All these concepts have gained attention during the last decade and, very likely, will assume even greater attention in the future.

References

1. Ayyub, B.M. , 2003, "Risk Analysis in Engineering and Economics", Chapman & Hall/CRC, Florida - ISBN 1-58488-395-2
2. (The) Business Continuity Institute (BCI), 2005, "Good Practice Guidelines 2005 - A Framework for Business Continuity Management"
3. Chapman, R.J., 2006, "Simple Tools and Techniques for Enterprise Risk Management", John Wiley & Sons. England, ISBN 978-0-470-01466-0
4. Christopher, M., 2003, "Creating Resilient Supply Chains: a Practical Guide", Cranfield University School of Management. ISBN 1-861941-02-1
5. Hendricks, K.and V.R. Singhal, 2005, "The Effect of Supply Chain Disruptions on Long-term Shareholder Value, Profitability, and Share Price Volatility"
6. ISO: International Organization for Standardization, 2002, "ISO/IEC Guide 73 - Risk management - Vocabulary - Guidelines for use in standards"
7. Miccolis, J.A., Hively, K. and B.W. Merkley, (2001), "Enterprise risk management: trends and emerging practices", The Institute of I
   Dealing with Change and Change Management
   How do you deal with change?There is a lot of talk about "change" - how important it is, how we should alter the way we do to things at work and in our personal lives in order to be more effective. Sometimes we even hear how it is essential to change even if just for change's sake.At Impact Factory, we too think that change is important. However we are more interested in the process of change and what the implications of change actually are.We exist within contradiction. On the one hand, we need stability and perform well when we feel secure and established in our working and home lives. On the other hand we can become stagnant, complacent and uncreative when we shy away from change or when we find we simply cannot cope with it.How can we bring these two ideas together so that we can rest easier and deal better
   Risk management concepts have been around for several years, but they have generally been bounded to the financial area. Today, according to common experience and evidences, the supply chain is where risk management is assuming a critical role, since it is where risk becomes most damaging for a company: in fact, the last decades have been characterized by several events (i.e. earthquake in Kobe in 1995, terrorist attack to WTC in 2001, SARS in 2002-2003) that have disrupted supply chain operations repeatedly (Tang, 2006).

   One of the main factors that contributed to disruptions is the lean attitude (lean production or lean manufacturing) that took a relevant role in academia and industry during the 90s, pulling the demand for streamlined manufacturing systems with expected zero-inventory and just-in-time movement of goods. In current volatile era, with businesses and, more specifically, supply chains becoming increasingly global, the industrial environment is heavily affected by uncertainty, which can potentially turn out into unexpected disruptions.

   According to a study funded in 2006 by Accenture Consulting, three out of four top supply chain executives at major U.S. enterprises say they have had a disruption in the past five years from which it took at least a week - and sometimes several months - to recover, and the risks are increasing.

   Moreover, as the results of a survey conducted on 1150 companies in UK show (Woodman, 2006), CEO's and top managers are nowadays getting aware that potentially disruptive events have to be explicitly identified, properly prevented and effectively offset.

   In contrast, supply chain managers have so far kept their efforts on efficiency gains, aiming at reducing cost at the expense of an increased risk of disruptions. A study from Forrester Research carried out in 2002 reports that almost 90% of a sample of senior supply chain executives indicated, as their top supply chain priority, the need of improving operational efficiency; only the remaining 10% were more sensitive to flexibility and robustness (Hendricks et al. 2005).

   In this context, some concepts have emerged as decisive for the competitive management of modern supply chains: these are declined in literature as operational risk (NSW, 2005 and BCI, 2005), enterprise risk management (Hallikas et al., 2004; Chapman, 2006), business continuity (Christopher, 2003; Sheffi, 2005; BCI, 2005) and business vulnerability (Christopher, 2003).

   Hence, I provide some basic definitions that could help in entering this somewhat new world:

   - Risk Management: as defined by the ISO IEC Guide (ISO, 2002), it is a set of coordinated activities to direct and control an organization with regard to risk. In other words, a process by which a company tries to ensure that the risks to which it is voluntarily exposed are those ones it is eventually willing to tackle during the course of its routinary activities.

   - Enterprise Risk Management (ERM): is defined as a rigorous and coordinated approach to assessing and responding to all risks that affect the achievement of strategic and financial objectives of an enterprise (Miccolis, 2001).

   - Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM): can be defined as the systematic identification and assessment of potential supply chain disruptions with the objective to control exposure to risk or reduce its negative impact on supply chain performance. Management of risk includes the development of continuous strategies designed to control, mitigate, reduce, or eliminate risk.

   - Business Continuity Management (BCM): as defined by the Business Continuity Institute, BCM is "an holistic management process that identifies potential impacts that threaten an organisation and provides a framework for building resilience and the capability for an effective response that safeguards the interests of its key stakeholders, reputation, brand and value creating activities" (BCI, 2005).

   - Business Vulnerability: supply chain vulnerability is defined as an exposure to serious disturbances, arising from risks within the supply chain as well as risks external to the supply chain (Christopher, 2003). In other words, vulnerability is a result of any weakness within a complex system that can seriously jeopardize its activities (Ayyub, 2003). Vulnerability strictly relates to business continuity planning (and, hence, to risk) through the concept of vulnerability management.

   - Resilient enterprise: the concept of resilience is related to the ability of the company to recover quickly from a disruption (Sheffi, 2005). That is, a resilient enterprise is built upon business continuity, which in turn relies on (enterprise) risk management and vulnerability management.

   All these concepts have gained attention during the last decade and, very likely, will assume even greater attention in the future.

   References

   1. Ayyub, B.M. , 2003, "Risk Analysis in Engineering and Economics", Chapman & Hall/CRC, Florida - ISBN 1-58488-395-2
   2. (The) Business Continuity Institute (BCI), 2005, "Good Practice Guidelines 2005 - A Framework for Business Continuity Management"
   3. Chapman, R.J., 2006, "Simple Tools and Techniques for Enterprise Risk Management", John Wiley & Sons. England, ISBN 978-0-470-01466-0
   4. Christopher, M., 2003, "Creating Resilient Supply Chains: a Practical Guide", Cranfield University School of Management. ISBN 1-861941-02-1
   5. Hendricks, K.and V.R. Singhal, 2005, "The Effect of Supply Chain Disruptions on Long-term Shareholder Value, Profitability, and Share Price Volatility"
   6. ISO: International Organization for Standardization, 2002, "ISO/IEC Guide 73 - Risk management - Vocabulary - Guidelines for use in standards"
   7. Miccolis, J.A., Hively, K. and B.W. Merkley, (2001), "Enterprise risk management: trends and emerging practices", The Institute of In
      Incorporation Of A Private Limited Company In India - Procedures And Steps Involved
      The process of setting up a new business is an exciting one but for a first time entrepreneur, the initial steps needed to legally set up a business entity can be a trifle confusing. Based on my experience as a first time entrepreneur myself, I have compiled a list of things that need to be taken care of for incorporating and starting the operations of a Private Limited Company in India. This is just a guide and usually, the best people to seek clarifications from are Chartered Accountants and Company Secretaries. It is just too difficult for a layman to keep track of the ever changing procedures, forms and laws and therefore, professional Chartered Accountants and Company Secretaries are of immense help in this process! The list mentioned below provides an overview of the important steps involved. 1. Company Registration <
      a disruption in the past five years from which it took at least a week - and sometimes several months - to recover, and the risks are increasing.

      Moreover, as the results of a survey conducted on 1150 companies in UK show (Woodman, 2006), CEO's and top managers are nowadays getting aware that potentially disruptive events have to be explicitly identified, properly prevented and effectively offset.

      In contrast, supply chain managers have so far kept their efforts on efficiency gains, aiming at reducing cost at the expense of an increased risk of disruptions. A study from Forrester Research carried out in 2002 reports that almost 90% of a sample of senior supply chain executives indicated, as their top supply chain priority, the need of improving operational efficiency; only the remaining 10% were more sensitive to flexibility and robustness (Hendricks et al. 2005).

      In this context, some concepts have emerged as decisive for the competitive management of modern supply chains: these are declined in literature as operational risk (NSW, 2005 and BCI, 2005), enterprise risk management (Hallikas et al., 2004; Chapman, 2006), business continuity (Christopher, 2003; Sheffi, 2005; BCI, 2005) and business vulnerability (Christopher, 2003).

      Hence, I provide some basic definitions that could help in entering this somewhat new world:

      - Risk Management: as defined by the ISO IEC Guide (ISO, 2002), it is a set of coordinated activities to direct and control an organization with regard to risk. In other words, a process by which a company tries to ensure that the risks to which it is voluntarily exposed are those ones it is eventually willing to tackle during the course of its routinary activities.

      - Enterprise Risk Management (ERM): is defined as a rigorous and coordinated approach to assessing and responding to all risks that affect the achievement of strategic and financial objectives of an enterprise (Miccolis, 2001).

      - Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM): can be defined as the systematic identification and assessment of potential supply chain disruptions with the objective to control exposure to risk or reduce its negative impact on supply chain performance. Management of risk includes the development of continuous strategies designed to control, mitigate, reduce, or eliminate risk.

      - Business Continuity Management (BCM): as defined by the Business Continuity Institute, BCM is "an holistic management process that identifies potential impacts that threaten an organisation and provides a framework for building resilience and the capability for an effective response that safeguards the interests of its key stakeholders, reputation, brand and value creating activities" (BCI, 2005).

      - Business Vulnerability: supply chain vulnerability is defined as an exposure to serious disturbances, arising from risks within the supply chain as well as risks external to the supply chain (Christopher, 2003). In other words, vulnerability is a result of any weakness within a complex system that can seriously jeopardize its activities (Ayyub, 2003). Vulnerability strictly relates to business continuity planning (and, hence, to risk) through the concept of vulnerability management.

      - Resilient enterprise: the concept of resilience is related to the ability of the company to recover quickly from a disruption (Sheffi, 2005). That is, a resilient enterprise is built upon business continuity, which in turn relies on (enterprise) risk management and vulnerability management.

      All these concepts have gained attention during the last decade and, very likely, will assume even greater attention in the future.

      References

      1. Ayyub, B.M. , 2003, "Risk Analysis in Engineering and Economics", Chapman & Hall/CRC, Florida - ISBN 1-58488-395-2
      2. (The) Business Continuity Institute (BCI), 2005, "Good Practice Guidelines 2005 - A Framework for Business Continuity Management"
      3. Chapman, R.J., 2006, "Simple Tools and Techniques for Enterprise Risk Management", John Wiley & Sons. England, ISBN 978-0-470-01466-0
      4. Christopher, M., 2003, "Creating Resilient Supply Chains: a Practical Guide", Cranfield University School of Management. ISBN 1-861941-02-1
      5. Hendricks, K.and V.R. Singhal, 2005, "The Effect of Supply Chain Disruptions on Long-term Shareholder Value, Profitability, and Share Price Volatility"
      6. ISO: International Organization for Standardization, 2002, "ISO/IEC Guide 73 - Risk management - Vocabulary - Guidelines for use in standards"
      7. Miccolis, J.A., Hively, K. and B.W. Merkley, (2001), "Enterprise risk management: trends and emerging practices", The Institute of I
         Your Career is Your Business
         For many of us, our job is our primary source of income. For some, it is the only source of income. We all invest time and effort and in return we receive a paycheck. That paycheck (in theory) allows us to take care of our families. It helps us buy food, clothing and shelter. If we work hard and control our spending, we may be able to save some of the money we bring home. This savings provides us with a sense of security. All of these basic needs – food, clothing, shelter and security – are linked to our job because work provides us with the means to satisfy them.It is not surprising that we bond emotionally with our jobs. We are attached to them because of their important role in meeting life’s basic needs. When we think about being fired, images of our children on a street corner begging for change flash through our minds. We
         2005) and business vulnerability (Christopher, 2003).

         Hence, I provide some basic definitions that could help in entering this somewhat new world:

         - Risk Management: as defined by the ISO IEC Guide (ISO, 2002), it is a set of coordinated activities to direct and control an organization with regard to risk. In other words, a process by which a company tries to ensure that the risks to which it is voluntarily exposed are those ones it is eventually willing to tackle during the course of its routinary activities.

         - Enterprise Risk Management (ERM): is defined as a rigorous and coordinated approach to assessing and responding to all risks that affect the achievement of strategic and financial objectives of an enterprise (Miccolis, 2001).

         - Supply Chain Risk Management (SCRM): can be defined as the systematic identification and assessment of potential supply chain disruptions with the objective to control exposure to risk or reduce its negative impact on supply chain performance. Management of risk includes the development of continuous strategies designed to control, mitigate, reduce, or eliminate risk.

         - Business Continuity Management (BCM): as defined by the Business Continuity Institute, BCM is "an holistic management process that identifies potential impacts that threaten an organisation and provides a framework for building resilience and the capability for an effective response that safeguards the interests of its key stakeholders, reputation, brand and value creating activities" (BCI, 2005).

         - Business Vulnerability: supply chain vulnerability is defined as an exposure to serious disturbances, arising from risks within the supply chain as well as risks external to the supply chain (Christopher, 2003). In other words, vulnerability is a result of any weakness within a complex system that can seriously jeopardize its activities (Ayyub, 2003). Vulnerability strictly relates to business continuity planning (and, hence, to risk) through the concept of vulnerability management.

         - Resilient enterprise: the concept of resilience is related to the ability of the company to recover quickly from a disruption (Sheffi, 2005). That is, a resilient enterprise is built upon business continuity, which in turn relies on (enterprise) risk management and vulnerability management.

         All these concepts have gained attention during the last decade and, very likely, will assume even greater attention in the future.

         References

         1. Ayyub, B.M. , 2003, "Risk Analysis in Engineering and Economics", Chapman & Hall/CRC, Florida - ISBN 1-58488-395-2
         2. (The) Business Continuity Institute (BCI), 2005, "Good Practice Guidelines 2005 - A Framework for Business Continuity Management"
         3. Chapman, R.J., 2006, "Simple Tools and Techniques for Enterprise Risk Management", John Wiley & Sons. England, ISBN 978-0-470-01466-0
         4. Christopher, M., 2003, "Creating Resilient Supply Chains: a Practical Guide", Cranfield University School of Management. ISBN 1-861941-02-1
         5. Hendricks, K.and V.R. Singhal, 2005, "The Effect of Supply Chain Disruptions on Long-term Shareholder Value, Profitability, and Share Price Volatility"
         6. ISO: International Organization for Standardization, 2002, "ISO/IEC Guide 73 - Risk management - Vocabulary - Guidelines for use in standards"
         7. Miccolis, J.A., Hively, K. and B.W. Merkley, (2001), "Enterprise risk management: trends and emerging practices", The Institute of I
            Lead Quality and Long Term Success
            The quality of a lead has been debated for years and will continue to be debated for the foreseeable future.Why?Because there is no standard definition for a quality lead. Advertisers and marketers typically try to define lead quality by asking questions like: Is a quality lead defined by conversion based on time? Is it based on Return on Investment (ROI)? These questions will continue to go unanswered because different businesses have different benchmarks when considering lead quality.Another prominent question is: Does lead quality diminish over time because of over-exposure?Again, there is no definitive answer, but I believe lead quality diminishes over time for 2 reasons: because most advertisers don’t “refresh” or “re-adjust” the ad; and because consumers become desensitized to the ad content due to over-ex
            ntinuity Management (BCM): as defined by the Business Continuity Institute, BCM is "an holistic management process that identifies potential impacts that threaten an organisation and provides a framework for building resilience and the capability for an effective response that safeguards the interests of its key stakeholders, reputation, brand and value creating activities" (BCI, 2005).

            - Business Vulnerability: supply chain vulnerability is defined as an exposure to serious disturbances, arising from risks within the supply chain as well as risks external to the supply chain (Christopher, 2003). In other words, vulnerability is a result of any weakness within a complex system that can seriously jeopardize its activities (Ayyub, 2003). Vulnerability strictly relates to business continuity planning (and, hence, to risk) through the concept of vulnerability management.

            - Resilient enterprise: the concept of resilience is related to the ability of the company to recover quickly from a disruption (Sheffi, 2005). That is, a resilient enterprise is built upon business continuity, which in turn relies on (enterprise) risk management and vulnerability management.

            All these concepts have gained attention during the last decade and, very likely, will assume even greater attention in the future.

            References

            1. Ayyub, B.M. , 2003, "Risk Analysis in Engineering and Economics", Chapman & Hall/CRC, Florida - ISBN 1-58488-395-2
            2. (The) Business Continuity Institute (BCI), 2005, "Good Practice Guidelines 2005 - A Framework for Business Continuity Management"
            3. Chapman, R.J., 2006, "Simple Tools and Techniques for Enterprise Risk Management", John Wiley & Sons. England, ISBN 978-0-470-01466-0
            4. Christopher, M., 2003, "Creating Resilient Supply Chains: a Practical Guide", Cranfield University School of Management. ISBN 1-861941-02-1
            5. Hendricks, K.and V.R. Singhal, 2005, "The Effect of Supply Chain Disruptions on Long-term Shareholder Value, Profitability, and Share Price Volatility"
            6. ISO: International Organization for Standardization, 2002, "ISO/IEC Guide 73 - Risk management - Vocabulary - Guidelines for use in standards"
            7. Miccolis, J.A., Hively, K. and B.W. Merkley, (2001), "Enterprise risk management: trends and emerging practices", The Institute of I
               Customer Service and the United States Post Office
               Running a post office is no easy chore and many times there is a line. Customers waiting in line obviously believe that if they have to wait too long that the customer service is no good. They equate their time being wasted to poor service. It is not difficult to run a post office, but it is difficult to staff the front office.This is because the customers come in spurts and there are mandatory breaks for the employees. Additionally many people go to the post office during their lunch break and that is the exact same time there are fewer front desk helpers at the post office working.Problems are compounded during the Christmas rush. Most of the post office’s are open additional hours to help alleviate some of the lines, but it is not so easy for them to add extra people on duty during Christmas only like UPS does.ty management.

               All these concepts have gained attention during the last decade and, very likely, will assume even greater attention in the future.

               References

               1. Ayyub, B.M. , 2003, "Risk Analysis in Engineering and Economics", Chapman & Hall/CRC, Florida - ISBN 1-58488-395-2
               2. (The) Business Continuity Institute (BCI), 2005, "Good Practice Guidelines 2005 - A Framework for Business Continuity Management"
               3. Chapman, R.J., 2006, "Simple Tools and Techniques for Enterprise Risk Management", John Wiley & Sons. England, ISBN 978-0-470-01466-0
               4. Christopher, M., 2003, "Creating Resilient Supply Chains: a Practical Guide", Cranfield University School of Management. ISBN 1-861941-02-1
               5. Hendricks, K.and V.R. Singhal, 2005, "The Effect of Supply Chain Disruptions on Long-term Shareholder Value, Profitability, and Share Price Volatility"
               6. ISO: International Organization for Standardization, 2002, "ISO/IEC Guide 73 - Risk management - Vocabulary - Guidelines for use in standards"
               7. Miccolis, J.A., Hively, K. and B.W. Merkley, (2001), "Enterprise risk management: trends and emerging practices", The Institute of Internal Auditors Research Foudation - Altamonte Springs, Florida
               8. NSW Small Business, 2005, "Risk management guide for small business", Department of State and Regional Development - ISBN 0-7313-32490
               9. Sheffi, Y., 2005, "The Resilient Enterprise. Overcoming Vulnerability for Competitive Advantage", The MIT-Press, Boston - MA
               10. Tang, C., S., 2006, "Perspective in supply chain risk management", International Journal of Production Economics, 103, 451-488
               11. Woodman, P., 2006, "Business Continuity Management (May 2006)", ISBN: 0-85946-445-8.

               HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
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