SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGY is increasingly being called upon to Deliver results that enable the realization of a company's business strategy. Too often, supply chains are not aligned with business strategies, and the objectives are not well linked to business goals. The best performing companies have tightly integrated supply chains with overall business strategies.

In order to uncover and drive supply chain efficiencies, executives must first understand that the supply chain is comprised of four flows: cash, information, work (process/organization) and products/materials/services. Further, all metrics used to measure the supply chain are derived from Cost, Speed (Time), and Quality (errors, disruptions). Analyzing your supply chain from this perspective is the only way to achieve the promise of supply chain management.