Globalization and evolving social, economic and regulatory trends have elevated corporate competition to a new level altogether. For procurement departments in particular, cutting costs, doing more with less, and running agile operations are the new standards for success.

Steve Lovejoy, senior vice president for the Starbucks global supply chain, discusses initiatives that the company has under way to meet the "whenever, wherever" demands of today's consumers as well as projects aimed at understanding the consumer of tomorrow.

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: Implementation time-lines for transportation management outsourcing continue to shrink thanks to cloud-based systems, process standardization, and features like automated carrier contract management. This is not the case for facility start-ups. With 10+ key milestones, hundreds of key tasks and sub-tasks, time-line slippage and cost overruns can quickly extend the time to value for both 3PLs and shippers. – Valerie Bonebrake, Senior Vice President, Tompkins International

Finding potential leaders among supply chain employees begins with treating everyone fairly, not equally, says Gough Grubbs, senior vice president of Stage Stores. Not everyone has the desire or drive for leadership and recognizing those who do is the first step toward success, he says.

A conversation with Ron Tarter, senior vice president, Eastern Operations, for Flextronics.

Many of today's customs house brokers rely on legacy systems. Increasingly, new Customs and Border Protection rules and regulations are challenging the capacity of these systems. Beyond just functional limitations, many firms are finding that older technology can be expensive to operate and maintain. Sometimes, maintenance demands are so great that in-house IT staff must focus all their time and energy on keeping these systems operational. Real risks accompany the decision to stick with older systems.

Before attempting to enter a long-term relationship with a 3PL, shippers first need to be clear internally about the goals and objectives they hope to achieve and about cultural guard rails that might thwart necessary information sharing, says Sean Coakley, senior vice president at Kenco Logistics Group.