American executives get it: The Internet promotes collaboration with other
companies. More than 70% of execs from Fortune 1,000 companies
surveyed by Accenture see the Internet as one of the most important
factors in fostering greater collaboration with key business partners
because of the visibility it provides in the supply chain, the management
consulting firm reports in a study issued Wednesday.
"We're seeing a willingness to consider outsourcing nontraditional
activities such as procurement, supply-chain IT applications development
and maintenance, and even supply-chain planning to enhance effectiveness
in these critical activities," says Bill Copacino, global managing
partner for Accenture's supply-chain management practice.
Among other findings of the survey of 150 executives, conducted in
December:
• 80% say their companies cut costs, improved efficiencies, enhanced
customer service and revenue, or improved competitiveness with
supply-chain management initiatives.
• 50% considered outsourcing noncore functions--such as
transportation and logistics--critical to improving supply-chain
management, and therefore achieving improved performance in their
companies' operations.
Analyzing the survey, Copacino sees a growing number of companies
outsourcing additional supply-chain activities such as procurement to
enhance performance. The recession, coupled with the pressing need to
enhance competitiveness, has accelerated the trend toward outsourcing
supply-chain functions, he says. But Copacino cautions that focusing
solely on cutting costs can overshadow long-term strategic needs, which
can be counterproductive when supply chains must become more global and
customer focused.
Survey participants also said that the difficulty in scaling pilot
programs across functions or divisions was one of the greatest challenges
to achieving positive results from supply-chain improvement. The
least-difficult challenge: garnering senior executive sponsorship of these
initiatives, which Copacino says indicates that supply-chain management is
seen as a major strategic thrust in achieving business objectives.
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