Why do companies like Wal-Mart, P&G, Pfizer, HP, and Boeing struggle to compete in the current business environment while others like Apple, T.J. Maxx, and European retailer, Zara, succeed beyond all expectation? Read The Supply Chain Revolution to learn the new supply chain and sourcing techniques these high-performing companies are using to gain the advantage in their markets.

Once dismissed for being “boring,” supply chain and sourcing have come into bloom in this digital, global world. Just look at Apple’s exponential growth after Steve Jobs made supply chain enhancement a priority. He brought in Tim Cook for the revamp, and Cook and his supply-centricity have been leading Apple to success ever since. Another example of the revolution underway is TJX Companies, the parent of retailer, T.J. Maxx. Their agile sourcing model has led to an unboring market valuation of nearly $50 billion.

Companies today face a shrinking range of options as tactics like incremental product innovation, marketing, and geographic expansions lose their potency. Suman Sarkar shows how the future lies in new and different approaches to supply chains and sourcing.

Using case studies of world-leading companies and more than two decades of hands-on consulting experience, Suman Sakar highlights what makes supply chain and sourcing such powerful weapons in business today. And he provides a simple and practical guide for how companies can start wielding them to their advantage. Read this book to master the new thinking and learn to:

• Drive customer satisfaction and profitability through segmentation and incentives.

• Increase revenue by reducing the response time needed to meet new market demands.

• Better manage supply relationships and improve the performance of critical alliances.

• Transform high-risk supply chains into operations that contribute to big-picture objectives.

• Reduce sourcing costs by engaging contractors in new and different ways.

• Use analytical tools for sourcing services more efficiently and increase ROI.

• Smash traditional thinking by optimizing outsourcing arrangements for IT, payroll, facilities, and more.

• Drive business excellence by leveraging the work performed by outside suppliers.

The more technology and new business models continue to disrupt current businesses, the more strategies companies need in order to adapt, anticipate, and succeed. Read The Supply Chain Revolution to arm your company with powerful new techniques for competing in these challenging times.

Suman Sarkar is a Partner at Three S Consulting where he works as a supply chain and sourcing consultant with leading companies across multiple industries, including financial services, wireless, pharmaceutical, technology, consumer goods, retail, and defense. With more than 20 years of international consulting experience, Suman has a proven track record for bringing an innovative and strategic approach to supply chains and sourcing.

Why do companies like Wal-Mart, P&G, Pfizer, HP, and Boeing struggle to compete in the current business environment while others like Apple, T.J. Maxx, and European retailer, Zara, succeed beyond all expectation? Read The Supply Chain Revolution to learn the new supply chain and sourcing techniques these high-performing companies are using to gain the advantage in their markets.

Once dismissed for being “boring,” supply chain and sourcing have come into bloom in this digital, global world. Just look at Apple’s exponential growth after Steve Jobs made supply chain enhancement a priority. He brought in Tim Cook for the revamp, and Cook and his supply-centricity have been leading Apple to success ever since. Another example of the revolution underway is TJX Companies, the parent of retailer, T.J. Maxx. Their agile sourcing model has led to an unboring market valuation of nearly $50 billion.

Companies today face a shrinking range of options as tactics like incremental product innovation, marketing, and geographic expansions lose their potency. Suman Sarkar shows how the future lies in new and different approaches to supply chains and sourcing.

Using case studies of world-leading companies and more than two decades of hands-on consulting experience, Suman Sakar highlights what makes supply chain and sourcing such powerful weapons in business today. And he provides a simple and practical guide for how companies can start wielding them to their advantage. Read this book to master the new thinking and learn to:

• Drive customer satisfaction and profitability through segmentation and incentives.

• Increase revenue by reducing the response time needed to meet new market demands.

• Better manage supply relationships and improve the performance of critical alliances.

• Transform high-risk supply chains into operations that contribute to big-picture objectives.

• Reduce sourcing costs by engaging contractors in new and different ways.

• Use analytical tools for sourcing services more efficiently and increase ROI.

• Smash traditional thinking by optimizing outsourcing arrangements for IT, payroll, facilities, and more.

• Drive business excellence by leveraging the work performed by outside suppliers.

The more technology and new business models continue to disrupt current businesses, the more strategies companies need in order to adapt, anticipate, and succeed. Read The Supply Chain Revolution to arm your company with powerful new techniques for competing in these challenging times.

Suman Sarkar is a Partner at Three S Consulting where he works as a supply chain and sourcing consultant with leading companies across multiple industries, including financial services, wireless, pharmaceutical, technology, consumer goods, retail, and defense. With more than 20 years of international consulting experience, Suman has a proven track record for bringing an innovative and strategic approach to supply chains and sourcing.

Simply put, a supply chain exists to take material from suppliers, move it through manufacturing, and then distribute it to customers or end users. In WWII, the end users were the army and the navy, which had to be supplied across multiple geographies through different transportation modes (land, sea, and air).

Just as well-functioning supply chains helped lead the United States to victory in WWII, so too did bottleneck or otherwise poorly functioning chains lead to defeat. It is no exaggeration to say that Hitler's setbacks at Stalingrad and in North Africa were in part the results of breakdowns in supply.

For decades after WWII, the military approach to supply chain management and sourcing served private industry perfectly well. Now, however, it does not. Across a wide spectrum of industries, once-potent companies are in trouble: Walmart, IBM, Procter & Gamble (P&G), Pfizer, HP. The business model of these companies is static, relying primarily on product differentiation and global expansion. As product differentiation and market expansion opportunities continue to be reduced, they are finding themselves at a competitive disadvantage. This problem cannot be addressed by spending more money on advertising or buying other businesses. It is in operational areas such as supply chain and sourcing that a competitive edge can be found.

So the bad news is that many famous business names now find themselves standing on a burning platform. The good news? The need for change can no longer be ignored.

We are entering a time of testing for business leaders: Those who can evolve will survive; those who can't won't. In an era when management will need to exploit every competitive advantage it can find, leaders who continue to think of supply chains and sourcing only in terms of cost reduction will be at a serious disadvantage. Success will come to leaders who learn to see them as potential drivers of revenue growth, innovation, and risk reduction.

Excerpted from THE SUPPLY CHAIN REVOLUTION: Innovative Sourcing and Logistics for a Fiercely Competitive World by Suman Sarkar. Copyright © 2017 by Suman Sarkar. Published by AMACOM Books, a division of American Management Association, New York, NY. Used with permission.

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