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MANAGING PROJECTS

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Projects represent nonroutine business activities that often have long-term strategic ramifications for a firm. In this chapter, we examined how projects differ from routine business activities and discussed the major phases of projects. We noted how environmental changes have resulted in increased attention being paid to projects and project management over the past decade. In the second half of the chapter, we introduced some basic tools that businesses can use when planning for and controlling projects. Both Gantt charts and network diagrams give managers a visual picture of how a project is going. Network diagrams have the added advantage of showing the precedence between activities, as well as the critical path(s). We wrapped up the chapter by showing how these concepts are embedded in inexpensive yet powerful software packages such as Microsoft Project. If you want to learn more about project management, we encourage you to take a look at the Web site for the Proj...
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Creating a Sustainable Supply Chain

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In the context of supply chains we can build on the triple bottom line philosophy to encompass the wider idea that sustainability is concerned with ensuring the longterm viability and continuity of the business as well as contributing to the future well-being of society. Indeed, it can be argued that these two goals are mutually supportive, i.e. supply chain strategies that benefit the wider environment are likely also to involve the business in less cost in the long term as the result of a better use of resources.
Practical steps can organisations take to improve the transport-intensity of their supply chains: review product design and bill of materials, review sourcing strategy, review transport options, Improve transport utilisation, Use postponement strategies.
The 3Rs of sustainable supply chain management – reduce, reuse and recycle – are now starting to receive much more attention in most companies today. There is a growing realisation that not only is a strategy focused on improving the environmental impact of economic activity good for all who live on this planet, but because such strategies consume fewer resources the overall profitability of the business should also improve.
One of the key issues when considering sustainable supply chain solutions is traffic congestion and the related infrastructure issues. In probably the majority of countries, developed and developing, the creation of logistics infrastructure has not kept pace with the level of economic activity. This is true for all types of infrastructure, including roads, ports and railways. Gridlock on motorways, container vessels waiting to unload at ports and bottlenecks on the railways are common occurrences in many countries and add to carbon emissions as well as adding cost to suppliers and customers alike.

 

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