In Silicon Valley, a roomful of prognosticators gather once more to divine the future of global supply chains.

Flexibility and simplification are critical to keeping pace with technological advances in supply-chain management.

In recent years, the supply chain industry has undergone significant changes. With the advent of e-commerce, businesses are under increasing pressure to keep pace with growing customer demands, shorter product lifecycles, and global competition. Multi-enterprise business networks have been an effective first step to meeting these challenges and leveraging the vast potential of this new landscape.