Course Number: BU605
Subject: Business
Welcome to Laurier Library's Logistics & Supply Chain Management course guide.
Use the tabs below to navigate to the different sections of this guide.
Company Research
Annual reports
Annual reports (and regulatory filings such as 10-Ks) can be useful sources of information on a publicly traded company's supply chain, logistics and distribution channels. Use the resources below to locate annual reports, then perform a Ctrl + F search using keywords: distribution channel, logistics, suppliers, supply chain, etc.
Mergent Online
Start typing the company name, then select the correct match from the options that appear. Click the Reports tab, then select Annual reports. Click on the report you want to view the PDF.
EDGAR
Search U.S. filings from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
SEDAR+
Search Canadian public company filings.
AnnualReports.com
Contains thousands of annual reports.
Annual reports can also be found on company websites, usually in the "investor relations" section.
Tip 1: check company websites for separate annual sustainability or corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports and look for "green" supply chain policies and practices.
Tip 2: try searching the internet using the following search strategy: add company name before key subject terms followed by filetype:pdf. Example: Walmart "supply chain" filetype:pdf. This is often an easy way to find a company's annual report or sustainability report.
Article search for company information
Articles can be valuable sources of company information, including logistics and supply chain information. See the section in this Guide on Finding articles for suggested key terms to use in your search, then combine these with the company name to further focus your search. Try searching the following article databases:
Business Source Complete
Proquest One Business
Factiva
Watch the video tutorials: Finding Articles on a Topic and Finding Free Online News Articles.
Suppliers
Use the following resources to find suppliers for your business.
Directories of Canadian Companies
IndustryNet
ThomasNet
Industry Reports
IBISWorld
Provides Canadian, US and Chinese industry reports containing trends, statistics & analysis on market size, market share of major companies, industry growth rates, major market segments and key external forces affecting supply and demand within the industry. Enter industry keyword (e.g. transportation, logistics, storage, etc.) or company name into the search box.
Marketline
Provides industry reports including Porter's Five Forces analysis on the transport and logistics, wholesale, sourcing, business services and industrial goods and machinery sectors.. Enter in keyword > then select "Industry Profiles" from the drop-down menu > click “Search” > refine your results by geography, date, sub-industry.
Top of page
Industry Associations & Institutes
Industry associations are good sources of industry information as they track trends of interest to their members and often make this material freely available on their websites. Find news and reports on current issues such as sustainability, third-party logistics and managing natural and human-made risks to supply chains and more.
Industry Associations
Canada
Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP)
Supply Chain Management Association (SCMA)
Tip: find other logistics and supply chain industry associations using the Canada's Information Resource Centre. Note: deselect all of the reference resources and select only Associations Canada.
United States
Association for Supply Chain Management (ASCM)
INFORMS: Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences
Institute for Supply Management (ISM)
Material Handling Industry of America
Management Consulting Firms
Type keywords (i.e. supply chains, logistics) in the search box and select the desired match from the options that appear.
Includes reports on supply chain or logistics.
Surveys
Canada
Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) surveys
The RBC Canadian PMI "measures month-to-month changes in a number of key indicators, such as new orders, inventories, price of goods and employment, as indicated in survey responses from a representative panel of purchasing management executives in the manufacturing sector across Canada."
Survey of Innovation and Business Strategy
Statistics Canada has undertaken this survey to provide statistical information on the strategic decisions, innovation activities and operational tactics used by Canadian enterprises. The survey also collects information on the involvement of enterprises in global value chains.
United States
Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM)
Global
Global Chief Procurement Officer Survey (Deloitte)
B2B: Market Segmentation
Industry classification systems such as the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) can help business-to-business marketers segment the market and identify a potential customer base. Identify the industry group or subgroup most likely interested in your product or service, then find the associated NAICS code. Using the NAICS code(s), refer to resources such as Canadian Industry Statistics to determine the size and geographical distribution of each targeted industry group. You can often use these tools to further segment your market by firm size (number of employees or revenue), account size (or purchase size) and geographic location.
Use the industry codes to search online company directories such as Canadian Business Resource and Scott's Directories to identify specific companies as potential customers.
Government Procurement
Governments are large purchasers of goods and services but their buying processes must meet their own policy guidelines and the rules set by international trade agreements. Use the resources below to find government tenders, learn how to register as a supplier and the policies and guidelines to follow.
Canada
Public Works and Government Services Canada. Buyandsell.gc.ca
MERX is an electronic tendering service. Companies can use MERX to identify and bid on opportunities from government and private organizations. MERX's four services -- Canadian Public Tenders, Agencies, Crown & Private Corporations, U.S. Tenders and Private Construction -- help connect buyers and suppliers. Use MERX for market intelligence to find out what contracts your competitors won and how much they got. Note: the U.S. Tenders and Private Construction are not available to non-subscribers.
Doing Business with Government
Information about selling to the federal government, buying from the government and selling to other governments.
United States
Official U.S. government website for people who make, receive, and manage federal awards. It offers an efficient way to access federal government procurement opportunities.
Global Logistics and SCM
World Economic Forum. Global Enabling Trade Report 2014
". . .the Global Enabling Trade Report assesses the quality of institutions, policies and services facilitating the free flow of goods over borders and to their destinations. At the core of the report, the Enabling Trade Index benchmarks the performance of 138 economies in four critical areas: market access; border administration; transport and communications infrastructure; and regulatory and business environment. As a widely used reference, the report helps economies integrate global value chains and companies into their investment decisions. It informs policy dialogue and provides a tool to monitor progress on certain aspects of global trade."
World Economic Forum. Supply Chain Risk Initiative
Started in 2011, the Supply Chain Risk Initiative explores systemic risks to global supply chains and transport networks. Read reports on supply chain that address various aspects of supply chain risks and management strategies.
The Logistics Performance Index is an interactive benchmarking tool created to help countries identify the challenges and opportunities they face in their performance on trade logistics and what they can do to improve their performance. The LPI is based on a worldwide survey of operators on the ground (global freight forwarders and express carriers), providing feedback on the logistics “friendliness” of the countries in which they operate and those with which they trade. The LPI datasets are available from 2007 and allow for comparisons across over 100 countries.
Includes reports on supply chain or logistics.
Finding Articles
Use the following article databases to search for scholarly, trade and popular articles on logistics and SCM. Below are some suggested keywords to use in your search. Place quotation marks around multiple terms to search as a phrase (e.g. “shipment of goods”). Combine these with a company name, industry keyword (or NAICS code) or geographic areas to further focus your search.
Logistics and SCM Keywords
- Business to business commerce
- Distribution
- e-purchasing
- Freight/freightage
- Freight forwarding
- Inventory
- Logistics
- Material handling
- Order processing
- Physical distribution of goods
- Procurement
- Production management
- Purchasing
- Push/pull strategy
- Shipment of goods
- Shipping
- Sourcing
- Suppliers
- Supply chain management
- Third-party logistics (3PL)
- Transportation
- Value chain
- Vendor supplier relations
- Warehousing
Recommended article databases
Watch the video tutorials: Finding Articles on a Topic and Finding Free Online News Articles.
Business Cases
Find business cases by typing the relevant keywords listed above and selecting Publication type: Case Study. Note: not all business cases are available in full text.
Find business cases by typing one of the relevant keywords listed above into the search box and select Case Studies from the drop-down menu.
The Material Handling Industry of America (MHI) provides case studies. Filter your results by facility type, product category, industry or company using the menus on the right hand column.
Find business cases by typing the relevant keywords listed above and selecting the check box for Document type: case study (located in the centre of the screen). Note: not all business cases are available in full text.
E-Books
Below are links to Laurier Library's ebook collections. Each collection contains several thousand titles. Try searching them using the logistics and SCM keywords listed above.
Provides access to tens of thousands of books from scholarly, trade and university presses. Titles available were published between the late 1990s to newly published materials. Most titles allow unlimited simultaneous users but some can only be used by one reader at a time.
Search and read tens of thousands of books from scholarly presses, Canadian presses and governmental organizations. Click on "full text" to access the books Laurier has purchased or licensed.
University Press Scholarship Online
Click on Advanced Search at the top right above the basic search box. Use the drop-down menu at the centre of the page to select Subject. Then select Business and Management from the drop down menu that appears to the right. On the next row, enter search terms such as those listed above. Add additional rows as needed. Unless otherwise specified, your search results will include book chapters as well as entire books.