A survey of more than 400 supply chain execs by IBM — resulting in a report called “The Smarter Supply Chain of the Future” — ranked topics in this order. Respondents were asked if the topic impacted them to a significant or very significant extent.

• supply chain visibility — 70%
• risk management — 60%
• cost containment — 55%
• increasing customer demands — 55%, and
• globalization — 45%

Execs who were surveyed also remarked that all five topics are critical areas in successful supply chain management.

The IBM study also offered a few specifics.

On the subject of supply chain visibility, the biggest problem is the lack of information sharing and collaborative decision-making. This is not the fault of technology; it’s the way many companies are organized.

Risk management: Supply chains have been stung with more regularity in recent years, from defective products to bankrupt business customers and vendors, natural disaster, and a host of other causes that can take a toll on your efficiency. To get a step ahead of this, it’s become more critical to build risk management into your basic daily functions.

Cost containment: It used to be that supply chains could take a “tortoise” approach in continually improving costs and cost control. But today’s fast-moving economy demands a “hare-like” strategy, reacting daily to whatever cost issues might arise.

Customer demands: Most companies do a great job now of collaborating with your suppliers. It’s time to take that a step further, the experts recommend, and build the same type of relationship with your customers — deploying joint forecasting, for example.

Globalization: It’s not the cure-all and end-all some said it would be. In fact, one-third of the execs responding to the IBM survey said supply costs have actually increased due to global sourcing.  The main issues are product quality and lead times.