Susan Golicic, associate professor at Colorado State University, discusses recent CSCMP sponsored research on the state of supply chain innovation. While there have been no game changers in the last decade, steady incremental innovation has led to significant performance improvements, she says.

Lora Cecere, CEO of Supply Chain Insights, discusses new research from her company designed to identify the top 15 supply chains as measured against their peers, including capabilities and strategies that these companies share.

Having a visual map that overlays a company's key facilities, suppliers and lanes with actual or potential risks helps enable faster reaction to supply chain disruptions, says Chris Kushmaul, director of supply chain solutions at IDV Solutions.

The Amazon effect is raising consumer expectations for delivery services - expectations that logistics providers are struggling to meet without degrading margins, says Robert Lieb, supply chain management professor at Northeastern University. Lieb discusses this and other trends revealed in the annual survey of global 3PL CEOs.

The focus of RFID in the supply chain has shifted from case tagging to item tagging, says Ann Grackin, CEO of ChainLink Research. Grackin explains why this is so and details other areas of the supply chain where RFID is being embraced.

Managing the multiple relationships in today's supply chains requires a new level of cross-functional business processes, says Doug Lambert, director of the Global Supply Chain Forum at Ohio State. He identifies eight critical processes and explains methods for implementing them.

The biggest barrier to innovation in global supply chains is the inability of companies to identify and then quickly react to opportunities, says Corey Rhodes, vice president-Americas at Amber Road. He discusses the reasons behind these shortcomings and steps to remedy them.

Transportation professionals may talk to their peers in marketing and finance, but often there is little real understanding of how decisions impact customer service and, ultimately, the bottom line. Steven Raetz and Kevin McCarthy, executives at C.H. Robinson, discuss a paper they co-authored on bridging this communications gap.