With Facebook’s latest Cambridge Analytica scandal, you may be reevaluating if it makes sense to dedicate time and resources to your company’s Page. Can users trust Facebook?
Facebook has been in the spotlight quite a bit lately. And we’re not sure the saying “all publicity is good publicity” is holding true for the ‘Book.
From a user perspective, Facebook has faced widespread criticism in recent months for its role in spreading sensationalist, often inaccurate news stories. And from a corporate standpoint, a number of changes to News Feed deprioritize content from business Pages, making organic reach less attainable.
Next, a scandal.
Then the Cambridge Analytica scandal broke. The New York Times reported that UK-based data firm Cambridge Analytica had obtained personal information without user’s knowledge, or more importantly, their consent. Since the report was published, Zuckerberg has profusely apologized for Facebook’s involvement in the data breach scandal, even placing a full-page apology ad in three American newspapers.
The fallout.
More and more big-name companies are removing their Facebook Pages — including Sonos, SpaceX and Tesla — as a result of the data breach. The hashtag #deletefacebook has been trending as more and more users remove their personal Facebook pages.
And then there’s Facebook’s stock. It fell more than 13 percent in the five days of trading following the initial reports. And at the end of March, the stock fell more than 20% off its 52-week high.
What does this mean for your business?
Kettie Laky, director of social media at Fronetics, has been closely following all the latest developments, as well as monitoring our clients’ Facebook analytics data. In this video, she’ll let you know whether you can trust Facebook and what you need to do next.
In the wake of the supply chain talent gap, try these strategies to fill critical positions with qualified employees and to create a pipeline of future talent.
It’s no secret — the supply chain is experiencing a major talent gap. In fact, according to Supply Chain Insights, 60% of companies within the supply chain industry have job openings, and 51% of companies are seeing an increase in turnover of supply chain leaders. So what can you do to overcome the talent shortage?
These five strategies can help companies feeling the strain of the supply chain talent gap.
5 strategies for overcoming the supply chain talent gap
1) Partner with universities and educational programs.
In an interview with Fronetics, SCM Talent Group founder Rodney Apple suggested that companies looking to attract top talent should “partner with supply chain universities and proactively recruit students from these universities, early and often.”
As more and more universities are offering supply chain degrees, these schools are a prime recruiting ground for highly qualified candidates for entry-level positions. This means “proactively reaching out to universities in the region and even nationally that match up with people in the workforce,” says Apple.
2) Be open-minded in your hiring.
A recent Google study has yielded what might be a surprising result that points to the importance of open-mindedness in hiring practices. While conventional wisdom suggests that recruiters should be focusing on STEM capabilities, it turns out that “soft skills” are often a more accurate predictor of innovation and success.
In the same vein, it’s increasingly being suggested that liberal arts grads could play an important role in the future of the supply chain. These majors emphasize the kind of critical-thinking skills that are crucial for future leadership potential.
3) Promote from within — from the manufacturing floor and beyond.
When looking to fill higher level positions, you may be overlooking a tremendously important resource: your own people. Promoting from within has several obvious advantages. Firstly, there’s institutional knowledge and trust built in — you already have relationships in place.
Promoting from within means that you’ll be placing people in higher level positions who understand the particular intricacies of your operations. This, in turn, means you save valuable time on training and eliminate what could otherwise be a steep learning curve.
4) Invest in talent acquisition.
Talent acquisition can quite literally shape the future of your company, and it’s crucial that you make it a priority. This often means working with a recruiting firm, particularly one that specializes in the supply chain.
In addition to partnering with supply chain universities, Apple suggests that companies “invest more into job training and mentoring programs, like supply chain certifications and tuition reimbursement.”
While the shortage of supply chain talent is often attributed to a skills gap, there’s a more fundamental problem: The supply chain just isn’t perceived as sexy.
“Perceptions need to change — fast,” writes Fronetics CEO and Founder Frank Cavallaro. While it won’t necessarily be easy, “convincing the public — young and old — that the manufacturing industry really is undergoing a renaissance” is ultimately the most lasting fix to combat the supply chain talent gap.
Placing the spotlight on new technologies like 3-D printing, robotics, and advanced analytics should demonstrate that the supply chain is a place for creativity, critical thinking, and fulfilling careers.
How is your company combating the supply chain talent gap?
In many cases, automation in manufacturing creates leaner, more efficient operations. Efficiency facilitates new opportunities and business growth, which in turn allow for job creation.
The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) and its applications in manufacturing have driven a palpable fear that mass job loss is on the horizon. We have to wonder: is the threat as real and as imminent as many think? Like many things, the answer is more nuanced than a simple yes or no.
A McKinsey Global Institute report predicts that automation could cause the loss of between 39 and 73 million jobs by 2030 in the U.S. alone. Clearly, the AI genie will not be put back into its bottle. However, this doesn’t mean that all jobs across all sectors will be affected evenly.
Generally, low-skill jobs are more susceptible to replacement by AI. This is especially true in industries like retail, which has worked to automate many aspects along the purchase journey, including processes designed to get packages into consumers’ hands faster.
Not the end of the world
Oddly enough, 73 million lost jobs doesn’t spell all doom and gloom. Yes, people will lose jobs — that is inevitable. Automation, however, will create many more.
Think about it: In many cases, automation creates leaner, more efficient operations. Efficiency facilitates new market opportunities and business growth, which in turn allow for expansion and job creation. And these new jobs aren’t the low-skill positions of their pre-automation predecessors. They’re operating new technology, supervising automated processes, and other higher-paying opportunities.
Amazon: Case in point
Consider the retail industry’s brick-and-mortar boom and bust and the rise of e-commerce. As stores shuttered, companies had to downsize the number of individuals they employed. Then, as e-commerce boomed, e-retailing companies were able to bring on more employees — often at higher salaries than in traditional retail.
Amazon’s expansion to the “once-thriving factory town” of Fall River, Mass., offers a prime example. The city, which boasted nearly 20,000 manufacturing jobs in 1991, saw that number dip below 4,000 by 2015 — in large part due to automation. The 2016 arrival of an Amazon fulfillment center was the single largest job-creation event in recent memory.
Employment at the Fall River center has crept above 2,000 in just over a year. And it’s apparent that number will keep rising and that humans won’t be phased out anytime soon. In fact, rather than replace human workers, Amazon’s technology helps each become more efficient. That stimulates Amazon’s growth and the need for more fulfillment centers and more talent to fill those jobs.
While the majority of the Fall River center’s jobs are not skilled and pay reflects that, other benefits such as overtime, tuition aid, and company shares make annual compensation comparable to or better than what local textile mills once paid. Fulfillment center jobs certainly pay above traditional retail and offer employees the opportunity to work withartificial intelligence — rather than in competition with it.
A double-edged sword
AI in the warehouse may stimulate job growth. But those most likely to lose their jobs to automation — low-skill workers — may not possess the transferable skills to be successful in the new wave of jobs created by technology. For example, would a former factory worker who put together boxes for fulfillment be hirable for a position operating custom box-cutting machinery?
Amazon, again, exemplifies a solution. The company offers its workers significant training and education to breach any skill gaps. Those who have never had experience in a warehouse or operating technology will need companies to invest in their training to ensure those who have lost their jobs to automation will have a place in the new economy.
History repeating
This isn’t the first time we’ve encountered such an issue. Before ATMs were the ubiquitous cash-dispensing machines, many thought them the great disruptor of the banking industry. The bank teller’s role was sure to become obsolete.
What actually happened is that ATMs led to more efficiently run banks. While some jobs were lost, banks were actually able to open up more branch locations, which led to the creation of more jobs.
Will automation in the warehouse cause the same scenario to happen? Will organizations become more efficient, allowing them to grow and hire more workers at better, higher paying jobs? In many cases, it looks like it already has.
Also in social media news March 2018: Snapchat allows branded content ads; Facebook is testing Messenger Broadcasts; and Twitter tests prioritizing news tweets.
With the increasing popularity of automation tools and chatbot technology, social media platforms are working to regulate how brands are reaching their target audiences. Trying to ensure that users aren’t being inundated with spam posts or fake news, Twitter, Facebook and many others are coming out with stricter rules and regulations. This could mean extra work for smaller brands trying to keep up with the latest changes to make sure their content is getting as much reach as possible.
But there are real benefits to using automation tools, especially when it comes to social media management. Facebook, for example, is testing a new Messenger Broadcast that would help smaller businesses, which don’t already utilize chatbots, blast messages to users that have started a conversation with their Pages. These small but helpful updates will allow companies to have a greater reach without extra work for their marketers.
Facebook issued yet another apology to its users after news broke that a quiz app developed by a Cambridge University researcher leaked personal data from about 50 million people in 2014. Political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, which was affiliated with President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign, allegedly used the data to create psychological profiles to influence voters. Users responded with a #deleteFacebook campaign, in which those angered by Facebook’s mishandling of the data are encouraging widespread removal of all Facebook-associated apps, including Instagram and WhatsApp. Fronetics is staying on top of this situation and will continue to provide social media recommendations in light of such reports.
Facebook ends Explore Feed
Adam Mosseri, head of Facebook News Feed, announced plans to discontinue the Explore Feed on the website in early March. Facebook introduced Explore Feed in October as, essentially, a second News Feed that acted as a dedicated place for Pages. User feedback showed that “Explore isn’t an effective way for people to discover new content on Facebook,” and actually made it harder for users in test areas to access important information.
Twitter cracks down on automation and bot usage
Twitter released a new set of rules and regulations that prohibits developers from using Twitter automation and bot programs to simultaneously post identical content from multiple accounts. It also bans users from performing actions — such as likes, retweets, or scheduling tweets — from multiple accounts. “One of the most common spam violations we see is the use of multiple accounts and the Twitter developer platform to attempt to artificially amplify or inflate the prominence of certain Tweets,” writes Yoel Roth on Twitter’s blog.
YouTube adds new live-streaming tools and features
YouTube introduced a new chat replay feature that unfolds exactly as it did when the video was streaming live. Users can now watch videos that originally aired live and follow the conversations that took place alongside of the video, even after the live stream is over. This new feature supports YouTube’s mission to add “ways to watch live videos and interact with your community in real time.”
Facebook tests messenger broadcasts
Facebook is testing a new messaging tool directed at small businesses that haven’t jumped on the chatbot bandwagon. TechCrunch reports that Messenger Broadcasts allow companies to blast a message to anyone who has already started a conversation with them in Messenger. The new tool is currently being tested among a small percentage of Pages in the U.S., Mexico, and Thailand. Facebook hopes to turn the messaging tool into a paid product for small businesses and limit the number of messages that can be broadcast to cut down on spam.
Twitter test makes news the first thing users see in the timeline
Twitter recently confirmed a test of a news reel that would put news highlights at the top of users’ feeds. According to BuzzFeed, Twitter will select news items to appear in boxes at the top of the timeline. Twitter says the test is designed to “highlight the platform’s bent towards current happenings” while making news easier to find. This test comes in the aftermath of Facebook also trying to prioritize news events over Pages, while also fighting increasing fake news.
Snapchat allows branded content ads
Snapchat will now allow publishers to share branded content among the articles and videos they post. “Starting now Discover publishers are allowed to distribute branded content within the Snap Ads that run in their Publisher Stories,” a Snapchat spokesman said in an emailed statement. Snapchat Discover generated more than $100 million in ad revenue for its media partners in 2017, and this latest update will hope to boost even more ad sales.
More than half of the UK’s Kentucky Fried Chicken stores recently closed because they ran out of chicken. Here’s a look at what caused the issues and what supply chain lessons can be learned.
This guest post comes to us from Argentus Supply Chain Recruiting, a boutique recruitment firm specializing in Supply Chain Management and Procurement.
There’s another unfortunate entry in the annals of Supply Chain failures that burst into the wider world of business and pop culture: More than half of the UK’s Kentucky Fried Chicken stores recently closed because they ran out of chicken. We’ve written on the Argentus’ blog many times about Supply Chain misadventures, and how they can harm a brand’s reputation as well as profits – for example, maybe most memorably, in the case of Target, which had to retreat from the Canadian market after Supply Chain snafus led to empty shelves and disappointed customers.
Although Supply Chain Management is taking off in terms of recognition within business, it still doesn’t get a lot of attention from the wider world – until it fails, at which point the stresses and pressure of beleaguered Supply Chain teams become an object of fascination as the organization races to play catch up and get things back online.
KFC’s UK operations are the latest such story. On February 19th, outlets began reporting about the closure of about half of the chain’s 900 stores in the country, due to delivery failures after changing their 3rd Party Logistics (3PL) provider from Bidvest Logistics to DHL. A few weeks later, reports are that a number of stores are still closed, with front-line workers being encouraged to take holidays as the company sorts out its deliveries and tries to account for the failures. It’s no wonder that the closures have been met with derision across the internet: delivering chicken to the people is pretty much KFC’s #1 job.
So what has caused the issues, and what lessons are there to be learned?
According to the BBC, KFC recently switched its 3PL operations from food specialist Bidvest Logistics to international heavyweight DHL – the latter being a company with operations in a number of different industries, now navigating a country-wide Supply Chain out of one distribution centre location. In short, DHL took over the contract on Valentine’s Day, and delivery failures started to happen on February 16th – an extraordinarily short time table for Supply Chain issues to get so dire that customers see disruptions.
While there’s some disagreement among experts about the exact cause of the failed deliveries, speculation is that many of the problems can be attributed to the fact that DHL has one distribution centre location serving the entire country – a bottleneck that wasn’t seen with the previous 3PL provider, who had six distribution centre locations.
While Supply Chains gain a lot of their competitive advantage from offering lower costs and greater efficiencies, it seems that the shift in providers was a cost-cutting maneuver that’s ended up costing the company’s brand — with some analysts predicting something on the order of 20% of a hit to the company’s share prices once the disruption finishes shaking its way through the system. It underscores the importance of sound planning and reliability in Supply Chain Management in an era where companies are looking to gain an edge with margins wherever they can. It’s also great evidence for what many of us know: an approach that puts cost-cutting first can cause more problems than it solves.
John Boulter, the Managing Director of DHL’s operations for retail in the UK and Ireland issued a statement saying, “The reasons for this unforeseen interruption of this complex service are being worked on with a goal to return to normal service levels as soon as possible. With the help of our partner QSL, we are committed to step by step improvements to allow KFC to reopen its stores over the coming days. Whilst we are not the only party responsible for the supply chain to KFC, we do apologize for the inconvenience and disappointment caused to KFC and their customers by this incident.”
Ouch. Boulter’s statement has two issues that, from our perspective, show a lack of the accountability necessary to restore credibility both with DHL’s immediate customer (KFC) and the wider base of customers disappointed that they can’t buy KFC’s fried chicken:
The statement attempts to shift blame onto DHL’s other partners in the deliveries (particularly QSL) in a way that looks passive aggressive. Admitting responsibility is the first step to restoring credibility when responding to Supply Chain failures, and while DHL accepts some blame for the issues, the statement doesn’t go far enough.
Going out of their way to describe the service as “complex” doesn’t do any favours for DHL in this situation. Of course modern Supply Chains are complex. Understanding that complexity, and being able to deliver anyway, should be considered table stakes for providers in 2018. To implicitly chalk delivery failures up to a complexity that your predecessor – in this case Bidvest Logistics – handled without issue for years, casts even more doubt on DHL’s competency. At the same time, the fact that analysts are having such agreeing on an explanation for these issues – despite the fact that KFC only has a few poultry suppliers in the UK – says a lot about just how complex modern-day Supply Chains have become.
Logistics failures leading to the closure of stores is pretty much the worst case scenario for Supply Chain teams everywhere, so all of us across the community are probably watching this story with bemused shock and sympathy for those involved.
Hopefully DHL – which is, after all, the biggest logistics provider in the world – can get these issues solved soon, but in the meantime, let us know in the comments: are there any further lessons you think that Supply Chain professionals can draw from KFC’s recent woes?
Companies looking to promote their supply chain transparency should consider joining the Green Supply Chain Map to reach environmentally conscious buyers.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Institute of Public & Environmental Affairs (IPE) created the world’s first map publicly linking multinational corporations to their suppliers’ environmental performance. This Green Supply Chain Map shows companies’ commitment to supply chain transparency and environmental management. It will allow customers to make buying choices based on commitment to environmental sustainability.
The IPE calls the map “a leadership initiative dedicated to showcasing brands’ commitment to supply chain transparency and environmental management. It openly links brands’ supplier lists to publicly available environmental data, including real-time data for air emissions and wastewater discharge.”
Supply chain transparency, mapped
Publication of the Green Supply Chain Map is a breakthrough in transparency in the supply chain.
“The map has the potential to become a true game-changer for public environmental oversight and improvement efforts for industrial manufacturing in China,” says Ma Jun, environmentalist and director at IPE. “We hope to see more brands step up their game and join the map to connect the missing dots of accountability in the vast network of global supply chains.”
Six brands have so far joined and disclosed supplier data: Esprit, Gap, Inditex, New Balance, Puma, and Target.
The map allows users to filter by brand and to view the supply chains for individual companies. It displays water, air, and weather conditions in a factory’s location, as well as the air and wastewater pollutants each factory releases.
How brands can leverage this map
Interested brands can join the map voluntarily, demonstrating their leadership in supply chain transparency and environmental sustainability. The map’s interface allows businesses to verify and advertise their environmental compliance. It’s a potential way to attract business, as more and more savvy and environmentally conscious buyers will use this tool to make purchasing decisions.
“Until now, customers have lacked effective tools to assess the environmental impact of their favorite brands’ global operations,” says Linda Greer, senior health scientist for NRDC and founder of its Clean by Design green supply chain program. “These companies that have stepped up to put their names first on the inaugural map are showing new levels of transparency on their manufacturing abroad and are demonstrating real leadership in supply chain responsibility.”
Other companies hoping to demonstrate their supply chain transparency should consider adding their brands to the map as part of a holistic strategy to attract environmentally conscious buyers.
The future
The Green Supply Chain Map may be the first of its kind. But with the increasing availability of such data, we anticipate like organizations — or even brands themselves — will soon have similar tools for illustrating supply chain transparency.
“We hope our map can serve as a reference for other countries and regions facing similar concerns about environmental impacts of rapid industrialization within their own borders,” says Kate Logan, the IPE’s green choice outreach director.
How does your organization demonstrate supply chain transparency?
