The Supply Chain Dialogues - Podcast

Apple / Spotify / Youtube / Transcripts

Cover slide of a presentation titled "Supply Chain Dialogues Beyond Compliance" with the subtitle "Technology, Transformation & Tomorrow," featuring a dark green background with blue and green gradient circles.

The Supply Chain Dialogues started in early 2023 with a simple idea: turn four decades of executive experience into structured conversations about what actually goes wrong in operations, supply chains, procurement, and corporate design — and what to do about it.

Season 1 laid the groundwork. Working with AI co-host Amy, the episodes walked through the core questions that reveal blind spots in any organisation: where value leaks, where processes break down, and where leadership gaps hide in plain sight.

Season 2 opened the door to guests. Practitioners and academics joined the conversation — on sustainability, GHG emissions, digital transformation, leadership, and the harder questions that rarely make it into management meetings.

Season 3 went deeper into sustainability and the path to Net Zero, exploring the human, organisational, and market forces that determine whether companies actually change — or just report change.

Season 4 drew directly on doctoral research into GHG emission reduction in discrete manufacturing. The findings challenged much of the conventional wisdom around regulation, measurement, and organisational size — and pointed toward what actually works.

All episodes are available on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, with full transcripts available here.

Ep. 17: Functional Outsourcing or: Your back-end is other companies’ front-end

Ep. 17: Functional Outsourcing or: Your back-end is other companies’ front-end

Consider this: What if your highly skilled workforce could devote their energy solely to their unique capabilities, driving customer satisfaction and enhancing your bottom line? Imagine a scenario where innovative processes, products, and service solutions take centre stage, while routine, tactical tasks are seamlessly handled by specialized entities.

Is now, with the rise of machine learning and RPA, finally the opportune moment for companies to shed back-end activities?

Enjoy!

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