The Brains and Brawn Company: How Leading Organizations Blend the Best of Digital and Physical

CHAPTER 8

THE SPINE: LOGISTICS

I think from a consumer standpoint, people have lost sight of whether they’re shopping in a physical environment or digital environment. In most cases, their shopping starts with that mobile phone in their hands, and it’s how they decide where they’re going to shop. . . . They get the best of both.

—Brian Cornell, CEO of Target

Logistics is the spine of any company, holding the rest of the body upright, enabling the limbs to work together and take direction from the brain. Because it’s not flashy, it’s easy to forget how essential your spine is . . . until an injury leaves you completely incapacitated.

Logistics can be defined as the art and science of producing and moving goods and components, getting the right ...