Increasingly integrated supply chains with two to four partners will provide the basis for competing and generating cash flow and return on investment. This is a logical extension of firms first improving efficiencies within functions, then across functions, to process improvement between and across multiple firms. (Monzcka et al. 1998)
Both within organisations and along the value chain there will be more flexibility in the integration and de-integration of processes. Second and possibly third-tier suppliers will be brought in to increase the flexibility for allocating value-added processes. This will spread risk and promises to lead to some innovative ways of adding value and providing further opportunities for reducing costs.
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