The lure of low interest rates: how could it possibly be a bad thing for business?

World-class procurement organizations now deliver services at 17 percent less cost than typical companies while offering improved effectiveness, largely by becoming more customer-centric, according to research from The Hackett Group Inc.

Oh, sure, go on and do it by yourself. Just try to run the company without any help. Treat suppliers like you don't need them. Go on! If there's a recipe for disaster, that's probably it: acting like you don't need anybody else's cooperation, input or ideas. The reality is quite a bit different though, isn't it? No company, no supply chain, exists in a vacuum. We do rely on each other, because no one of us can do it all, successfully, by ourselves. We need partners. Ah, but which partners – which ones are right for you?

The dynamics that have long favored China as the world's center of low-cost manufacturing are changing. And no one - not even China - seems to have a problem with that.