A lot of companies are falling short in their efforts to derive full value from the sales and operations planning (S&OP) function. But the main reason for their failure might surprise you.

Analyst Insight: Cost cutting by itself is not fun for most employees and does not inspire them. But getting lean and cost cutting in some areas to make the company "Fit for Growth" is motivational because the goal is to reallocate resources and invest in capabilities that will help the company win. Once supply chain professionals embrace that the purpose of the cost cutting is smarter investment to become more competitive, they will rally around the cause. - Rodger Howell, Principal, PwC's Strategy&; John Plansky, Principal, PwC's Strategy&

NGC Software has added a Management Consulting Services practice for the apparel industry.

Perception Software has released AgileXPLORER as part of Oracle Corp.'s Agile PLM (Product Lifecycle Management) Engineering Collaboration Module.