SCALE Expo 2025

Retail Supply Chains: A Global Perspective on Nanostores and Small-Organized Stores

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Join researchers from across the MIT Global SCALE Network along with industry guests for an interactive discussion. 

Abstract

Retail is one of the most dynamic industries worldwide, given its importance in bringing goods to millions of households in growing urban metropolitan areas. In developing countries, its importance is even greater considering the convenience, affordable prices, and socioeconomic impact in the community they provide through small formats such as small, family-owned retailers and nanostores (Fransoo, Blanco, and Mejia-Argueta, 2017). Despite the high market share these nanostores capture in those economies, other retail formats such as convenience stores and hard discounters grow to offer several products to multiple households depending on their income level, age, preferences, etc. In this webinar, we will discuss strategy and business models in the retail industry, the impacts of e-commerce and technology, the logistics challenges to serve this channel, the capabilities to anticipate or respond to potential disruptions, and the industry's future. Researchers from China, Latin America, and the United States, as well as two industry subject matter experts, will share their opinions and answer the moderators' and the attendees' questions.

Source: Fransoo, J. C., Blanco, E. E., & Mejia Argueta, C. (Eds.) (2017). Reaching 50 million nanostores: retail distribution in emerging megacities. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

 

Speakers

Dr. Chris Mejia-Argueta, Director of the Food and Retail Operations Lab at MIT CTL

Conan Wu,  Head of Strategic Cooperation & Partnership Development at Ningbo China Institute for Supply Chain Innovation

Zhao Lihan, VP of Supply Chain and Commercial Development at Shangai Laiyifen

Cesar Becerra, Director of the Center for Latin American Logistics Innovation

Cesar Rios, Supply Chain & Logistics Director at Jeronimo Martins

 

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SCALE Webinar: Inventory Management During and After Covid-19

The impact of Covid-19 has disrupted the balance of global supply chains. Inventory management, as one of the core components of operations management, is crucial to the operation of enterprises. Therefore, it is extremely important to know how to apply new concepts, new technologies, and new methods to inventory management and establish safety stock.

This MIT SCALE Network webinar, hosted by Ningbo China Institute for Supply Chain Innovation (NISCI), will focus mainly on inventory management during and after the pandemic, discussing the pain points and solutions of inventory management at various stages.

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CTL@50 Presents: 15th Annual MIT Global Supply Chain Excellence Network Student Expo

Our annual SCALE student Expo previews nearly 100 industry-sponsored research projects conducted by supply chain students at MIT CTL and the international centers in the global Supply Chain and Logistics Excellence (SCALE) network. The Expo showcases this research-in-progress on a broad range of future-forward topics and provides an exclusive glimpse at what the final findings will reveal in May.

Students Pitch Business Ideas to "Sharks" in Entrepreneurship Challenge

The 2022 SCALE Connect conference ended in a whirlwind of group project presentations and awards ceremonies. One of the team-based challenges of the conference is the annual entrepreneurial challenge competition: a product development and pitch challenge sponsored by the ASCM Massachusetts Minuteman chapter, in the style of the hit TV show "Shark Tank". Randomly assigned student teams propose and pitch solutions to problems on the UN Global Issues List.

Thesis/Capstone

3D Printing’s Impact on the Metalworking Industry

This project qualitatively estimates the potential impact of 3D printing on the United States metalworking industry. The adoption rate of 3D printing has been increasing in the last few years. On one side are businesses with long development and production lead times, competing in fast-paced industries. Moreover, some businesses are in the situation in which they need to reduce their supply chain complexity, to reduce costs and lead times. On the other side are businesses that are exploring the capabilities of Additive Manufacturing (AM) in their relationships with individual customers. A good

2020–2021 MIT SCALE Latin America Conference

We’re excited to announce that the MIT SCALE Latin America Conference will be held virtually in 2021. Now, you can join from anywhere in the world to review over 100 presentations from top academics from across Latin America and the Caribbean and participate in three keynote virtual plenary sessions. 

The MIT Latin American SCALE Network is an alliance of leading-edge research, education, and outreach organizations dedicated to the development and dissemination of innovative supply chain and logistics research in Latin America. The network helps companies, governments, and organizations to compete in an increasingly complex business environment and engage academia, students, and partners to collaborate on projects that have an in-depth economic, societal, and environmental impact. 

As part of the mission of the SCALE Latin America Network, we invite you to participate in the 2020-2021 MIT SCALE Latin America Conference to be hosted remotely on March 21-26, 2021. Organized by the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics (CTL) in collaboration with the Center for Latin-American Logistics Innovation (CLI). The main goal of the conference is to provide a forum for sharing high-impact educational and research in logistics and supply chain management relevant to Latin America. 

For more detailed information on SCALE LatAm, please visit the official conference webpage.

Registration is now closed

 

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