Signs Point to a Promising New Year

Promising signs are popping up everywhere that 2011 will be a good year for people in the supply chain profession.

The most recent indication, of course, is the promising results for the Christmas and holiday shopping season that just passed. Figures from the industry group National Retail Federation (NRF) shows that holiday sales this year have bounced back to pre-recession levels. The numbers are still being tallied for online sales this Christmas season, but analysts forecast a double-digit increase over last year’s numbers. Not too bad!

So from a retail standpoint, anyway, we appear to be ushering in 2011 with a strong sense of optimism. That’s good for the logistics and supply chain professionals who bear the responsibility for getting all this merchandise to market (while figuring out how to handle the growing number of returns as well).

Executive recruiters have been telling us for some time that their business is brisk as companies prepare for a strong rebound and want to make sure that they have the supply chain leadership in place to respond appropriately. Among the highly sought-after skills and competencies are experience in international operations, familiarity with technology implementation, and that old standby “leadership” qualities.

Professional associations, too, see a more promising year ahead as they seek to build up their membership rolls to their levels of four or five years ago. The groups in our space—CSCMP, ISM, WERC, APICS, and so on—are wonderful educational resources and worthy of your membership consideration. (They’re also great for network building, which proved invaluable to many folks who suddenly found themselves looking for work over the last couple of years.)

From our personal perspective here at Supply Chain Management Review comes another welcome glimmer of light. Advertising on the magazine and sponsorship for our web offerings are on the upturn and point to an upbeat year ahead.

So add it all together…2011 is looking pretty good. We hope it’s a good one for you, your family, and your company.

SC
MR