Analyst Insight: 2009 was filled with mergers and acquisitions led by mega mergers. During this time, the definition of "pharmaceutical company" evolved, as the big players began morphing into global health care providers. As the evolution continues, processes for integrating multinational supply chains, new product lines, and rationalizing LSP contracts will challenge even the most capable and visionary supply chain executives.

Analyst Insight: 2009 was a rocky year for some aspects of this market, but stellar for others. Retail continues to roll-out voice and other technologies to ensure customer service and efficiencies, but RFID has slowed, for now. Defense logistics still is on the move with requirements and deployment of both active and passive RFID. Expect more purchases of these technologies in 2010, with a broader application of these technologies in diverse markets.

Analyst Insight: In Aberdeen's Supply Chain Executive's Agenda 2009 study, the following top market pressures were reported by the process industry respondents: economic and financial volatility, rising supply chain management costs, escalating customer service demands, and rising business complexity of managing an increasingly global business network. Process industry firms have a number of differences in the way they manage their manufacturing and supply chains and are now increasing their focus on supply chain performance.

Analyst Insight: The life sciences industry is realizing significant supply chain and operational benefits by driving even modest increases in demand forecast accuracy. Companies included in a recent AMR Research study pointed to improved demand management processes as the number one reason for this increased supply chain visibility. And the benefits don't stop there!

Analyst Insight: The regulatory environment for food and beverage manufacturers is changing. President Obama has reinvigorated the FDA's Food Safety Working Group and change is on the way. It is more important than ever for food and beverage manufacturers to get ahead of the curve and ensure food safety and traceability across their entire supply chains, from the field to the fork.

Analyst Insight: Although companies were able to reduce absolute inventory levels by 10 percent from Q3/2008 to Q3/2009, a closer look reveals that Days Inventory On-hand deteriorated by 7.5 percent, resulting in excess working capital requirements of $50bn for the largest 1,000 U.S.-headquartered public companies. If not regained, this lost efficiency will become a more significant cash drain than expected in 2010.

Analyst Insight: Advisors are often asked what's the best system to develop a product. Time and again our data indicates that simple spreadsheets just don't cut it - commercial packages and internally developed systems provide the real-time visibility into the data that organizations need to succeed.