“5 steps for effective supply chain management” is a whitepaper.

We live in difficult times where volatility is the norm. For any business leader today the top challenge is cost. As business leaders across industry sectors work towards realizing cost efficiencies, with millions of dollars at stake, the role of sourcing has become very important.

Coupled with fears of W shaped recession, the financial crisis in leading economies, fiscal cliff in the US – cutting the gross domestic product (GDP) by four percentage, and political and natural uncertainties, CPOs today are compelled to go back to the drawing board to rethink company’s sourcing strategy.

Supply chains cannot tolerate even 24 hours of disruption. So if you lose your place in the supply chain because of wild behavior you could lose a lot. It would be like pouring cement down one of your oil wells. – Thomas Friedman, American Journalist, Columnist and Author

Given the events of the past five years financial crisis, natural disasters and massive supply chain failures, to name just a few procurements will need to push aggressively for the inclusion of supply chain risk on the broader business agenda in order to protect the business from uncertainties and turbulence.