8 Strategies to Drive Supply Chain Performance

Striving to take their business to a new level, or just keep pace with increasing competition, many executives are realizing they need an expanded view of their company's business environment. There was a time when this meant looking deeper and harder into their own enterprise or slightly beyond to their immediate trading partners. That's no longer good enough. Virtually every company-from manufacturer to logistics provider to retailer-is operating in a much more complex, multifaceted supply chain. This means their business is being impacted by a whole new set of factors from the far reaches of their supply chain. The list of forces driving this change in supply chain dynamics is long, varied and, in most instances, not a surprise. It includes the usual suspects-globalization, a changing competitive landscape due to mergers and acquisitions, changing regulatory requirements, changing consumer expectations, and a high failure rate for new product introductions. There also are forces that are less top of mind, including shortening of product lifecycles, skyrocketing product variety, rising energy costs, increased congestion at ports and on roads, and the impact of real or potential natural disasters and terrorism.