@Risk

In August, Everest reported a third consecutive quarter of increased transaction volumes in the outsourcing industry. But, a new study indicates that companies haven’t optimized their outsourcing processes.

According to Everest, the 12 percent Q2 increase was fueled by Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) services –with deals from banking, financial services and insurance firms (the BFSI sector) contributing one-fifth of overall global market activity, and North America and Europe driving three-fourths of all global transactions.

Market Vista: Q2 2010, Everest’s quarterly report on global outsourcing and offshoring activity, reports global transaction volumes for the second quarter were valued at US$3 billion in annual contract value (ACV). North American transaction activity in the second quarter increased 3 percent but ACV declined by 16 percent compared to the previous quarter. (more…)

New proposed federal legislation, H.R. 6167, the “Shipping Act of 2010,” aims to significantly change the way that the international liner shipping industry is regulated in US foreign trades.

But, does it go too far?

The World Shipping Council (WSC) thinks so.

According to a 16-page report released by the WSC earlier this month, enacting the bill would be detrimental because the new legislation would: (more…)

Businesses learned an important lesson over the past few years of economic turmoil:

Efficient supply chains are increasingly essential to maintaining prices and generating new revenue.

In fact, in a recent survey of supply chain executives from 20 different industries worldwide, more than three-fourths of participants (78 percent) said that in the last 12 to 24 months, the emphasis on supply chain management has increased.

The results also show that leaders took advantage of hard times to build market share. When asked if the downturn had resulted in changes to market share, 37.5 percent said their shares had gone up; another 22.5 percent said they went down. (more…)

In the wake of the worst global financial meltdown since the Great Depression, most corporations are turning the spotlight on their risk management practices and company culture. But, new research suggests that many enterprises have a long road ahead of them as they work to develop robust risk strategies and improve disclosure.

For instance, in a recent analysis of proxy statements from the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500, filed in 2010, Deloitte found that only 22 percent cited that the company’s chief executive officer had any involvement or responsibility for risk management.

What’s more, Deloitte also discovered that among the 398 companies it studied: (more…)

Last week, BMW Group opened a new 1.2 million square feet manufacturing facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

The Plant Spartanburg expansion cost upwards of $750 million and will allow the company to beef up production of the new BMW X3. The facility improvements included construction of a new assembly hall for the X3 and expansion of the Body and Paint Shops for higher production capacities. As a result of these upgrades, BMW expects Spartanburg’s production capacity to increase by 50 percent from 160,000 to 240,000 units by 2011.

The company says 1,600 new employees will be needed to support the increased production. About 1,000 have already been hired, and the remainder will be hired by the end of the year. These new hires will increase the total number of jobs at the plant to 7,600. (more…)