Manufacturing.Net has carried a story by Hitachi Consulting that reveals that their recent survey indicates “that 80 percent of supply chain managers do not see their supply chain as an enabler of business strategies within their organization.” The survey identifies the extent to which the supply chain function is aligned with strategic transformation. Other findings for the survey, which spanned nine European countries, and included the attitudes of 100 supply chain managers and executives:
- “Little over half of the respondents (55 percent) do not regard their business’s supply chain as a fundamental source of business value and competitive advantage and almost a third (29 percent) see it as purely an operational function.”
- “Only a third of respondents (33 percent) believed that their organization’s supply chain would deliver an improved customer experience over the next five years.”
- “Almost half (45 percent) of respondents did not believe that their organization’s supply chain would deliver increased profitability and 46 percent did not believe that their organization’s supply chain would deliver a reduced working capital requirement.”
- “Only 43 percent believed that their organization’s supply chain would improve sales revenues over next five years.”