Last October (October 10th, 2008), as a part of the Academic Leader program organized by Tecnologico de Monterrey, Guadalajara, I made a presentation to forty managers and
executives of some of the leading organizations, such as PepsiCo, Sanmina-SCI, Foxconn and IBM. A brief report of the academic leader program was created by Tec de Monterrey, Guadalajara.
Overall, I discussed the critical issues associated with forward and reverse flow of products, services, information and funds as a part of efficient and responsive supply chain management. I highlighted that given the increase in the price of oil (at the time of the presentation), the savings
in cost to manufacture in China as compared to Mexico has fallen from 35% to nearly
16% due to the increased transportation costs. Notwithstanding the fluctuation in oil price, the geographical proximity to the U.S. market presents
inimitable opportunities for Mexico. I emphasized that it is important to take advantage of this opportunity
by investing in technology and at the same time by developing talent (i.e. skilled workforce) in the areas of engineering, design, technology, manufacturing and supply chain management.