Business is going green because of pressure from government and consumers. But the push for sustainability can also aid in controlling costs at a time of economic crisis, says Joe Martha, vice president of Booz-Allen Hamilton.

All supply chains -- whether moving physical goods, delivering services or channeling money - are subject to increasingly extreme swings in volatility, says Richard Douglass, global industry executive for manufacturing at Sterling Commerce. Douglass contributed to a new book from the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals on how companies can deal with this constant volatility: X-treme Supply Chains: Managing in Times of Upheaval.

When Intel decided to enter the low-cost chip market with its Atom microprocessor, a small form-factor product made for notebook computers and mobile internet devices, it needed a much lower-cost supply chain than the one that serviced its high-end products. The company achieved this goal by shortening its cycle time enough to enable a build-to-order strategy, explains Jim Kellso, senior supply chain master at Intel.