For the first time ever, Black Friday might not be the pinnacle of holiday shopping. Of course some retailers are pushing the envelope with excessive store hours and promotions. But many are reducing the emphasis on Black Friday for their own profitability, including innovators like REI who are closing their doors altogether.

The dynamics behind global trade have changed our traditional notions of import logistics and export logistics. Companies no longer just source from low-cost countries to sell at high margins domestically. Emerging markets, near-sourcing, and foreign franchises have shaken up where companies export to and how their supply chains are structured. Information flow, as much the physical flow of goods, is the key for businesses to manage this new complexity.

No matter what area of supply chain you’re in, there’s no hiding from the large shadow Amazon casts over the industry. Amazon’s recent innovations, Prime Now and Flex, focus on transforming last mile delivery to be even quicker and more convenient than ever before. How is Amazon consistently able to come up with radical solutions to longstanding problems? In this episode, we explore what it takes to develop revolutionary technological innovations for the supply chain.