Analyst Insight: Food and beverage manufacturers have the distinct advantage (or detriment, depending on how you view it) of often having direct access to the customer. In today's more open, collaborative, social world this can reap major benefits of understanding one's customer base and responding to its needs. On the flip side, food and beverage manufacturers are susceptible to a major downfall simply from minor issues across its supply chain. Open or not, it's the new reality. - Simon Ellis, practice director, Supply Chain Strategies, IDC Manufacturing Insights

Analyst Insight: In recent years, an increasing number of organizations have sought to make their supply chains more environmentally friendly. According to APQC's Open Standards Benchmarking in procurement, 48 percent of organizations initiated "green" procurement policies as of fall 2011. As organizations feel more pressure to monitor their environmental impact, they must consider the potential effect of enacting green procurement policies on their bottom line. - Becky Partida, knowledge specialist, APQC

Analyst Insight: Signing a contract and getting the business ramped up is just the beginning of an outsourcing deal. The real work is shaping the relationship and making the parties operate not only as a high-performance team, but also to allow the companies to embrace the dynamic nature of business and keep the parties aligned as "business happens." It's essential to have a flexible and cooperative governance framework. - Kate Vitasek, faculty of the University of Tennessee's Center for Executive Education, and founder, Supply Chain Visions

Analyst Insight: Recently, Big Pharma went through a significant period of mergers and acquisitions to gain a global market presence and product offering expansion. Now it appears the tides may be shifting. A segment of Big Pharma is shedding non-core business units and focusing on core profitability. But the acquisition strategy is not dead. These diverging paths are both focused on increasing flexibility and profitability to adapt to market uncertainty. Supply chain planning and adaptability have moved forward as integration of business units has increased in all regions of the globe. - Brian Hudock, partner, Tompkins International

Analyst Insight: The pressure of increased supply chain complexity, a byproduct of more trading partners and global geographies, is the top factor driving best-in-class companies (cited by 59 percent) to further increase their outsourcing to logistics service providers as one key solution to managing increasing supply chain costs. This direction is compelling when performance considerations for the best-in-class companies (top 20 percent) compared to average (50 percent) and laggard (30 percent) are taken into consideration. - Bob Heaney, lead research analyst, supply chain execution, and Bryan Ball, supply chain management vice president and principal analyst, both of Aberdeen.