Nestlé’s Amazon distribution model

Photo: Marcia Zoet Bloomberg
Nestlé is planning to sail a supermarket barge down two Amazon River tributaries, namely Pará and Xingu rivers in Brazil. Nestlé wants to compete with Unilever in Brazil and aims to reach customers isolated from branded goods. Consumer goods companies are increasingly focusing on the one billion people in emerging markets estimated [...]

The World Bank Logistics Performance Index 2010 and Transformational Logistics

The World Bank LPI (Logistics Performance Index) 2010 has been released. This snapshot of selected performance indicators in nearly 130 countries demonstrates clearly the correlation between logistics performance and sustainable economic growth. This year, the analysis of this bi-annual Report has been expanded to include information on the time, [...]

Vietnam’s textile industry: opportunities and challenges

Vietnam’s textile industry has increased significantly since normalizing relationships with the United States in the 1990’s. Vietnam was granted most favoured nation status (MFN) in December 2001, which led to a dramatic reduction in import tariffs in the US market. Vietnam’s induction to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007 and the Vietnamese government’s strong [...]

Public-private partnerships- Where can companies contribute?

Like the private sector, many not-for-profit organizations are involved in supply chain logistics, aiming to get needed products to their clients as efficiently as possible.  In emerging markets such as Tanzania, streamlining in-country supply chain can be a complicated undertaking. Many not-for profit organizations are acknowledging that their supply chain capability and capacity, while a [...]

Cross-docking: The need for speed

In today’s high velocity supply chain world, companies are increasingly focusing on distribution methods that will drive efficiency and increase customer satisfaction. Gone are the days where customer service was merely a buzz word. With the focus on customer service, companies have moved away for a supply driven business towards a demand driven business.  Companies [...]

Thoughts on ethics and the Supply Chain

Writing on the abolition of the British slave trade in 1807, G.M. Trevelyan, the historian, called it “one of the turning circumstances in the history of the world”. As we look to Logistics to make a more transformative impact on global business practice, we could turn to the campaign waged by William Wilberforce and the [...]

Slums – Beyond the perception

Personally, I am not very fond of the term, slums. I think it is loosely defined term for a type of informal market. However, with all their problems and challenges there is a lot to learn from slums from a business perspective.
Entrepreneurism – slum areas are highly entrepreneurial, with a high degree of business activity. [...]

The private / public mix in health logistics

I guess that it will be clear how important the public sector is for health logistics in developing countries. But how about the public sector? What could be its role?
Combine the words “logistics” and “private sector” in one sentence, and obviously third party logistics (or 3PL) will jump immediately to mind. However, there are very [...]

The informal market

Robert Neuwirth writes about the informal economy in Lagos, Nigeria, and its importance to the local economy. Local governments mostly view these informal markets in a negative way, even though they contribute significantly to the economy.
Some interesting points:
The demand for economic activities takes over everything as bridges are transformed into informal markets. The informal sector [...]

Key distribution issues in emerging markets – Updated

Channel strategy – companies must map out a clear channel strategy and identify which channel the selected distributor will service. A poorly defined channel strategy can severely damage any distributor roll-out. It is critical that companies understand how channels function and operate. One size does not fit all.
Selection criteria – companies need to understand the [...]

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