A Real-World Take on Transformation

This is an excerpt of the original article. It was written for the March-April 2011 edition of Supply Chain Management Review. The full article is available to current subscribers.

March-April 2011

Leadership is one of the most popular topics we write about in SCMR. We all seem to be fascinated by individuals who can rally a company, a sports team, a country toward a shared goal. Yet when asked just what makes a good leader, most of us struggle with a precise answer. It's kind of: "Well I know what real leadership is when I see it." Reflecting our leadership theme this issue, we're pleased to introduce a new section of the magazine called "Talent Strategies." It's written by the experts at MIT's Center for Transportation & Logistics, which has both a depth of research and hands-on experience in…

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The only constant in today’s world is change. Leading companies recognize this and understand that they must continually transform themselves to remain competitive. Over the past several decades, significant organizational transformations have been taking place, pushing firms to higher levels of performance and competitiveness. In many cases, these have been enabled by such proven techniques as total quality management and business process re-engineering. But merely repeating these traditional, largely internally focused, improvement initiatives is no longer enough. The kind of transformation needed today cannot be accomplished within the four walls of the firm. Real transformation—with the growth and business success associated with that—will come only with the engagement of the supply network.

With this foundational understanding of the transformation process, we have been convening a group of thought leaders—supply chain practitioners—at the Michigan State University Executive Summit, first held in 2007. The mission of this annual summit is to examine how supply management can be leveraged to drive organizational transformation and strategic change that leads to competitive advantage. We have called this supply-leveraged organizational transformation, or SLOT. (Later in the article, we will give more detail on the firms at the Executive Summit and their specific areas of presentation.)

Certainly, this is a timely issue: The amount spent on purchasing goods and services as a percentage of total revenue is increasing across virtually all companies, attesting to the growing importance of supply management. As the spending increases, so do the challenges…tougher competition globally, rising customer expectations, and shorter product lifecycles. This article explores the keys to supply management success in this environment.

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