The route to supply chain effectiveness is a journey, not necessarily an easy one, across five levels of maturity. Companies that embrace the challenges and reach the advanced levels are opening a significant gap in business performance between them and their competitors. Information in support of the positive results has been documented, indicating the possibility to add five to eight points, of new profits to a firm's earnings. This same reporting also indicates, however, that most firms tend to bog down in midstream. The use of the maturity model, the SCOR framework, and a set of maturity matrices provides a reference to track progress and understand what further improvements lie around the corner. These models and matrices answer questions such as:

• "How well are we doing?"

• "Have we covered all the bases?"

• "How much more value could we generate, and how do we get there?"

A firm interested in achieving the highest level of pertinent progress is advised to calibrate its progress on the maturity/SCOR models and develop a set of matrices pertinent to its industry, market, and environmental needs. With these tools, the company can begin to selectively collaborate with business allies and pursue a sensible path to the future. Using the SCOR model as a backdrop for determining how to improve the processes involved can also match the effort with a generally accepted methodology for finding beneficial changes.

In the next chapter, we extend the use of the model and matrices, as we describe some of the...