Supply Chain Partner In Change

The supply chain is one of the key driving factor and more importantly enabling factor in the market changes that have been hitting the market especially in the last few years focusing on enabling change in practices and capabilities.  The supply chain network must be viewed as a partner in change to enable the market to change in support of the market and consumer demands. This opportunity to develop and strengthen the ability to drive and react to changing market conditions simply cannot be met without a robust partnership with partners in the supply chain network.  This is really nothing new, as the supply chain has been such a integral partner in the market and changes to the market and the development and growth in their abilities results in the need for stronger partnerships. The supply chain partners came into the time of change with a great model for engineered continuous change and this has allowed the supply chain to react and drive change to meet the market demands.

These times of market upheaval require strong partners in change and the supply chain network can and must be viewed as one of the key partners in change.  The supply chain network can provide a robust framework to support this change model necessary to navigate through the market changes and disruption. The supply chain network has a great deal of experience in navigating change that can help their market partners to understand and even flourish in the market by adapting and embracing the change procedures that have allowed the supply chain to flourish.  The supply chain is really in the forefront of change and especially the practices that support the ability to sense and respond to change. This change model should be used to model the market change model used by other participants to help to navigate through the many and frequent changes.

What we have learned over the years is that large changes and market disruption start with a small initial change and this change grows and propagates changes that shape and change the market in a manner that can easily be overlooked until it is almost too late.  Take a look at the Internet and eCommerce as an example, this market has in reality be changing and shifting in fits and bounds and when you analyze the changes over months it is a quite different picture than when you review the changes over years. What this tells me is that it is critical to incorporate a robust change model that allows the partners to sense and respond to change and market developments.  In addition, this model requires a change in the culture to accept and embrace robust collaboration practices to help navigate the change.

Using eCommerce as a reference the point that stands out in my mind is the disruption and struggle of the large legacy retailer to catch up to the consumer demands and expectations.  This is because these retailers did not have a strong sense and respond change model and also because the did not have a strong culture or collaborative partnerships in their support network.  The supply chain network can provide the model and the practices to help to guide the market participants through the changing marketplace. This guidance and partnership in change is becoming more and more important as a result of the changes in the market and the increase in specialization in the partners.  The partnership network is becoming larger and more important to success.