For most business leaders, it's difficult to make any decision without letting bottom line bias come into play. Globalization, in addition to evolving social, economic and regulatory trends, has elevated corporate competition to a new playing field altogether. For procurement departments in particular, cutting costs, doing more with less, and running agile operations are the new standards for success.
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