What is your Goal?

Companies are not aligned on the strategy cross-functionally. It is impossible to drive great tactical outcomes if you are unclear on the goal. 
If the goal is to meet the budget objectives, the organization will never maximize the opportunity within the value chain.

While companies almost unanimously state the supply chains are growing in importance, and cite growing complexity, rising customer demands, and the need to grow, the proper focus for many companies is just cost. 
Very few companies extend supply chain importance into the definition of sales relationships or into the definition of procurement relationships. Most of the ideas that are touted on agility, responsiveness and the advantages of becoming more demand-driven are not today’s reality. The focus is primarily on the response: effective supply. There is little focus on the improvement of the processes next to supply chain in sales, finance and marketing. As a result, the areas of revenue management, improvements of receivables and financial flows, customer compliance, and the effective shaping of demand are ripe with opportunity.

While companies talk about goals of delivering supply chain excellence from the customer’s customer to the supplier’s supplier, in reality, the supply chain leader only has control for 1-2 areas of the supply chain within the enterprise. As a result, the vision may be the end-to-end supply chain, but the reality is a focus on improving costs at the core of the enterprise.