Steve Agg FCILT, Chief Executive of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, says in today’s The Times (January 21, 2014) that the recent Christmas retail sales have highlighted the inexorable rise in the use of e-commerce. He states: ‘We should all be in no doubt that we are engaged in a supply chain revolution and it is the consumers who are driving the change whilst many businesses strive to play catch up.’

In the influential supply chain strategies report in The Times, Steve states businesses risk not only their reputation but their future survival prospects if they fail to recognise the significance of effective supply chain management and leadership.

Steve warns that in the current, fragmented logistics market, the final delivery company might have only a tenuous relationship with the supplying business but if their performance is below par, the customer may never return to a company’s website and perhaps not to its high street store either. Businesses need to know what’s happening throughout their supply chain.

He concludes that ‘In today’s world of global competitiveness both from the consumer service perspective and from the product sourcing angle it is very clear that effective supply chain management is now the key business strategy enabler and any business that ignores or down plays its supply chain capability is facing a very uncomfortable and probably short future.’

You can view the report in full here http://raconteur.net/supply-chain-strategies