ABSTRACT
While the future will not be like the past, it is difficult, if not impossible, to forecast accurately all the variations that could arise in the years to come. Thus, a company should prepare to provide some structure, such as in a supply chain, but also be prepared to adapt to changing conditions. Some of the future conditions will require capabilities beyond those existing in today’s supply chains. In Chapter 17, we described some of the areas that are changing. This chapter describes steps necessary for future supply chains to be successful. It is a chapter about change-some incremental and linear, some radical and nonlinear. It is about identifying and planning for the expected and successfully anticipating and reacting to the unexpected.
