ABSTRACT
From their inception, supply chain efforts have been directed at improving the process steps occurring across an end-to-end supply-and-consumption network, beginning inside the four walls of a business and eventually expanding to include upstream and downstream partners. Fresh ideas, innovative concepts, bold techniques, best practices, customized applications, and a host of enabling technology and software have been infused into many efforts so firms and their allies could move as close to optimal conditions as possible. As these efforts continue and progress is made, the theories and underlying thinking will no doubt continue to change. Our look at the future includes some of that new thinking, but mostly it contains a few basic premises and two key factors — collaboration and technology.
