The World Is Enough

Avnet Electronics Marketing's Executive Vice President, Supply Chain Services, Worldwide, Greg Frazier, takes on the task of making the global high-tech supply chain more accessible for customers.

[From Supply & Demand Chain Executive, August/September 2004] As a major player in the electronic components distribution business, Avnet Electronics Marketing has been well positioned over the past few years to observe, and participate in, the increasing globalization of the high-tech supply chain. And within Avnet, Greg Frazier now finds himself well positioned to help both his own company and its customers and suppliers to meet the challenges of the global supply chain.

Avnet recently named Frazier, a 27-year veteran of the company, to the position of executive vice president, supply chain services, worldwide. In his new post, Frazier's charge, in part, is to work with Avnet's suppliers and customers to design competitive supply chain strategies. Given the continuing globalization of the high-tech supply chain, a significant component of those strategies is likely to revolve around building "cross-regional" relationships outside a company's traditional area of operations. So when Supply & Demand Chain Executive spoke with Frazier, shortly after Avnet announced his latest appointment, we began the discussion by asking about the risks and challenges inherent in building a more global supply chain.

Frazier: When we talk about the high-tech electronic components supply chain, everyone likes to talk about being "global." But in many cases companies still have very regional supply chains because they are still regional businesses. In other words, they still operate primarily in a single region, whether that's North America, Asia, Europe, Japan (which falls into its own region) or China (which is almost a region unto itself, too).

Now, of course, many of these companies are moving toward designing their products in North America