Logistics and transportation companies were hit early and hard by the economic downturn. Those that survived had to adapt operations and adopt new ideas and strategies. Many of those will remain and provide competitive benefits as the recovery takes hold.

The accent may be on lean workforces, especially during hard economic times, but to fail to nurture the next generation of supply chain managers is foolhardy, says Dave Malenfant, vice president, global supply chain, at Alcon Labs.