The feature articles appearing in this issue of Supply Chain Management Review embrace a recurring theme. Specifically, they underscore the need for full integration of the processes and elements that comprise the supply chain. Importantly, as James Morehouse of A.T. Kearney makes clear in "Extending the Enterprise," integration must take place both internally and externally.

Within the organization, of course, it's essential to closely coordinate all related activities, such as purchasing, forecasting, production planning, logistics, and customer service. This means that the transportation department, for example, no longer can make carrier-selection decisions without first coordinating with customer service. Nor can any purchasing or sourcing action be effected without a clear understanding of how that commodity will move upstream—and when.

But internal integration takes a company only part of the way toward supply chain excellence. The effort has to extend beyond the walls of the organization to include suppliers and customers. In the very best supply chains, that linkage extends all the way to the customer's customer and supplier's supplier.

Sun Microsystems exemplifies a company striving to achieve that extended level of integration. As illustrated in "Sun Moves to Make the Virtual Supply Chain a Reality," this technology leader has forged a vision of "virtual operations." That vision so envelops the activities of suppliers and customers that it becomes virtually impossible to distinguish among the supply chain partners.

Readers looking for guidance on how to craft a more integrated supply chain strategy will find two articles especially instructive. One, by James Blayney Rice, Jr. of MIT, describes a new framework for developing a more integrated, responsive supply chain. It's called Horizontal Process Management, or HPM. The other, written by management consultant Kevin O'Laughlin, sets forth a practical five-step procedure for measuring and improving supply chain performance globally.

To successfully integrate the various supply chain components is as much art as science. True, the information technology linking the chain's various components must be firmly in place. Just as critical, though, is the ability to convince diverse parties that an integrated process works to everyone's interest. That's truly an art form.