Gordon Food Service has successfully provided last-mile and same-day delivery from its stores to its foodservice customers since 2020 by using the FarEye intelligent delivery logistics platform, according to Al Contreras, the company's innovation manager. FarEye enables GFS to track orders and give customers updates in real time, as well as optimize driver delivery routes.

Amazon's real estate strategy has evolved, with the company having acquired land or properties slated for redevelopment worth at least $2.2 billion during the past two years, according to an estimate by CoStar. The land could allow Amazon to build a new generation of fulfillment centers to get products to customers more quickly, but it remains to be seen how the company will respond to changing economic conditions.

The Trucking Conditions Index from freight transportation analysis firm FTR had a reading of 3.21 in April, up from -7.38 in March, as freight demand and trucking employment trended positive. However, higher fuel prices and other conditions could lead to future declines, FTR said.

Companies are combating supply chain volatility by using a just-in-case rather than just-in-time approach, sourcing products from a variety of vendors and locations, and adding warehouses to help bulk up inventory, according to Choi Na Young Hwan, the top international logistics analyst at the Korea Maritime Institute. Another indication that the supply chain Whac-A-Mole game is still ongoing: The increase in average container ship wait time from 18 hours two weeks ago to 33 hours last week at Germany's Bremerhaven port, according to VesselsValue.

Having a positive attitude enables distribution salespeople to confidently present price increases to buyers, writes sales trainer Paul Reilly. Salespeople can gain such an attitude by reviewing their past successes and by giving themselves positive affirmations, Reilly writes.

In this podcast, Nick Buck and Amy Bills, both vice presidents and principal analysts at Forrester, talk about why and how business-to-business marketers can take a balanced approach to customer obsession, which they define as "a perpetual business orientation that informs how an organization works." Their conversation then focuses on how B2B firms that act on customer obsession actually perform better.

Leaders build trust with their teams when they create a culture that encourages honest inquiry and feedback where mistakes can be acknowledged and seen as opportunities to learn and improve, writes Karen Hebert-Maccaro, general manager of education at Morning Brew. "The more publicly you applaud the effort and focus on the learning and growth phase of the loss, the better," Hebert-Maccaro writes.

When dealing with rivals in business, leaders have four choices, including to confront or avoid them, with the right approach depending on the specific details. "The key is identifying which option best suits a given situation at that point in time, while ensuring that we're not simply solving for our comfort with a given tactic (or our discomfort with others)," Ed Batista writes.