OVERVIEW

As supply chain efforts have matured around the world, a clear distinction has appeared. Businesses that embrace the inherent concepts are opening a serious gap over less able competitors. They do so by using advanced techniques primarily adopting external collaboration and the use of technology enablers across linked organizations to focus not only on cost improvement but revenue enhancement. The distinction that can be developed has been used by such leaders as Wal-Mart, Procter & Gamble, Toyota, Intel, Dell, Cisco Systems, Tesco, and Nike, to open up commanding leads in their industries. These organizations and others are moving rapidly toward what becomes a valuemanaged enterprise and a dominant position in an industry, while many of their competitors remain bogged down in the early levels of their supply chain progression.

The leaders have nurtured the advantages offered by moving their supply chains into a position of having superior capabilities, gained through greater access to knowledge across what becomes an intelligent value chain network. The difference for these businesses can be a doubling of earnings per share. The laggards and followers tend to keep their focus on internal improvement only, particularly the never-ending quest for lower costs of operations. While we accept that this cost orientation will hardly cease to exist, the contemporary view holds that there must be an equal and pervasive effort directed at distinguishing the firm in the eyes of the most important customers and end consumers so that new and profitable revenues are generated. Moreover,...