New Economy, Old Problems

It’s becoming a rich year for Operations Management Case Studies, with T5 amongst others. The latest story of Sainsbury’s suspending their online website, perhaps vividly illustrates to students the importance of ‘old economy’ skills such as contingency planning and good old fashioned project management in the age of Web 2.0.

An important illustration of this point was Amazon, which by general consensus by industry achieved sector dominance as a result of its reliable distribution logisitics and operations management , rather than eye watering domain names or special offers. Whether these skills are ‘old textbook’ or are now counted as ‘new economy’ is perhaps a moot point.

Perhaps worthwhile considering is the ancient proverb of wise King Solomon in the Bible who mused upon reflection that: “There is little new under the sun” - Those picking up a Personnel Management textbook from 20 years ago and comparing it with contemporary books on “Strategic HRM” may be inclined to agree. Perhaps more a case of “New Terms, Old Concepts?”