Extreme commodity price volatility has become the norm. To cope, successful sourcing professionals must deeply understand the commodity markets. This means knowing the current and expected industry capacity for delivering that commodity, current and emerging sources of demand, and trading speculation trends.

Sales and operations planning is the cornerstone of being demand-driven and a foundational process to propel growth strategies. As companies drive growth-growth in the innovation of new products, growth through expansion into new geographies, and growth in core markets-they must align functions through S&OP.

Because of margin and market growth pressures, life sciences supply chains are more dynamic than ever before. In 2009, best practice companies will continue to put in place data analysis processes and "human knowledge" collection procedures to spot red flags and safety risks in their end-to-end supply chains.

The focus on green network design allows companies to reach to the core of the green supply chain movement by optimizing resources and reducing waste.

Core high-tech consists of semiconductors, contract & design manufacturing, original equipment manufacturing, consumer electronics, and telecommunications. Most companies in this segment are highly impacted by the economic downturn, trying to reduce working capital, and segmenting product decisions based on profitability.

2009 is certainly shaping up to be a difficult year for manufacturers. Tight credit markets, poor consumer confidence and retail sales, along with low manufacturing activity, suggests that overall supply chain investment activity will be reduced and cost-savings activities will be prioritized.