As Roger and Kristina Blackwell observe in their opening article on converting supply chains into demand chains, we're entering a new market era—a century in which consumers will dictate every action in the supply chain. This marks a fundamental transformation in supply chain power, the authors say. Over the years, it has shifted from middleman, to manufacturer, to retailer. Now the power lies squarely in the hands of the consumer—and the implications up and down the chain are enormous.

One of the more profound of these implications is that companies must scramble to devise go-to-market strategies that quickly and effectively respond to consumer demand. This means developing both physical and Internet-based channels of fulfillment, says author and management consultant Charles Poirier. He calls this process the convergence of business and technology.

Yet creating a successful e-Business entails a lot more that just setting up a Web site, cautions Ravi Kalakota and Fred Ricker in their piece on order fulfillment. It demands an order-fulfillment strategy that meets the online buyer's increasingly exacting expectations without damaging the bottom line.

Customer demand forms the underpinning of the concept described in our last feature article of the issue. The "value net," as Mercer consultants David Bovet and David Frentzel describe it, adds a new dimension to linear supply chain thinking. The grid-like value net simultaneously connects customer needs to component sourcing, assembly, support services, and delivery options. The net results of this consumer-centric approach are compelling: higher profit and enhanced shareholder value.

In different ways and from varying perspectives, these and other articles in this issue hail the coronation of the consumer as the newly crowned king. Companies that can't—or won't—accept this new reality risk recommitting all of the sins of the past ... forecasts that bear no resemblance to actual demand, stockouts, excessive inventory levels, poor product mix. In short, they'll be perpetuating a business-as-usual mindset that can lead to lost market share, dwindling profits, and ultimately extinction.

Previewed in this issue is a new book called 21st Century Logistics: Making Supply Chain Integration a Reality, written by educators at Michigan State University. Through a fictional account of a supply chain manager named Charlie Change, the work chronicles the obstacles and opportunities encountered in creating a cross-functional, cross-enterprise supply chain. The story will ring true with real-world practitioners who have struggled with that very same challenge.