Alastair Taylor

Get Ready to increase your supply chain IQ! We’ve got all the latest episodes, interviews, conversations, and livestreams right here from Supply Chain Now this week. On Monday, TEKTOK host Karin Bursa sat down with Scott to look back on 2020 and discuss what’s on the horizon for 2021   On Tuesday’s podcast episode, Kelly Barner joined Scott to discuss the lessons learned in 2020 and what’s to come in 2021.   On Wednesday, Scott welcomed Joe Donnell and Karl Fillhouer with Circle Logistics to talk about the recruiting and talent challenges they faced in 2020, consumer demand predictions after pandemic restrictions are lifted, & the next frontier in technological innovation.   On Thursday, Scott and Greg welcome Nurfad Nadarevic to the Supply Chain Buzz to discuss the COVID-19 vaccine distribution, automotive changes ahead, and more top news in supply chain this week.   We ended the week with an episode of TEKTOK, powered by Supply Chain Now, where host Karin Bursa shared the 3 Things C-Level execs need to know about Sales & Operations Planning & Inventory Optimization.   Which was your favorite episode this week? Never miss an episode by subscribing to Supply Chain Now! Make sure you…

Companies spend enormous amounts of time debating sustainability strategy. They invest in emissions reduction. They launch environmental initiatives. They publish ESG reports. They set ambitious goals. Yet many overlook a simpler question: Who is helping shape those decisions in the boardroom? Recent research published in the Journal of Business Logistics suggests that board composition may influence environmental performance in ways that executives do not fully appreciate. The study examined more than 2,000 firm year observations across 306 publicly traded business-to-business companies. The researchers explored whether having a customer or supplier represented on the board of directors affected a firm’s environmental performance. The answer was yes. But not in the way many executives might expect. Most discussions about board diversity focus on demographics, functional expertise, or independence. This research points to another form of diversity that may be equally important: where directors sit within the supply chain. A customer and a supplier can look at the same sustainability decision and see very different priorities. Those priorities often shape the choices firms ultimately make. The researchers found that companies with customer affiliated directors generally achieved stronger environmental performance. Customer representatives appeared to bring market knowledge and external stakeholder expectations into board discussions.…