Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Forward Thinking

CSCMP Hot Topics… explores supply chain innovation

Find out why some supply chain innovators are more successful than others in sustaining and building on their innovations over time.

Too often, an initially successful supply chain innovation fails to reach its full potential. In some cases, an effort that delivered fantastic results early on fades away over time. In other cases, successful improvements launched in one location fail to take hold in other sites across the network or enterprise. To find out how companies can extend the benefits of innovation, CSCMP commissioned a research study examining Supply Chain Innovation Award (SCIA) finalists over the past 10 years. The latest issue of CSCMP Hot Topics… discusses these findings and what supply chain professionals can learn from them.

The researchers' 2014 analysis of 74 finalist cases, together with retrospective interviews with 33 of the finalists, determined that leading supply chain innovators excel in certain capabilities, such as finding opportunities, making the case for innovations, designing and implementing innovations, and sustaining and expanding them.


The researchers found significant variances in the degree to which finalists sustained or expanded innovations. At the time of the analysis, a majority of innovations (76 percent) had been continued but were essentially unchanged from the original designs. Only 15 percent of the innovations led to new applications or new business opportunities. The remaining innovations (9 percent) had been discontinued. These results raised an interesting question: Why are some supply chain innovators more successful than others in sustaining and building upon their innovations over time?

One reason is that innovations are more sustainable if objectives are closely tied to strategy. Those who were able to sustain and grow their innovations attributed some of their success to the link between the target of the innovation and the strategies driving both the supply chain and the company.

To follow these prescriptions and become better at sustaining and expanding supply chain innovations, most supply chain organizations will likely need to modify their incentives, resources, and culture, especially in regard to how innovations are viewed. If an innovation is seen simply as a means to an end, it probably will wither over time, even after initial successes. Instead, each innovation needs to be seen as a way for the organization to learn and grow, and as a way to simultaneously solve current problems and create new opportunities in the future. Managers who view supply chain innovations this way, the research found, are more likely to take the necessary steps to sustain and expand the project and its benefits.

CSCMP Hot Topics… is free to CSCMP members. Not a member? Join today!

Recent

More Stories

DHL online shopper report

DHL report shows seven factors about American online shoppers

Online merchants should consider seven key factors about American consumers in order to optimize their sales and operations this holiday season, according to a report from DHL eCommerce.

First, many of the most powerful sales platforms are marketplaces. With nearly universal appeal, 99% of U.S. shoppers buy from marketplaces, ranked in popularity from Amazon (92%) to Walmart (68%), eBay (47%), Temu (32%), Etsy (28%), and Shein (21%).

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

storm track forecast map hurricane rafael

Louisiana and Texas watch Hurricane Rafael approach

Gulf Coast businesses in Louisiana and Texas are keeping a watchful eye on the latest storm to emerge from the Gulf Of Mexico this week, as Hurricane Rafael nears Cuba.

The island nation today is bracing for storm surge, high winds, and destructive waves, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Keep ReadingShow less
white house

Business groups push back on Trump tariff plan

In the face of campaign pledges by Donald Trump to boost tariffs on imports, many U.S. business interests are pushing back on that policy plan following Trump’s election yesterday as president-elect.

U.S. firms are already rushing to import goods before the promised tariff increases take effect, to avoid potential cost increases. That’s because tariffs are paid by the domestic companies that order the goods, not by the foreign nation that makes them.

Keep ReadingShow less
clorox brands

Clorox partnership helps suppliers meet carbon reduction targets

Consumer packaged goods (CPG) provider The Clorox Co. has partnered with Manufacture 2030 (M2030) to help Clorox's suppliers meet their carbon reduction targets and advance the company's long-term goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050.

In addition to its flagship Clorox bleach product, Oakland, California-based Clorox manages a diverse catalog of brands including Hidden Valley Ranch, Glad, Pine-Sol, Burt’s Bees, Kingsford, Scoop Away, Fresh Step, 409, Brita, Liquid Plumr, and Tilex.

Keep ReadingShow less
U.S. map showing drought risk

Everstream Analytics quantifies how climate risk affects supply chains

Supply chain risk analytics company Everstream Analytics has launched a product that can quantify the impact of leading climate indicators and project how identified risk will impact customer supply chains.

Expanding upon the weather and climate intelligence Everstream already provides, the new “Climate Risk Scores” tool enables clients to apply eight climate indicator risk projection scores to their facilities and supplier locations to forecast future climate risk and support business continuity.

Keep ReadingShow less