In the September 2021 Issue: Making it to the top

This is an excerpt of the original article. It was written for the September-October 2021 edition of Supply Chain Management Review. The full article is available to current subscribers.

September-October 2021

This time every year, we publish Gartner’s Top 25 supply chains, the annual list of the supply chains that have made it to the top, a list that now also includes 5 Masters, or companies that have consistently outperformed year after year. You can read the article in this issue, along with the web exclusive material we publish on scmr.com, to find out what it takes to become a supply chain leader.

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This time every year, we publish Gartner’s Top 25 supply chains, the annual list of the supply chains that have made it to the top, a list that now also includes 5 Masters, or companies that have consistently outperformed year after year. You can read the article in this issue, along with the web exclusive material we publish on scmr.com, to find out what it takes to become a supply chain leader.

Last year, I was struck by how the leaders were embracing ESG, or environmental, social, & governance. This year, I noticed a new dimension mentioned over and over: CX, which stands for customer experience. Increasingly, supply chain is transitioning from a one-size fits all model, where cost rules the day, to one in which meeting a customer’s expectations is paramount. Sales and marketing are promise makers; supply chain is now the promise keeper. It’s our job to keep the customer satisfied. It’s a lesson that every supply chain manager who wants to make it to the top should take to heart.

We round out the issue with a number of articles you won’t want to skip. We begin with a look at how the dairy industry shifted gears to meet demand when its commercial channel shut down while its consumer channel ramped up. It’s an instructive piece, regardless of your industry. Alan Amling and Jayanth Jayaram, two frequent contributors, examine the changes taking place in last-mile delivery, followed by an analysis of procurement’s role in new product development—an increasing source of new revenue for many organizations. We end the issue with an article by Jonathan Karelse on how the biases we all bring to the job can affect demand planning and S&OP processes—and how to avoid them.

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