A small but growing number of U.S. hospitals are using a version of quid pro quo to achieve two crucial goals: lock in the "rainmaker" physicians — the ones who are at the top of their specializations — and secure the best deal from suppliers.

What do you look for when you buy a pair of jeans? Color? Cut? Designer label? Price tag? One thing is certain: Even if you buy what you think is the same make/label/origin, year after year, it is an entirely different item with a brand-new geographic story.

What will a typical supply management organization look like in 10 years? It's hard to say for sure, but it likely will be complex, high-tech, supplier network-driven, and spread out across the globe.

Supply expense is the second highest operational cost in hospitals, but traditional healthcare benchmarking doesn't pinpoint factors that contribute to supply-expense performance, nor does it enable hospital supply chain professionals to see how they stack up against similar organizations.

Tools to facilitate the full range of business processes proliferated over the past decade. Some firms base entire business models or product lines on such tools, while other traditional companies are looking for tools as a means to improve operational efficiency or processes.

Computer network problems cost American businesses $100 billion each year.

In September, the U.S. and Mexican governments took a tentative first step towards the final goal of allowing unfettered shipping between the two nations — a measure agreed upon under NAFTA but delayed since 1995.

The explosion of data can be traced to traditional internet sources, plus social media and new devices like smart phones, GPS, and tablets, but this expansion is equally apparent in everything from manufacturing to retail to health care. In this environment, being able to comm

The annual research dissemination conference of the W. P. Carey School’s Health Sector Supply Chain Research Consortium is designed to bring practitioners and researchers together to talk about new knowledge and practical issue. The journals edited at the W. P.

The W. P. Carey School’s supply chain management program has been and continues to be a key player in the development of the discipline, starting long before the supply chain concept coalesced from its component parts.