Happy and Healthy New Years from our team of coauthors–Jay, Barry and Chuck. As we close out 2025, we wanted to share the ten most highly read posts this year.
- The Supply Chain of the Future— a story of the “connector states” in Asia, led by Vietnam and Cambodia
- Top Five Global Supply Chain Risks–which include climate change, tariffs, cybercrime, rare minerals, and forced labor
- How China’s BYD is Squeezing Suppliers in the EV Price War–The Chinese automaker follows the word neijuan, which refers to a situation in which people work hard and compete fiercely without anyone getting ahead.
- Why Is It So Difficult for Robots to Make Your Nike Sneakers?— Nike has poured millions into an ambitious effort to partly automate what has always been a highly labor-intensive industry.
- The U.S. Made T-Shirt–Walmart has pledged to buy more items that were made, grown or assembled in the U.S.
- Supply Chains and Tariffs–Some manufacturers have reconfigured supply chains by reshoring portions of production, by nearshoring—leveraging the USMCA free trade agreement (see Ch.2) to source more from Mexico and Canada—and by growing trade with countries such as India and Vietnam, which offer cost advantages.
- Holy Guacamole!–Few companies can match Chipotle Mexican Grill’s avocado appetite.
- U.S. Energy Independence and Manufacturing–Over the past two decades the U.S. has evolved from a degree of foreign-energy dependency that threatened its economy and national security to the premier energy producer in the world.
- McDonald’s Gives Its Restaurants an AI Makeover–The fast-food giant’s new initiative uses artificial intelligence to target order accuracy and help restaurants detect equipment issues before they fail
- Starbucks Uses New Technology to Fill Orders Faster–Starbucks says new technology is helping fix one of its customers’ biggest gripes: waiting too long for their coffee