In June 2008, ARC Advisory Group conducted a web survey of 16 leading transportation management systems vendors to obtain their views on growth opportunities and market conditions. Almost 70 percent said their year-to-date sales and pipelines were larger than in 2007. This is not surprising when you consider the record fuel prices customers were dealing with at the start of the year (fuel prices had risen about 50 percent in less than a year). This led many companies to focus on transportation spend management, which led to continued investments in TMS. Then the economy stumbled.

The focus on collaboration and visibility across internal and external departments has clearly provided the Best-in-Class transportation companies with the flexibility and agility necessary to overcome the rising costs in fuel and other shipping costs.

When the competition is no longer among individual companies but among entire supply chains, every area of end-to-end cost reduction needs to be explored. Financial supply chain optimization has helped leading companies make their whole supply chain more competitive with the introduction of more advanced supply chain finance practices and automated transaction processing. Finance, supply chain, and procurement groups need to collaboratively explore how to use supply chain finance to reduce supply chain costs.

Retailers are making a fundamental shift in the way they do business by creating value networks that coordinate processes and technology to understand, shape and respond more efficiently to consumer demand. Leading supply chain organizations recognize the link between responsive networks and improved supply chain performance.

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.

The election of Barack Obama in the United States, the repercussions of the global "financial bailout" and a potential increase in environmental regulations will affect supply chain operations at multiple levels. The ability to quickly monitor and absorb these changes in supply chain structures will be the main agenda for 2009.

Supply chain executives in the process industry sector are primarily concerned with being able to drive volumes in accordance with previously established plans, as well as with maximizing utilization of assets. Asset-intensive manufacturing operations are a key common theme across process industries.

As we become increasingly globalized, with more tiers and more hands touching the ingredients in our end-to-end food supply chain, the need for food traceability will only increase.