Executives from supply chain partners Manhattan Associates and Papa John's Pizza discuss how they use modeling and optimization tools to safely test changes in Papa John's transportation policies, leading to continuous service improvements at the lowest possible cost.

Many companies are looking beyond China to less developed nations for sourcing, says Mark Michaels, chief commercial officer at Damco. Michaels discusses supply chain risks around the expansion into less developed areas and the pressure on providers to deliver service comparable to that in mature markets.

Surveys conducted by McKinsey and Company indicate that supply chain management is becoming a higher priority in boardrooms at the same time the job is becoming more challenging and complex. McKinsey Principal Yogesh Malik identifies issues for supply chain managers to address now and trends to watch.

Chasing cheap labor and managing in silos are just two of the mistakes that Jeffrey Karrenbauer, president of Insight Inc., says companies continue to make. Karrenbauer shares his opinions about these and other practices that are, and are not, working in supply chain management.

Geographical information systems and advanced mapping tools will increasingly be used in the supply chain to map potential risks and mitigation strategies as well as to track people and assets inside the four walls, says Wolfgang Hall, global industry manager at Esri.

Chris Caplice, executive director of the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics, discusses his research on identifying dominant designs in logistics and how these designs, in which companies are heavily invested, may be disrupted by emerging trends.

Rick Blasgen, president and CEO of CSCMP, reflects on the organization's accomplishments over its 50-year history and shares his vision going forward for the industry and its practitioners.

MIT's High-Viz Supply Chain Project is developing a way for companies to automatically map and analyze supply chain risk. Bruce Arntzen, executive director of the Supply Chain Management Program at MIT, explains the methodology underlying this project, progress to date and barriers that still exist.