Analyst Insight: By 2025, issues such as globalization, social transparency, risk management and sustainability will bring new challenges to all the best procurement organizations around the world. For diverse suppliers, these changes will pose new challenges, while bringing new opportunities for those with a vision for the future. - Angie Li, Partner; Curtis Simpson, Manager; Kirsty A. McNally, Manager, all with Advisory Services of Ernst & Young LLP

With a tentative agreement in place between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), the 7-month-long West Coast port crisis has come to an end. What comes next is the final body count - what percentage of GDP shrank because of the slowdown? What was the impact on the trade deficit? Who got hit hardest, and just how hard? Then what? There may be a collective sigh of relief in the air, but can things really go back to normal? Should they?

Analyst Insight: Radically changing market conditions in the global pharmaceuticals industry are creating volatility in supply and demand, as well as affecting customer service levels and costs. Pharma companies are also faced with impending margin pressure from generics. In this environment, pharma executives are looking to improve efficiencies, understand emerging market customers and be better prepared to meet financial objectives. Supply chain analytics provides pharma supply chain executives with powerful tools to maintain a competitive edge. – Jay Welsh, Principal, and Srihari Rangarajan, Manager, Ernst & Young LLP

One of the new buzzwords in the demand planning arena is demand sensing. Developed around 2003, demand sensing has slowly been grabbing the interest of the CPG, energy, food, beverage, and chemical industries. Often viewed as an alternative to demand management, demand sensing is anything but. Let's compare the two.

The new global marketplace has brought many benefits for consumers, while also ushering in new levels of expectations for manufacturers, which can complicate the delivery of products.