Buyers should develop an “outside in, inside out” dialogue.

Jon Fawcett wanted to build a cellphone cable that wouldn’t fray. So he developed a charging cord wrapped in stainless steel sturdy enough to withstand an electric chainsaw.

In the rush to get to market, some companies overlook the benefits of extending their values into their supply chains.

For the seasonal salad at the popular Oz Kafe in Ottawa, the shavings of Gouda cheese are a salty and delicious culinary accompaniment. To the United States, they are an element of an increasingly bitter trade dispute over dairy products, one that threatens to undermine its decades-long agreement with Canada.

The United States has recently imposed tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese goods entering the country. The action is already having a trickle-own effect on supply-chain teams and procurement departments.