100 ways to help your company respond to the downturn

Spring this year brought a faint thaw in the global economic deepfreeze, as little by little slightly less negative data began to trickle out of disparate sectors.

Supply chain executives have been laser-focused over the past year on reining in inventories, driving down costs and otherwise ensuring that their companies sustain the least negative impact from the current downturn. That's understandable: We're all in survival mode. And "saving the enterprise" literally means finding innovative ways to save jobs, save market share, even save the company itself.

However, as the economy starts ticking upward again, enterprises will be turning to their supply chain functions to begin ramping up supply quickly and agilely to meet increased customer demand. "Saving the enterprise," in this case, means that supply chain executives already must be working today to ensure that their business strategies are not focused solely on "short-term survival" but are truly positioning the company for sustained growth moving forward.

The winners in the next lap of the economic race are likely to be those enterprises that have spent the recession putting in place the people, processes, technologies and partnerships necessary to meet the requirement not just of the current downturn but also of the next upswing in the business cycle.

In this year's article, we turn to the Supply & Demand Chain Executive 100 to give you their best advice, and even some real-life examples, to not only help your company in the short-term, but also position your company for the inevitable growth to come.

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