Broad Applications of Supply Chain Logistics

Increasingly, my thinking on supply chain logistics is dominated by its broader applications beyond just private sector demands. I believe this is obvious in reading my previous post on "flows, architectures, and resiliency." Thus, my appetite is enormous for information where supply chain logistics is discussed in the context of those political and security considerations that, combined with people and economic considerations, describe the flows of development driven by globalization. The "FAR matrix" in my previous post illustrates this nexus.

One resource I have previously overlooked when studying the role of supply chain logistics in the development of East Asia is The United Nations. Mostly in the news for all that is bad, the UN contains agencies that do much good in terms of collecting and synthesizing regional information for public consumption. It is unfortunate that many of us likely don't realize these valuable resources exist for our benefit. The UN agency highlighted here is:

United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP)

I don't know how I ever missed this organization, but there are several reports published and publicly available for download regarding supply chain logistics infrastructure, primarily under the labels of trade and transportation. I encourage readers to browse the site at your own leisure. For your convenience however, I have selected a couple reports that are both fairly current and in line with the mission of this blog in further educating readers on the East Asia region, in addition to driving additional discussion amongst those already familiar with the region like myself.

Another resource in the same vein is the Asia Development Bank (ADB). I have known about the bank in general for a while now, but had not browsed any of their recent projects and related documents. However, the other day I came across an excellent document entitled "Connecting East Asia," and seems to segue nicely into Tom Barnett's "shrinking the Gap through connectivity" discussions. However, the focus of this report is on how infrastructure (including logistics) drives this connectivity to realize the many benefits targeted by ESCAP. 

The reports I want to highlight are all listed below for downloading, which are quite large and comprehensive. They are meant to be digested over time, or browsed for very specific content:

ADB:

Connecting East Asia

ESCAP:

Infrastructure Development and Disaster Management

Regional Ports as Logistics Centres

Shipping and Ports Development in Northeast Asia

Developments in Asia-Pacific Transport 2005

In reading these types of extensive reports, I believe it is important to have specific questions in mind:

1. In what area of supply chain logistics do I want to enhance my knowledge base?
2. How do the contents in these reports affect the both the supply chain architectures in place for my firm and those that need to be built for the future?
3. How do the contents highlight the current areas where my firm's supply chain architectures are insufficient, or non-resilient? What disadvantages and/or advantages exist for improving resiliency in the short- and long-term?

Most firms are naturally focused on the supply chain architectures that support their economic flows of trade. The next priority, or parallel priority, that has strengthened considerably post-9/11 is security. What security flow architectures are needed in parallel with your economic flow architectures? Beyond that, how do the East Asia region's political and people flow architectures negatively or positively affect economics and security? In the end, what are your options for building resiliency in these areas?

Using the FAR matrix to frame your firm's issues in regards to supply chain logistics for a particular region will enhance not only your decision-making, but also your contingency planning. Mistakes made due to over-reliance on reactive management will be reduced due to an increase in proactive management designed to ensure certain mistakes happen only once.

Any suggestions or constructive criticism regarding the use of the FAR matrix tool are highly appreciated. I would like to again emphasize that the three primary components of the matrix are not my own concepts. However, framing the nexus of these three concepts via this matrix is, I believe, wholly unique. My effort is simply aimed at adding power to these concepts above and beyond what they deliver individually.

I look forward to any feedback.