In late November this author penned a guest commentary on the Infosys Supply Chain Management blog that outlined our belief that retailers should anticipate different supply chain fulfillment capabilities for the upcoming 2011 holiday buying season.

Because of the reality of a rather challenging year of supply chain disruptions in 2011, we warned on the possibility of retailers not having the most popular and desired products the consumer wanted because suppliers would fall short of meeting holiday demand spikes.  We just posted an updated guest commentary, The Real Headline for the 2011 Holiday Buying Season- Need for Balancing Retailer Online and Fulfillment Process Investments, noting that initial evidence thus far, particularly what occurred at Best Buy again drive home the premise that investments in multi-channel operations (MCO )and responsive supply chain inventory management are often the best complement to effective multi-channel and online commerce plans.

Please share your own comments and observations on the Infosys Supply Chain Management blog..

Bob Ferrari

Disclosure: Infosys Limited is one of other named sponsors of this blog.

Just about a year ago, I penned a guest posting on the Infosys Supply Chain Management blog that commented on the pending 2010 holiday buying season and how consumers would test retailer multi-channel operations (MCO) and synchronization.

As retailers now launch into the 2011 holiday buying season, the environment for both consumers buying strategies and the continuity of supply for in-demand items have changed and will require retailers to place a more diligent emphasis on both MCO and responsive supply chain inventory management.

You can access and comment upon this 2011 holiday buying season commentary on the following Infosys Supply Chain Management web link.

Bob Ferrari

Next week we will be attending the annual conference of the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) being held in Philadelphia.  This is one of the premiere educational and professional conferences among the supply chain management community and we are looking forward to catching-up with friends and colleagues.

If readers are planning on attending, please stop us in the hallways or send us an email. We will be hosting one of the tables at the Roundtable Luncheon on Tuesday, representing the New England Regional Chapter of CSCMP.  Supply Chain Matters will also be blogging some of our impressions and observations from this year’s conference.

Bob Ferrari, Executive Editor

I was recently invited by the staff of China Sourcer, a quarterly newsletter style magazine published by the China Sourcing Information Center, to contribute a thought leadership article.  The article appears in the March 2011 edition and has the title: Constant Reminders to Buyers on the Volatility of Balancing Supply And Demand Planning.

In this article I provide some current day reminders of product demand volatility that too often permeates many industry supply chains today, particularly those related to high tech and consumer electronics.  Given these situations, I offer some recommendations to procurement buyers in their efforts to collaborate with suppliers based in China.

You can download the entire March 2011 edition of China Sourcer by clicking on this link. The article can be found under the Project Management banner, starting on page 14

Bob Ferrari

As a follow-up to my attendance at the recent Sterling Commerce Customer Connection 2010, I had the opportunity to provide a more detailed overview of my impressions and conversations held at the conference, particularly in the perspective of the current state of global supply chains.

You are welcomed to view this commentary in my guest posting on the Infosys Supply Chain Management Blog.

Bob Ferrari