For the chief operating officer (COO), the importance of an orchestrated supply chain cannot be overstated, particularly where speed and agility can mean the difference between strong and weak performance. Read the Spotlight from IDC based on recent research that explores the benefits of an orchestrated supply chain, as well as related challenges and obstacles.

Organizations need mechanisms that not only identify hidden liquidity within the business but enable it to be deployed quickly.

For years, global sourcing has helped companies reduce production costs, access specialized suppliers, and achieve greater scale. But today’s supply chains face tariff uncertainty, geopolitical risk, transportation disruption, supplier concentration, inventory pressure, and rising customer expectations.

The future of sustainability reporting will be less about the volume of information companies disclose, and more about the quality, relevance and business impact of that information.

In the long term, the Strait of Hormuz crisis will be remembered as an event that exposed how much the world had already changed.

In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, Chief Supply Chain Officers face a critical challenge: building leadership teams that can break through functional silos, navigate competing priorities, and align around a shared purpose.

At the end of the day, it’s about whether the wider ecosystem is strong, flexible and connected enough to keep defense programs running reliably over time.

While ties with the U.S. have stabilized after last year’s tariff war, Beijing’s standoff with Brussels is intensifying.

Canada’s message to the U.S. is that “we’re ready to negotiate, but we’re not coming to this as pushovers. We have things we care about.”

In packaged goods supply chains, some of the biggest threats to margin hide in everyday exceptions—repacking, relabeling, retailer-specific requirements, special handling, short-notice changes, and customer requests that require operational workarounds.