IMD White Paper
The future of supply chain
A decade of IMD survey data and interviews with five seasoned supply chain executives from diverse industries reveals supply chain has moved from the sidelines to the center of business strategy. Yet progress remains uneven.
Based on the responses of more than 1,000 senior executives across 20 industries, this white paper finds:
– Significant gaps still exist between strategic ambition and execution capabilities across sectors.
– Integrating supply chain with business strategy is consistently the number one priority.
– Technology enables leaders’ priorities. Yet strong data foundations needed to deploy these technologies are often not in place.
To help set the agenda for supply chain leaders beyond 2025, this guide examines the industry priorities and outlines five strategic areas of focus for supply chain transformation.
Supply chain leadership has moved from the sidelines to the center of business strategy.
Successful transformation:
Five imperatives for supply chain leaders
1. Focus beats complexity.
2. Build resilience through systems thinking.
3. Accelerate the adoption of AI and digital tools, but balance with foundational capabilities.
4. Take on the talent-building challenge. Capabilities, not just tools, determine success.
5. Close the boardroom gap.
“Today, we need to holistically manage a- Ralf W. Seifert, Professor of Operations Management
supply ecosystem: adaptive, integrated,
and built on trust-based partnerships.”
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I by IMD Magazine
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Inflation, e-commerce and geopolitical conflict are all driving change in global supply chains. In Issue V, we explore what is next in these chain reactions.
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