Why small grocery stores are (still) out of toilet paper
An excerpt from CNN Business:
Known in the industry as "power buyers," large retailers have had an advantage for years when buying goods because they order larger quantities than smaller wholesalers do, said Rudolf Leuschner, associate professor of supply chain management at Rutgers University, who studies the relationships between suppliers and buyers.
Also picked up by: WRCB
An excerpt from Penn Live:
Rudolf Leuschner, associate professor of supply chain management at Rutgers University, studies the relationships between suppliers and buyers, and explained that “large retailers have had an advantage for years when buying goods because they order larger quantities than smaller wholesalers do,” the report said.
“It makes intuitive sense: Large retailers’ scale and buying clout make them a top priority for manufacturers,” Leuschner told CNN, “and they often get promotions, special packaging or new products early,” adding that manufacturers have to “give them the best service, the best on everything because they mean more to you.”
Leuschner further compared it to “how airlines give perks to first-class fliers over customers sitting in coach.”
The Wall Street Journal: Why Finance Executives Rely on Supply-Chain Finance: A Guide to the Financing Tool
An Excerpt from the Wall Street Journal:
As part of a supply-chain finance agreement, banks provide funding to pay a company’s supplier of goods and services. The supplier is then paid earlier—but less—than it would be paid without the agreement.
For small suppliers, the financing can provide money for their operations without having big companies extend their payment terms, potentially by months.
The company pays the money it owes the supplier to the bank, often later than it would have paid its supplier. The bank keeps the amount it doesn’t pay to the supplier in exchange for its services.
Supply-chain finance has been around for decades. Companies started using it more frequently after the 2008 financial crisis, when many businesses wanted to preserve cash on-hand by extending payment terms with vendors.
But there tends to be a barrier to entry for some businesses, especially those with weaker credit ratings. These ratings help determine the discount rate applied to the payment the supplier receives. The better the credit rating of a company, the cheaper it is for the supplier to participate in the program.
“Smaller companies have to just deal with the fact that their discount rates are fairly high,” said Rudi Leuschner, associate professor of supply chain management at Rutgers University.
Supply Chain Education: Keep the Change
An excerpt from the Inside Logistics article:
For several years, Rudolf Leuschner, Rutgers University associate professor in the department of supply chain management, has taught a class on risk mitigation. The 2021 course focuses exclusively on the pandemic.
Each week, guest speakers from different organizations virtually discuss challenges they've faced during the past year. Students break into groups to brainstorm potential solutions, and then the presenter discusses the approach the organization actually took.
When developing this version of the course, Leuschner and his colleagues "didn't know if 10 students or 100 students would attend," he says. As it turns out, enrollment was the highest it has been, at about 60. Most are current Rutgers students. They're joined by about a half-dozen alumni and several prospective students auditing the course.
Students say they appreciate learning firsthand the challenges encountered by supply chain professionals working through the pandemic.
Coronavirus has underscored the importance of resiliency in supply chains
“Rutgers Business School in New Jersey offers the Mini MBA in Digital Supply Chain, which is an executive education course. The majority of learners are leaders of organizations, or hope to become leaders.
The program currently covers ten topics across various parts of the supply chain, such as supply chain analytics, robotic process automation, supply chain finance and economics.
“Participants learn about what drives the supply chain of the future,” says Rudolf Leuschner, associate professor in the department of Supply Chain Management at Rutgers, adding that the curriculum has to change very frequently to keep up with developments in the sector.
Indeed, other courses in the Mini MBA now cover how the pandemic has affected supply chains and in particular, the importance of resilience. “Most customers have delayed payments to suppliers and there is a significant liquidity crunch affecting smaller and medium-sized suppliers,” explains Leuschner, adding that the economic disruption will continue even after the pandemic abates.
The updated content has been crucial for many participants: “We do not formally track [employment] outcomes, but anecdotally, we have heard about how our learners have received promotions and new [job] offers,” he says.”
https://executivecourses.com/articles/executive-courses-in-supply-chain-management
Grocers are scrambling to face another pandemic panic
NPR Marketplace
Not so predictive. Because a data model is only as good as its data, and computers don’t know how to factor in people’s unusual buying patterns during the pandemic. Rudi Leuschner, a professor of supply chain management at Rutgers, said retailers are going old-school.
“We use the supercomputer that everybody has built in right as they’re born, which is human intuition,” Leuschner said.
https://www.marketplace.org/2020/09/28/grocers-are-scrambling-to-face-another-pandemic-panic/
New supply-chain crisis during pandemic: not enough cans for food
An excerpt from NPR Marketplace:
Still, from a business perspective, it may not make sense for soup and can companies to invest large amounts of money to boost production, given things may return to normal in perhaps a year.
“We all want it to go back to the way it was,” said Rudi Leuschner, supply-chain management professor at Rutgers University. “I also don’t think that when this is all over that people are going to keep hoarding weeks of food in their house.”
The new money management-How fintech services are evolving and expanding
NJBIZ
How fintech services are evolving and expanding…
https://www.business.rutgers.edu/in-the-news/njbiz-new-money-management-rudi-leuschner
By Matry Daks
Baby formula shortages easing after coronavirus panic buying
USA Today, Baby formula shortages easing after coronavirus panic buying, but don't expect fully stocked shelves for months, Rudi Leuschner
USA Today
“It may take a while for anxious parents to shake off their fears and stop buying more than they need when they spot formula for sale online and off, says Rudolf Leuschner, associate professor of supply chain management at Rutgers Business School.
“As soon as there is some supply, customers keep buying it all up,” Leuschner says. “Even if manufacturers are trying to raise production, it may not be that easy because they may have to produce more of their other products as well. There is only so much you can raise production.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/04/17/coronavirus-shopping-baby-formula-infant-formula-shortage-covid-19/5139317002/
By Jessica Guynn