Cross Border Journal

Heading back to Tokyo...

I just finished a half-vacation in the US and am working my way back to Tokyo, stopping over in Minneapolis. It is an exciting season, with football starting, baseball heading towards the playoffs, the Olympics winding down, and the political season nearing its peak craziness with back-to-back party conventions. It's too bad I won't be around to witness it all Stateside, but I look forward to observing from Asia...

Reflecting on the Russia Experience

When I was in Russia, I was mostly focused on my project and the priorities at hand. The focus of our client was clearly on supply chain issues that the majority of companies in almost any country are concerned with, such as inventory visibility, warehouse utilization, labor optimization and distribution efficiency.

At the same time, there are always unique characteristics of the Russian market that make you realize it is still in a stage of volatility where geo-political events--most recently, the Georgia crisis--can dramatically impact the everyday operations of a client. Our client is not necessarily impacted by this event, but hypothetically, if Georgia happened to be a major market for our client, they would want to have the visibility of all inventory in that region or in-transit to that region on a real-time basis. Based on such real-time information, supply chain managers for our client could take concrete actions to either secure or divert inventory where necessary.

From another perspective, my experience in Russia illustrates the increasing density of connectivity between the current, leading economies in Asia and the surrounding growth markets in relatively volatile countries. By connectivity, I refer primarily to private business relationships and economic partnerships that are the force behind the build-up of new supply chains and the enhancement of existing supply chains.

At Thunderbird, a cornerstone of the education is developing in students, or further enhancing, an understanding of the geo-political context of a particular business environment. For example, a business person aware of any simmering tensions or historical animosity between Russia and neighboring countries could arguably improve the decision-making of a country-manager or regional employee and reduce overall business risk.

Stepping back and understanding what a project means in the bigger picture of the world helps one better define their purpose in life and assess the importance of the work one does in relation to surrounding communities. I believe the more positive, economic interaction with Russia we have, such as the project I was on, the more likely chances for events like the Georgia crisis will diminish. Therefore, I encourage anyone with a chance to join a project in emerging, volatile markets to do so and take advantage of the tremendous opportunities to learn, for your self and others. 

Stateside in Atlanta

After returning to Japan from Moscow, I quickly went on a scheduled vacation with part of time spent in Atlanta visiting Manhattan headquarters and getting to know the area. If anyone reading this is also in the area and in the supply chain industry or a fellow blogger, please let me know! Shawn Beilfuss Manhattan Associates-Tokyo -------------------------- Sent using BlackBerry

Back in Japan, for a moment...

I have left Moscow and returned to Japan. It is pretty nice to be 'home', in familiar surroundings and speaking in a language I can understand. :-)

However, this will be shortlived as I will be off to the US for vacation in a couple days. I hope to write later reflecting on the Moscow trip...

Shawn Beilfuss Manhattan Associates-Tokyo -------------------------- Sent using BlackBerry