Volume 8, 2014

"From Domestic to International to Global Sourcing: An Alignment Issue"
by Tomas Hult, David Closs, and David Frayer (Volume 8, Number 1, pp. 1-4, 2014)

Executive Briefing: The core of the article illustrates the disconnect that exist internally in multinational corporations between top management and purchasing managers in the area of sourcing, especially international and global sourcing. There is a misalignment here that needs to be carefully worked out to leverage strategic sourcing the best possible way in corporations. This article is based on material developed for one of the sections of the 2014 business trade book titled Global Supply Chain Management: Leveraging Processes, Measurements, and Tools for Strategic Corporate Advantage, authored by Tomas Hult, David Closs, and David Frayer.


"How Global Should Your Supply Chains Be?"
by Tomas Hult, David Closs, and David Frayer (Volume 8, Number 2, pp. 1-12, 2014)

Executive Briefing: The starting point for determining global leverage and achieving maximum total value in global supply chains is to address three basic questions: (1) How global is our industry? (2) How global should our strategy be? (3) How global should our supply chains be? With global supply chains forecasted to increase their strategic influence on companies’ performance from 21 to 25 percent in 5 years and the need for today’s supply chains to become 43 percent more global in the next decade to stay competitive, we offer nine guidelines for managing global supply chains to help companies reach this increased strategic focus and globalization of supply chains.


"Interview with “AMS Great Mind” Dr. Tomas Hult"
by Cinthia Beccacece Satornino (Volume 8, Number 3, pp. 1-6, 2014)

Doctoral student, Cinthia Beccacece Satornino from Florida State University, served as the “new mind” interviewing Dr. Tomas Hult of Michigan State University as a part of the Academy of Marketing Science’s “AMS Great Mind” series. The interview focuses the trinity of research success: research productivity, successful co-authorship, and publishing, from Dr. Hult’s unique perspective as a prolific and successful researcher who also serves as the editor to one of our more prestigious journals, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS). The interview was first published in the AMS Newsletter, May 2014 (AMS Newsletter Editor: Diana Haytko; AMS Great Mind Section Editor: Angeline Close Scheinbaum).


"Market Potential Index 2014 (MPI©) Ranking of Major Countries for Market Expansion and Export Potential"
by Tunga Kiyak, Erkan Kocas, and Ajit Kunnathur (Volume 8, Number 4, pp. 1-6, 2014)

Executive Briefing: The Market Potential Index (MPI©) is a systematic and formal analysis which was originally developed by the MSU International Business Center to identify aggregate market potential and rankings for 26 emerging countries in 1996. In 2014, the number of countries ranked was increased to 87 in order to cover a wider range of markets globally. This article presents the complete index (MPI©), which covers the 87 largest markets in the world, as well as the indicators used to measure different dimensions of these markets and the related weights of these dimensions used for the calculation of the index.


"Training for Brand Protection: What Your Team Needs to Know"
by Jeremy M. Wilson and Rodney Kinghorn (Volume 8, Number 5, pp. 1-3, 2014)

Executive Briefing: Brand Protection is a growing concern among corporate executives, particularly those who operate in the global marketplace. Training for those tasked with this function is critical, yet existing resources and knowledge about needs are few. Based on extensive industry interaction, this article identifies the areas in which staff needs training and highlights some opportunities available through the Michigan State University Center for Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection


"The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)"
by Paulette L. Stenzel (Volume 8, Number 6, pp. 1-3, 2014)

Executive Briefing: The proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is receiving increasing attention in the United States, especially from the business community. Many U.S. businesses support it while others in the U.S. and around the world oppose it. Therefore, it is important to understand what the TPP is designed to do and the reasons for conflicting opinions.