The GAP Vassilopoulous grip was particularly interesting because of the wide range of services they supply. The first main business of the group was the shipping business, but the scope of their services soon expanded. First, they expanded into shipping insurance– offering plans for the clients they were already shipping with. Next, they expanded into not only moving goods, but moving people with transit logistics. With the movement of people, they all got into hospitality– the group currently owns two hotels (one in London and one in Nicosia). The company next expanded into the international courier (to-door package) business, shipping packages in Cyprus for first FexEx and now UPS. Interestingly, the company then also added foreign exchange financial services. This may not seem related at first, but these foreign exchanges were important for the payments relating to the shipping part of the company. The company then got into not only moving goods, but managing the ports and airports they come out of. The company works with DP World in Limassol, and operates Larnaca airport. All these operations show that GAP is vertically integrated– its consumers react with one company for all their needs.

I also took away a few general supply chain ideas from Dr. Vassilopoulos’ talk with us. He pointed out that a completely lean supply chain will not survive anymore. Lean supply means a total emphasis on efficiency, without regard for time-effectiveness or resiliency. Supply chains that are lean can easily collapse under pressure, such as what happened with COVID. If “once in a lifetime” events continue to happen with such frequency, supply chains must be reactive– they must be “agile” to some extent. This means that novel supply chains will have some combination of lean and agile aspects. I also learned about the idea of “co-ompetition”– instead of solely being against companies in the same industry, one can collaborate with them. Perhaps the two companies may reach a higher efficiency by partnering together, or can learn a thing or two from another. Dr. Vassilopoulos also eloquently described the importance of efficiency in supply chains. Efficient supply chains can lower costs, which can serve to both increase profits and allow the company to lower prices. This makes both the consumer and the company better off.