As the degree of change gets faster and more intense, the job of supply chain professionals becomes more challenging, "which is a code word for difficult," says van Bodegraven, managing principal, van Bodegraven Associates.

"We are no longer talking about change that impacts transactional interchanges between businesses," he says. "We are talking about repositioning the role and enterprise-wide impact of supply chain management. We are talking about supply chain leaders who are looking at how to move the needles of corporate performance in a way that makes a CEO recognize the value of supply chain management. It is a radical repositioning of the role of SCM within corporations."

Companies have to master this new vision and positioning if they hope to compete seriously on the global stage, van Bodegraven says. "This means reordering a lot of classical thinking about who we are and what we do. Inventory, for example, is not a cost to be managed or something to be trimmed every time the company needs to save a few bucks. It is an asset we leverage to enable elevated enterprise performance, but that requires being smart about how and where and why we have inventory - and sometimes that means adding inventory rather than cutting back."

Supply chain managers must become change managers, van Bodegraven says. "They also have to develop the kinds of business planning and high-level analytic skills required to prioritize among hundreds of opportunities - to decide which changes will make the biggest difference the soonest for our companies. Analytics, problem solving, prioritizing and planning - these are the skills to master as the role of a supply chain leader morphs from managing transactions and people to aligning vision with strategy, gathering allies and integrating resources to work for common goals and outcomes."

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