufactured many time zones away from the final client where what was specified in the contract between the tier 1 supplier and the…
As someone who has studied economics and been an academic publisher of economics, I’m fascinated about how little the world we live in seems to resemble the world created by economists in their theoretical models. These models traditionally assume perfect competition, perfect information, and rational behavior on the part of buyers and sellers. The market…
Retailers and distributors have to cope with more risk in their supply chains (in terms of product and supplier performance), but increasingly have less technical capacity and financial resources to manage this – call it a ‘double squeeze’ . In January, 2017, Track Record Global ran a seminar at the Saïd Business School, Oxford ,…
Beyond tier 2 suppliers – what are the options for qualifying risks? Responsible companies have always been concerned about what makes up the products that they sell to their customers and how those ingredients or components got there. What are the risks of ‘bad things’ being included in traded goods or ‘bad things’ happening as…
Over the last few weeks some important supply chain risks have again come to the fore. A range of initiatives are however are addressing them. Slaves in the supply chain Under the Modern Slavery Act 2015, every company with a turnover of more that £36m and a footprint in the UK, has to produce an…
A TV host takes supermarkets to task on BBC’s Watchdog programme after her daughter’s Halloween costume catches fire. A chemical previously thought harmless and contained in thousands of consumer products suddenly shows up on an official list of extremely hazardous substances. A company with a strong public commitment to sustainability discovers inadvertently that much of…
Ensuring that practices such as modern slavery and child labour don’t find their way into supply chains is a serious challenge for modern businesses. As this article points out, few companies have visibility beyond their first tier of suppliers, and many commodities are sourced from countries where human rights risks are substantial, but mapping your supply…