The 2024 Chief Supply Chain Officer (CSCO) agenda

This is an excerpt of the original article. It was written for the January-February 2024 edition of Supply Chain Management Review. The full article is available to current subscribers.

January-February 2024

Back in 2019, we seemed on a consistent path to the future. Then COVID-19 arrived on the global scene, and all predictions went out the window. As 2024 begins, everyone wants to know what the year will look like. I predict continued interest in circular supply chains, cybersecurity, visibility, and digital supply chains, to name a few. But I am not alone. So, I’d like to share five things that I am particularly interested in this year.

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As we enter the 5th year of the Roaring ’20s: Decade of Digitalization and Disruption, supply network executives wield significant influence over strategic procurement, particularly in conditions where buyer power is amplified, and supply network risk is at an all-time high. CSCOs are the driving force in managing those risks and evaluating the effectiveness of key strategic procurement strategies: maximizing the strategic value of suppliers, strengthening the supply network, building technology solutions, and capitalizing on market headwinds.

Rethinking and empowering the strategic levers of procurement

Strategic procurement departs from the conventional, tactical approach to procurement. It focuses on the proactive identification of opportunities, meticulous supplier selection, and end-to-end collaboration across the supply network ecoystem. It creates visibility into spend and provides the company with greater power to mitigate price and market variability regardless of the economic and geopolitical climate. For CSCOs, understanding and championing this process isn’t just a strategic choice; it’s a necessity for the survival and growth of their organizations.

Maximizing the strategic value of suppliers: Building win-win collaborative partnerships

A company’s relationship with its suppliers should never be purely transactional. The contribution of suppliers should extend beyond the materials they provide and their effect on the total cost of ownership. In a strategic relationship, suppliers become partners in achieving the company’s goals. Indeed, the entire thrust of ally sourcing is to find suppliers who understand, support, and are willing to invest in a company’s geopolitical, environmental, and financial priorities.

Suppliers need a standardized sourcing system that they can trust. They cannot meet a company’s needs unless they know what those needs are. For a relationship to flourish, CSCOs must ensure that procurement has strong leadership willing to ensure, for example, that specifications are uniform, change orders are minimized, and processes are standardized across the company.

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