Cross Border Journal

Happy New Year

I want to wish all readers of this blog, regulars and passersby, a Happy New Year as we kick off 2010.

For me, I spent most of 2009 settling into life and work in Australia after a very quick move from Japan and enjoying the time together with my wife after a 2008 that saw us spending most of our days in different locations. We are very blessed to currently call Australia our home, a place many people dream of visiting but don't often get the chance to do due to distance, time, and / or finances. The reasons to visit are many and I encourage everyone to make it here if ever the chance presents itself.

As for this blog, I found my interest in blogging Asia logistics news / events wane, particularly after leaving the more dynamic Northeast Asia corridor. In addition, I have become more interested in overall supply chain strategy and how the supply chains of the private sector operate across borders, particularly those that originate, terminate or run through the Asia-Pacific (a huge number, I know!). As a result, I have changed the name of the blog to Cross Border Journal. 

Supply chains facilitate the lifeblood of globalization and development, and their related activities intersect with numerous institutions not part of the private sector--NGOs, militaries, governments, etc. In fact, these institutions are increasingly reliant on private sector supply chains, or at least their best practices, in successfully executing a wide variety of programs, both in the developed and underdeveloped world. Thus, by understanding what forms the basis for strong, supply chain architectures, we are better able to bring about the success of globalization and the programs aimed to improve the foundation of economics, security, diplomacy and people around the world.

In 2010, I hope to continue to explore the stories, people and events that illustrate the above concepts, but more regularly than in 2009. Thanks to readers of this blog in advance for your support, and I hope you will find my posts providing something of value as you go about your life's work.

Extending My Stay in Australia

This week I decided to extend my stay in Australia by at least a year. Although this decision was pretty much a given due to the fact my current project will run at least until the end of March 2010, it feels good to have everything official. As part of this, I will also be pursuing PR status so any further extension of my stay will not involve work visa renewals.

Australia, Melbourne specifically, has treated my wife and I well and we have really enjoyed experiencing this corner of the Asia-Pacific. There are some great places nearby that we hope to visit in the next year, such as New Zealand, amongst others. I look forward to sharing some photos of our travels more often on this blog into the future.

Cheers!

Blog Transition

For those who have followed this blog, you may have noticed a trend over the past year or so where I have covered topics much broader than just logistics in Asia. This trend has been driven by a strong interest of mine in writing about the larger issues underlying globalization and cross border trade. I have attempted to do so from the perspective of a supply chain professional focused on the practical application of supply chain principles and frameworks.

However, this interest goes beyond just understanding the actions and strategies of businesses and private individuals operating as part of extended supply chains around the world; it extends to exploring further the people and activities that form the humanitarian, diplomatic, military, political, criminal and terrorist elements that often run in pre-cursor to, in collaboration with, and at other times in opposition to, the private sector. 

Thus, I have decided to now drop the moniker "Asia Logistics Wrap." It no longer properly encompasses what this blog is about. However, existing links to this site will not be affected. I have mapped this blog's URL to a new domain, www.xborderjournal.com, to represent the blog's new title, "Cross Border Journal." This blog will be seeing some ongoing changes as a result.

The purpose of Cross Border Journal will be to observe, analyze, dissect and discuss these various entities and activities operating at the nexus of cross border trade. The goal will be to encourage a deeper understanding of the underlying structure and drivers of globalization and cross border trade, with particular attention paid to the perspective of a supply chain professional.

From the single individual up to the largest organizations and governments, the multiple entities operating across borders determine whether the process of globalization is successful or unsuccessful in raising the quality of life for an increasingly larger number of people. For those of us on the ground in this fight to ensure that "borders frequented by trade seldom need soldiers," we are warriors of our own kind, advocates of a more connected, and thus more peaceful, world.

Thus, to all cross border warriors out there who have fought, and who are currently fighting, to make a constructive difference in the process of globalization, I look forward to learning from you and with you on this new journey.

Welcome to Cross Border Journal

In order to improve one-stop access to information on global supply chain management, I have created the following customized Google search engines for your convenience:

Blogs on SCM

News on SCM

Research on SCM

This will remain at the top of the page for easy access into the future.

The Twitterverse

Today I officially joined the Twitterverse. I look forward to exploring this tool and discovering what value it might add to my daily routine, but hope it enhances the sharing and exchange of ideas, experiences and views on topics of interest. Some of these topics for me are:

• global supply chain management
• international trade
• Asia-Pacific economics, politics, and security
• globalization
• global IT deployment
• entrepreneurship
• small businesses
• human resources
• training and education
• history
• books

I am sure other topics will come up along the way--they always do. If you are interested in following me, please see the left-hand column and click on the twitter icon.

Happy New Year

I hope that everyone's 2009 has started off on the right foot.

As for myself, I have transferred to the Melbourne office of Manhattan Associates for a great opportunity to work with a new client, new product and new people--and yet within the same company.

At the moment I am busy searching for a new apartment prior to my wife's arrival, and the logistics of it here in Australia are a bit different than in the U.S., although much more straight-forward than Japan.

Officially still part of the Asia Pacific, I still look forward to commenting on the region from my new location, and on global supply chain management in general. All in all, I look forward to a 2009 full of some great blogging.

Cheers!

End of Year Craziness

A lot is happening at the moment, and thus the blog has taken a back seat, or perhaps the trunk. After my trip to Australia, I had to conduct some training in Tokyo with almost no time for preparation and am now in Korea on business for a few days. More announcements to come later...

Absorbing Australia

I have been in Australia now almost a week, and I have really enjoyed this first trip with much gratitude and thanks to my colleagues based here and the many others who have been welcoming.

Although I made the trip to Sydney this weekend, I was in Melbourne (above and below pics) the first few days and return tomorrow.  There's much to like about both cities and I feel some urge to make comparisons to other cities I have experienced. But to do so would be to generalize too much.

The Australian people remind me of Americans in the Southwest--more laid back--and there is a sarcastic and teasing sense of humor here that closely resembles humor in the States. But at the same time, I can definitely feel the underlying European current, most strongly in Melbourne as most people here describe. The Asian influence is also strong and brings a lot of diversity to both cities.

I am looking forward to spending a lot more time in these two cities, as well as the rest of Australia!

 

Site Changes

As can be seen, I have been making some changes to the site visuals--the old green was kind of wearing on me and getting stale. This new style provides a much cleaner, sharper look while splitting up the side panel content.

I am Joe the Plumber

No, I am not making a political statement...but I have new pipes! Yahoo Pipes! that is.

Over in the right-hand column of this blog, the very cool Yahoo Pipes! tool allows me to "pipe-in" specified content filtered with custom configuration. In this case, I am piping in content from several blogs related to business in Asia. The tool pulls 25 posts from the list of sites I have configured and provides varying content upon refresh of my site.

Currently, it seems Typepad restricts my blog to one pipe, but I look forward to playing with this new "plumbing" to see what it can do and provide in terms of content customization. I encourage everyone to check this out for their own sites!