News You Can Use: 12/21/2016

  • Why Trump and the Tech Industry Are on a Collision Course

    During the campaign, Trump in turn lashed Apple for manufacturing too many of its products overseas. Stephen Bannon, the former chief executive of Breitbart—who has emerged as the ideological synthesizer of Trump’s worldview—has touted Democrats’ courtship of the technology industry as evidence the party had abandoned heartland workers for coastal elites. As Bannon recently told The Hollywood Reporter, “They were talking to these people with companies with a $9 billion market cap employing nine people. It’s not reality. They lost sight of what the world is about.”

    https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/12/trump-silicon-valley-tech/510584/?utm_source=feed

  • What Does It Mean to be “Strategic” in Supply Chain, Anyway?

    A study in Supply Chain Quarterly provides six models or “styles” of Supply Chain strategy, each suited to a different kind of industry: “efficient” Supply Chains, “fast” Supply Chains, “continuous-flow” Supply Chains, “agile” Supply Chains, “custom-configured” Supply Chains, and “flexible” Supply Chains. These names might seem like different terms for the same thing – and these words often get thrown around as buzzwords all over the industry. But the study’s author, Hernan David Perez, goes into deep detail about the differences in each strategic approach that shows the depth and complexity inherent in developing a truly strategic Supply Chain.

    https://blog.kinaxis.com/2016/12/mean-strategic-supply-chain-anyway/

  • Tech industry sees new talent pool in people with autism
    This isn’t new (but it is good)… SAP has been recruiting people on the spectrum for the last 4 or 5 years. 

    There’s no job interview, and differences in ability are taken into consideration during the application process. Once on the job, specialist staff help support the participants.

    http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2016/12/09/tech-industry-sees-new-talent-pool-people-autism

  • Words Of Advice From Millennials In Supply Chain Management

    Khan explains how she appreciates management that challenges her and suggests that employers need to recognize that not all millennials are the same – despite what the stereotypes might imply. The solution: get to know your millennial talent individually and take the time to understand their goals to help them reach their full potential. As the most educated generation, millennials are eager to apply their degrees in their work and they are driven to advance. However, that drive doesn’t necessarily mean they are willing to “job-hop”. Employers should strive to challenge millennials by rewarding performance with new responsibilities and opportunities to grow.

    http://www.strategicsourceror.com/2016/12/words-of-advice-from-millennials-in_8.html

  • To fix federal procurement, dump the DUNS number

    But one outdated technology still stands in the way of transparency: the DUNS Number.

    Twenty years ago, the federal government entered into an agreement with Dun & Bradstreet, Inc., to provide a numbering system to track contractors. In order to do business with the government, companies must pay Dun & Bradstreet to be issued a DUNS Number.

    Dun & Bradstreet continues to own every DUNS Number. That means anyone who wants to download or analyze the government’s public procurement data must buy a D&B license.

    http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-budget/308993-to-fix-federal-procurement-dump-the-duns-number

Photo: Jonatan Pie