The Supply Chain Game Changers

Book excerpt: BREAKTHROUGH BEST PRACTICES IN GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT FROM WORLD-CLASS PRACTITIONERS For all supply chain decision-makers, professionals, and students Improve financial and operational performance Manage risk and ensure continuity Drive value through deeper integration Optimize logistics cost and customer responsiveness Hire and develop world-class talent This book brings together advanced supply chain practices that yield significant, enduring business advantage. It reflects extensive collaboration between industry pioneers and The University of Tennessee Global Supply Chain Institute (GSCI), a leading source of best practice knowledge for global supply chain management. Building on GSCI’s deep industry partnerships, this book’s techniques take you far beyond the past decade’s advances. You’ll find new approaches to managing risk, integration, talent, distribution, purchasing, logistics, and more—all extensively vetted by leading executives. The authors fully explain each technique; its rationale, advantages, and challenges; and how pioneering organizations have implemented it. The world will look radically different in five years. If you want your supply chain to deliver competitive advantage tomorrow, you need to prepare today. This book shows you what to do, and how to get there. In recent years, practically everyone’s supply chain has become more sophisticated. To gain competitive advantage from your supply chain in the future, you’ll have to do even more. The Supply Chain Game Changers identifies powerful new ways to drive value in complex global supply chains, shows how pioneers are succeeding with these innovations, and helps you make them work in your environment. The authors first discuss ten trends impacting global supply chains today, and preview emerging drivers of change through 2025. Reflecting these changes, they share new best practices for managing global supply chains, evolving supply networks, and accounting for economics, politics, infrastructure, and competence. Next, the authors drill down to offer detailed guidance on several crucial aspects of supply chain management. You’ll discover new ways to identify, prioritize, and mitigate risk; balance cost and customer responsiveness through advanced distribution centers; integrate purchasing and logistics more effectively; and attract and develop world-class talent. The book concludes with the authors’ Top Ten actions for creating tomorrow’s world-class supplychain, practical tools for assessing where you stand,and detailed guidance for creating your new Action Plan.