Light manufacturing in Tanzania and beyond

Skills has to be seen as key in any focus on sustainable growth and, as with the example from Sri Lanka and the German led vocational skills centre Tanzania is exploring the same agenda. The World Bank has just produced a Report on “Light Manufacturing in Africa” and, at the launch in Dar-es-Salaam, Emmanuel Ole Naiko made clear [...]

Evolving Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)

Managing supplier relationships used to be a zero sum game. Most companies focused on short terms goals where price was the main focus. Bullying suppliers were commonplace in some organizations. Employees took great pride in “facing down suppliers” and relationships were viewed on “how much money we will make”. However, with the increase in outsourcing [...]

Transforming the Indian leather industry

Robert Bell writes: Years ago I worked in a company called Irish Leathers in a place called Carrick-on-Suir in Ireland. I followed the process through from the livestock in the surrounding fields; the slaughter house; raw skin collection and then, the production of wet blue hides before the finishing process began. The colouring and plate [...]

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 [...]

House of Sampoerna

I made a stop last week in Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city. The city is also home to Sampoerna, the well known Indonesian tobacco and cloves company. The company was founded in 1913 and was the first publicly listed kretek cigarette company on the Jakarta Stock Exchange. The visit included a stop at the House [...]

Tsukiji fish market

I recently visited the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo. It is the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world and is also one of the largest wholesale food markets of any kind. The market is located in Tsukiji in central Tokyo. The market handles more than 450 different types of seafood at the [...]