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PurposeUsing the constructal law of physics this study aims to provide guidance to future scholarship on global supply chain management. Further, through two case studies the authors are developing, the authors report interview findings with two senior VPs from two multi-national corporations being disrupted by COVID-19. This study suggests how this and recent events will impact on the design of future global supply chains.Design/methodology/approachThe authors apply the constructal law to explain the recent disruptions to the global supply chain orthodoxy. Two interviews are presented from case studies the authors are developing in the USA and UK – one a multi-national automobile parts supplier and the other is a earth-moving equipment manufacture. Specifically, this is an exploratory pathway work trying to make sense of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on supply chain scholarship.FindingsAdopting the approach of Bejan, the authors believe that what is happening today with COVID-19 and other trade disruptions such as Brexit and the USA imposing tariffs is creating new obstacles that will redirect the future flow of supply chains.Research limitations/implicationsIt is clear that the COVID-19 response introduced a bullwhip effect in the manufacturing sector on a scale never-before seen. For scholars, the authors would suggest there are four pathway topics going forward. These topics include: the future state of global sourcing, the unique nature of a combined “demand” and “supply shortage” bullwhip effect, the resurrection of lean and local production systems and the development of risk-recovery contingency strategies to deal with pandemics.Practical implicationsSupply chain managers tend to be iterative and focused on making small and subtle changes to their current system and way of thinking, very often seeking to optimize cost or negotiate better contracts with suppliers. In the current environment, however, such activities have proved to be of little consequence compared to the massive forces of economic disruption of the past three years. Organizations that have more tightly compressed supply chains are enjoying a significant benefit during the COVID-19 crisis and are no longer being held hostage to governments of another country.Social implicationsAn implicit assumption in the press is that COVID-19 caught everyone by surprise, and that executives foolishly ignored the risks of outsourcing to China and are now paying the price. However, noted scholars and epidemiologists have been warning of the threats of pandemics since the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus. The pundits would further posit that in their pursuit of low-cost production, global corporations made naive assumptions that nothing could disrupt them. Both the firms the authors have interviewed had to close plants to protect their workforce. It was indicated in the cases the authors are developing that it is going to take manufacturers on average one month to recover from 4–6 days of disruption. These companies employ many thousands of people, and direct and ancillary workers are now temporarily laid off and face an uncertain future as/when they will recover back to normal production.Originality/valueUsing the constructal law of physics, the authors seek to provide guidance to future scholarship on global supply chain management. Further, through two case studies, the authors provide the first insight from two senior VPs from two leading multi-national corporations in their respective sectors being disrupted by COVID-19. This study is the first indication to how this and recent disruptive events will impact on the design of future global supply chains. Unlike the generic work, which has recently appeared in HBR and Forbes, it is grounded in real operational insight.

From the viewpoint of newspaper organizations the main competitive media has shrunk to only one, the internet. But the effect of this innovation has been devastating in capturing the vast majority of the advertising revenues on which newspapers have depended. The larger the internet-based media became the more newspapers and other media shrank. Pairing an academic and former industry news manager, this textbook assesses the situation in which the regional news media industry finds itself, and explores methods, processes and techniques, which might usefully be introduced to help the news media firm secure a viable future. In focusing on newspapers, magazines, TV and radio, the work is filled with real-life examples and interviews with news media managers, illustrating how management is being conducted in this age of turbulence. The goal is to give students practice in solving complex strategic problems and to provide them with a series of intellectual and professional exercises. Their method of using case studies will enable students to explore in detail key theoretical issues before applying them to real life management settings.

Average annual percentage rates of change (APR) in maple syrup prices (average gallon equivalent price in the United States) in seven northeastern United States and their aggregated region were determined for the years 1916 to 2012. The price trend lines were then compared on state-by-state and region-by-state bases. Maple syrup prices across all states and the region as a whole were increasing nominally at significant average annual rates. Nominal APRs ranged from 3.42 percent for Maine to 4.13 percent for New Hampshire, with the price in the combined region increasing at a rate of 3.96 percent annually. Real prices (discussed in 2012 constant dollars) were appreciating at significant annual rates in all areas except Maine. Real APRs ranged from 0.46 percent for Maine to 1.12 percent for New Hampshire, and the regional price was increasing at 0.95 percent annually. Whereas the region's all-time high price of $40.38 was obtained nominally in 2008, the real price actually reached its highest point in 1987 ($53.89). Two other real price peaks were observed regionally: 1947 ($41.17) and 1972 ($45.31). No differences in trend line intercepts and slopes were found across the region. Obtaining price information for any one location has historically provided producers and processors a reasonable expectation of market activities occurring in the greater region.