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Breakthrough Supply Chains: How Companies and Nations Can Thrive and Prosper in an Uncertain World
A timely guide to rethinking and reinventing supply chains with breakthrough thinking to benefit your organization, the economy, and the world
Major global events have brought to the forefront the impact of supply chains on everything from the success of companies and the health of individuals to global prosperity. As global business and geopolitical conditions change radically, it is imperative that supply chain strategies and operations transform to thrive in a volatile environment. Leaders have come to recognize the critical importance of resilience, agility, flexibility, and assurance of supply.
Breakthrough Supply Chains provides a comprehensive view of end-to-end supply chains and dispels the common myths about them. It provides "breakthrough thinking" principles that address critical topics for enterprise and public policy:
How supply chains have enabled profitable and beneficial growth in the evolving world The evolution of "the new customers" and what they demand The critical success factors for managing demand and supply in a complex and risky world Information, data, governance, analytics and measurements that guide strategic choices Resilience, risk, and supply assurance Sustainable supply chains and the environment Whether you are a business executive, manager, government agency leader, or member of the interested public, Breakthrough Supply Chains reinvents the supply chain with far-reaching effects. This is your go-to guide.
Major global events have brought to the forefront the impact of supply chains on everything from the success of companies and the health of individuals to global prosperity. As global business and geopolitical conditions change radically, it is imperative that supply chain strategies and operations transform to thrive in a volatile environment. Leaders have come to recognize the critical importance of resilience, agility, flexibility, and assurance of supply.
Breakthrough Supply Chains provides a comprehensive view of end-to-end supply chains and dispels the common myths about them. It provides "breakthrough thinking" principles that address critical topics for enterprise and public policy:
How supply chains have enabled profitable and beneficial growth in the evolving world The evolution of "the new customers" and what they demand The critical success factors for managing demand and supply in a complex and risky world Information, data, governance, analytics and measurements that guide strategic choices Resilience, risk, and supply assurance Sustainable supply chains and the environment Whether you are a business executive, manager, government agency leader, or member of the interested public, Breakthrough Supply Chains reinvents the supply chain with far-reaching effects. This is your go-to guide.
346 pages, Kindle Edition
Published June 6, 2023
2 people are currently reading
8 people want to read
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January 30, 2024The 6 major processes of supply chain are plan, buy, make, move, distribute and sell. Underyling are the flow of materials/products, payment, information and data, and workflows.
Eolution of global supply chain from "cost optimization" period to tomorrow's "intelligent" supply-aware and customer aware centric supply chain.
Intelligent trade-off decisions need to be made in terms of sustainability (environment), sourcing, security, customer service, profitability, and resilience.
Integrated customer centric, supply chain experience:
- Total acquisition cost
- Total cost of ownership
- Convenience in ordering, changing orders, tracking, receiving and returns
- Ease of doing business
- Cost to serve and customer profitability
- Speed, response and reliability (Assurance)
- Perfect order fulfillment
- National security and cybersecurity
- Customer help desks
- Personalization
- Management escalation/attention
- Value-add services
Focus of commercial supply chain: cost, working capital, customer service, speed, contraints and incentives imposed by government policies/regulations.
Focus of defense and government supply chains: high product availability, new systems and tech, competition requirements, socioeconomic quotas.
Eolution of global supply chain from "cost optimization" period to tomorrow's "intelligent" supply-aware and customer aware centric supply chain.
Intelligent trade-off decisions need to be made in terms of sustainability (environment), sourcing, security, customer service, profitability, and resilience.
Integrated customer centric, supply chain experience:
- Total acquisition cost
- Total cost of ownership
- Convenience in ordering, changing orders, tracking, receiving and returns
- Ease of doing business
- Cost to serve and customer profitability
- Speed, response and reliability (Assurance)
- Perfect order fulfillment
- National security and cybersecurity
- Customer help desks
- Personalization
- Management escalation/attention
- Value-add services
Focus of commercial supply chain: cost, working capital, customer service, speed, contraints and incentives imposed by government policies/regulations.
Focus of defense and government supply chains: high product availability, new systems and tech, competition requirements, socioeconomic quotas.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 15, 2025
Good but dry primer into supply chains, mainly focusing on high level policy views.
What I found interesting were the views on resilience and ESG. A few terms come up with resilience: stability, which is the ability of the supply chain to come back to normal; robustness, which is the ability for a supply chain to withstand disruptive events without noticeable impact or adaption. There are a few proposed metrics to assess it.
And also:
They also think that ESG increases costs - or more accurately, ESG has not been proven to deliver cost savings except over a 10 year horizon. I found the scepticism refreshing - eg pointing out that the production of cars required conflict minerals.
On metrics, good way of describing metrics as descriptive (what is going on today) vs trend (indicators of what will happen in certain areas).
What I found interesting were the views on resilience and ESG. A few terms come up with resilience: stability, which is the ability of the supply chain to come back to normal; robustness, which is the ability for a supply chain to withstand disruptive events without noticeable impact or adaption. There are a few proposed metrics to assess it.
And also:
Stop optimising the “perfect” supply chain and instead develop flexible and resilient supply chain networks. A quick moving “sense and response” system is far better than a rigid system that seeks to anticipate everything in detail. As von Clausewitz says, “the enemy of a good plan is the dream of a perfect plan.”
They also think that ESG increases costs - or more accurately, ESG has not been proven to deliver cost savings except over a 10 year horizon. I found the scepticism refreshing - eg pointing out that the production of cars required conflict minerals.
On metrics, good way of describing metrics as descriptive (what is going on today) vs trend (indicators of what will happen in certain areas).
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews