Analyst Insight: Top leadership involvement in governing IT risk strategies and identifying the right practices to manage those risks is a requirement for any organization looking to have effective supply chain security. Today's IT landscape requires an accelerated level of knowledge sharing of IT risk practices and solutions, both with suppliers and within the enterprise. Leaders have to change how information is communicated and shared throughout the organization. - Andrea Stroud, research program manager, APQC

Back in 2013, Flextronics, a $30bn manufacturer and services organization, talked about its slant towards supply chain risk through constant improvement in supply chain visibility, agility and control. Flextronics defined visibility as "the ability of all members of a chain to see from one end of the pipeline to another" and control as "the ability to respond to disturbances in a timely manner with effective actions." - Gregory L. Schlegel CPIM, CSP, Jonah, Founder, The Supply Chain Risk Management Consortium, Executive in Residence and Adjunct Professor, Supply Chain Risk Management, Lehigh University

Analyst Insight: Companies are starting to look at climate change more scientifically. Rather than making judgments based on their own experience, they are using external data to drive models to gauge the potential for disruption to their own supply chains - from singular events such as hurricanes to longer-term effects such as crop migration. This process helps them to understand how truly resilient they are in their ability to source, manufacture and distribute their products. - Glen Goldbach, Principal, PwC; Christoph Hahn, Director, PwC; Kelvin Harris, Director, PwC

Analyst Insight: Manufacturers are under greater pressure to improve product reliability and reduce cost-of-quality non-conformance, while increasing product functionality. This can be done through increased use of software, mechatronic systems, new materials and manufacturing technologies. Still, more pressures await, as manufacturers struggle to reduce a product’s time-to-market, all while keeping capital investment low. Doing more with less requires manufacturers to reduce the time from detecting a product issue to correcting it, known as detection to correction (D2C). - Kevin Reale, Senior Manager, Advisory, Ernst & Young LLP

Analyst Insight: The growth of IoT (the Internet of Things) will impact supply chains dramatically in the long run. Increasingly instrumented and connected manufacturing plants, warehouses, vehicles, and the products themselves will provide very precise, real-time 'X-ray vision' into what is happening in the plant, on the road, and in the field. - Bill McBeath, Chief Research Officer, ChainLink Research

Sixty percent of supply chain managers say their organization is too focused on internal, tactical concerns to be able to collaborate effectively with external partners, at a time when globalization is forcing companies to view and use their supply chain more effectively.

A lot of companies are falling short in their efforts to derive full value from the sales and operations planning (S&OP) function. But the main reason for their failure might surprise you.

Analyst Insight: Consumer perceptions of a company's supply chain have a big impact on how consumers feel about a company and its corporate brand. Research provides insight into how supply chain reputation impacts the overall corporate reputation and how supply chain strategies can be used to boost consumer perceptions of corporate brands. - Viktoria Sadlovska, Research Director, Reputation Institute

Law enforcement is hot on the trail of cargo thieves. But the thieves are hot on the trail of your shipments.

Retail CEOs say internal silos are holding back omnichannel success. In fact, retailers without these operational barriers are more positive about achieving profitability, according to a new report.