Expect shipper-carrier relations in 2009 to take a more shipper-centric shape with the shippers dictating the terms. While this is probably not the best long-term strategy, short-term cost pressures will drive many shippers to behave as if this is 1999 and not 2009.

Over the next decade, integration of sensor networks will provide a wide variety of real-time data to improve various aspects of business activity and public life-from highway maintenance to healthcare delivery, from energy peaks to emergency services, and from intermodal freight to intelligent transit. Companies that access and leverage these emerging systems and communities early could realize not only a step improvement in supply chain visibility but also enhanced profiles of their mobile customer base.

Multi-enterprise supply chain management solutions are successful when companies are able to achieve large-scale, global adoption with their trading partners, overcoming both technical and business change management challenges. Software as a service solutions play an important role in enabling multi-enterprise business networks.

The instability of the international container shipping sector, capacity withdrawal on some routes and "slow steaming" practices will expose exporters and importers to greater risks.

Using a global inventory approach to "fire your inventory" may be much less disruptive than other cost-savings options your company may be considering.

The way companies manage global trade and supply chain networks is changing. Aberdeen's research shows that leading performers are moving towards an integrated view of global trade management, focusing on simultaneously optimizing physical, financial and information flows and networks in order to achieve competitive advantage.

Companies and their logistics service providers need to reduce their international transport and logistics costs. Despite the uncertainties of the current business environment, they can apply both old and new techniques.

There are a lot of parallels between the logistics software industry and the logistics service provider industry. For example, both have undergone a lot of mergers and acquisitions over the past five years, and companies in both industries are looking to further penetrate the small and mid-sized market. And it's also true that the business models of software vendors and LSPs are converging. But an important distinction still remains between these two industries: one primarily sells "products" and the other primarily sells "services." When times get tough, companies tend to outsource more and spend less, which is why LSPs have historically performed better than software vendors during economic slowdowns. Does this mean that LSPs can breathe easy in 2009? Not exactly.