Analyst Insight: Every year there are several surveys asking supply chain executives to rank the challenges they face. And, for as long as I can remember, supply chain visibility ranks at or near the top. This year's reincarnation of the control tower metaphor is being applied to supply chain visibility. Can you see me now? If it's so critical, why haven't we implemented it? - Rich Sherman, Supply Chain Discipline Expert at Trissential

Analyst Insight: IBM's recent Chief Supply Chain Officer Report - "The Smarter Supply Chain of the Future" - has pretty much validated our four-year informal polling premise that about 90 percent of all supply chains are not mapped out in any formal approach. IBM's respondents placed supply chain visibility among the Top 5 supply chain challenges. Seventy percent said supply chain visibility is one of their major keys to success - yet the majority of those responding have not addressed the issue! - Gregory L. Schlegel, Vice President, Business Development, SherTrack LLC, and Adjunct Professor, Supply Chain Risk Management, Lehigh University, Graduate Program

Analyst Insight: In 2013, four trends will become hot topics for transportation operations in companies large and small: transportation continuity planning, fuel efficiency and the move to alternative fuels, driver shortages, and transportation category management. - Mario Hegewald and Jim Osborne, Senior Managers in Ernst & Young LLP's Supply Chain Advisory Practice

As businesses and governments implement cost-cutting and other efficiencies to help them recover from the deep recession, now is the time to consider collaborative purchasing as both a short- and long-term strategy to cut costs.

U.S. manufacturers are targeting an aggressive 1.5-percent reduction in cost of goods sold for 2013 in an effort to drive margin growth, according to a new study from The Hackett Group. With GDP growth stabilizing in major regions of the world, manufacturers are expecting reduced sales forecast uncertainty, enabling them to plan supply requirements and manufacturing capacity with far greater confidence, the study found.

Analyst Insight: Lately, activity in horizontal collaboration has increased. Although this is still not a scalable practice, the number of studies and pilot projects are growing. While many variations of collaboration exist, all significantly impact transportation management. - Bill Loftis, Senior Principal, Tompkins International

Analyst Insight: In recent years, due to the changing and challenging global economy, there has been much talk about the need to balance natural competitive pressures with collaborative engagement across the supply base. The trick, of course, is how to do both things - competition and collaboration - effectively. I believe it starts with trust. - Kate Vitasek, faculty, University of Tennessee's Center for Executive Education, and Founder, Supply Chain Visions

Analyst Insight: The increasingly hyper-competitive supply chain landscape requires a reassessment of "old" supplier relationships and a paradigm shift. Executives are scrutinizing old business practices, especially those related to supplier management. Manufacturers are reassessing outsourcing engagements and bringing many of them back in-house (termed "backsourcing" or "reshoring") given that many of the original reasons for outsourcing have changed. Increased supplier segmentation will force a reassessment of supplier governance, with leading companies having segmented supplier management strategies. - Nada R. Sanders, Professor of Supply Chain Management and Iacocca Chair, Lehigh University

Undoubtedly businesses need to guard their end products against counterfeiting to protect their profits, their brands, their customers, and the financial health of their businesses. But fighting counterfeits cannot be fully effective without guarding supply sources - the materials and components used to manufacture the end products.