RC TOM Challenge 2017

November 15, 2017

Read The Full Prompt

The TOM Challenge provides an opportunity for students to learn more about supply chain management by exploring how organizations are grappling with some megatrends: climate change, digitalization, and the growing influence of isolationist political movements on international trade policies.  These 700-800 word essays should address four questions:

  1. Why is (or should) your particular aspect of one of these megatrends be of concern to the management of the organization you have selected?
  2. What is the organization’s management doing to address this concern in the short term (the next two years) and the medium term (3–10 years out)?
  3. What other steps do you recommend the organization’s management take to address this concern in the short and medium terms?
  4. What are one or two important open questions related to this concern in the context of the organization you selected that you are unsure about, which merit comments from your classmates?

When posting your essay to Open Knowledge, be sure to enter “Climate change”, “Digitalization”, or “Isolationism” in the Topics field.

More details on research, sourcing, deadlines, and other matters are provided in the RC TOM Challenge: 2017 note.  For assistance with the Open Knowledge platform during business hours (9:00 am – 5:00 pm M-F), email openknowledge@hbs.edu. A short video with instructions on how to post an essay to this platform is available at https://goo.gl/yyXK2H.

Submitted (924)

Linking the Food Chain, Supply Chain, and Blockchain: Walmart’s Path to a Fully Transparent Food System
Sarina
Last modified on December 2, 2017 at 6:03 pm
How can Walmart use Blockchain technology to revolutionize food supply chains worldwide?
Quick On Its Feet: 100+ Year-Old Boot-Maker L.L. Bean Embraces the Digital Supply Chain
JR
Last modified on November 15, 2017 at 10:44 pm
Iconic American retailer L.L. Bean strives to sustain its best-in-class customer service in the face of ever-increasing consumer expectations straining its supply chain
Convoy: ‘Uberization’ of Trucks
RHT
Last modified on November 15, 2017 at 9:15 pm
How Truck Tech will change a highly fragmented, aged, $700 billion industry?
Digitalization in the pharmaceutical industry: Pfizer
kmahan
Posted on November 15, 2017 at 8:50 pm
With the advent of digitalization, the pharmaceutical industry is using information sharing to improve its manufacturing and supply chain efficiency. Pfizer's creation of the PCMM plant is one way manufacturing may change in addition to gathering provider-level, and perhaps even [...]
Drought and Draught – Climate Change’s Impact on Molson Coors
Pseudo936
Last modified on November 16, 2017 at 8:05 am
This paper examines how the supply chain and manufacturing process of a key player in the U.S. beer making industry, the Molson Coors Brewing Company, is being (and will be) impacted by climate change, how the company is responding, and [...]
Walmart’s Rural Dominance: A Brick & Mortar Advantage in an eCommerce Battle
Kyle Emory
Posted on November 15, 2017 at 4:56 am
Can Walmart use digitalization to develop a customer experience that Amazon currently cannot?
Pfizer’s digital supply chain transformation: innovation or necessity?
Tracy Lu
Last modified on November 29, 2017 at 12:22 am
Faced with increased price and regulatory pressures, the pharma industry is forced to look to other avenues for revenue growth, including digitilization of its historically unwieldy and heavily regulated supply chains. Is industry leader Pfizer doing enough in this pursuit?
How Adidas is Utilizing Industry 4.0 to Reduce Time to Market
Sarah Bullard
Last modified on November 15, 2017 at 6:03 am
Adidas is introducing 'Speedfactories' enabled by Additive Manufacturing to shorten its supply chain process and time to market.
Digitization of Walmart
Abhishek Nanda
Last modified on November 16, 2017 at 9:46 pm
Walmart is digitizing its entire supply chain as it moves to an omni-channel strategy, wherein it provides an integrated shopping experience across online and offline channels, and looks to compete against Amazon. As Walmart makes this shift, it is leveraging technology [...]
Santa Clara Valley Medical Center: Pioneering Spinal Cord Injury Care With Telemedicine
Alex Lee
Last modified on November 14, 2017 at 10:53 pm
Santa Clara Valley Medical Center’s (SCVMC) Rehabilitation Center is creatively addressing the needs of vulnerable patients living with spinal cord injuries by digitizing healthcare through telemedicine.
Major League Baseball: A Leader in Live Content Distribution
jee
Last modified on November 15, 2017 at 6:24 pm
This is a story of how Major League Baseball (“the MLB”) out-innovated other professional sports leagues (NFL, NBA, NHL) and Silicon Valley (Facebook, Google, Amazon) in response to an increasingly digitalized supply chain for live entertainment content. If you’ve watched [...]
Taking Shipping Full Digital with Amazon
timshi
Posted on November 14, 2017 at 9:25 pm
Amazon is leveraging its deep engineering skills to quietly upend the traditional e-commerce fulfillment chain.
Target: Digitalization is a double-edged sword
Aimmy Asavatevavith
Posted on November 14, 2017 at 10:43 pm
Target's longstanding business model has been challenged by e-commerce growth. And its only way out is to leverage on digitalized supply chain management and technology.
3-D Printing at General Electric – Disrupting Supply Chains and Manufacturing
Josh Berman
Posted on November 7, 2017 at 9:52 pm
In a seismic strategic shift, 125-year-old conglomerate General Electric (GE) transformed the future of its supply chain and manufacturing by completing two acquisitions of additive manufacturing (“3-D printing”) companies (Arcam AB and Concept Laser GmbH) for over $1 billion combined [...]
Coming to America: Foxconn and “Offshoring” to the US Rust Belt
Danny Clark
Last modified on November 13, 2017 at 8:43 pm
A major Taiwanese manufacturer partners with government officials to bring over 10,000 manufacturing jobs to the American Midwest. But is it built to last?
Apple: a homecoming from abroad?
Maddy
Last modified on November 15, 2017 at 7:18 pm
Growing trade isolationism in the U.S. is putting pressure on Apple to bring outsourced jobs back to American soil.
Tyson Foods: Can One of the World’s Largest Food Companies Break a Destructive Cycle?
Jared White
Posted on November 14, 2017 at 8:53 am
Tyson Foods' supply chain is under pressure - are they doing enough to control costs and drive innovation?
Walmart x Google: The Customer Intimacy Challenge for Walmart
Isabel
Posted on November 15, 2017 at 7:22 pm
Walmart recently announced a partnership with Google to enable voice-activated shopping for Walmart products via Google Assistant and Easy Re-order via Google Express. The data this partnership provides should allow Walmart to create a more customized shopping experience for its [...]
Finding data in the grocery aisle
Joe Moriarty
Posted on November 13, 2017 at 10:08 pm
Traditional grocery stores need to embrace customer data to stay competitive in omni-channel.
Supply Chain Management – A Matter of Life and Death
Professor Emeritus
Posted on November 12, 2017 at 5:59 pm
Could Supply Chain Management be the best Cure for Medical Errors in the US?
The Digitization of Beauty at L’Oréal
MRA
Posted on November 15, 2017 at 9:39 pm
Technology is a new way for consumers to experience beauty - but how far can digital innovation disrupt the beauty industry?
Fall Without Pumpkin Spice Lattes? It Could Happen
SEA
Posted on November 15, 2017 at 10:19 pm
Climate change will disrupt coffee production across the world... can Starbucks survive?
GM strikes back
Figo
Last modified on November 9, 2017 at 12:02 am
In a battle of giants, GM has joined forces with other automakers and players in the auto sector to stop President Donald Trump and avoid the collapse of NAFTA. Can GM handle the consequences If the initiative fails?
UPS: The rising tide of sustainability
cp94
Posted on November 15, 2017 at 8:31 pm
Sustainability initiatives at UPS are integral to business strategy and impacted by consumer and client behaviors.
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