@Risk

Nearly 90% of supply chain executives want purchasing to generate cost savings in the next 12 months, according to a new survey from CSC, Supply Chain Management Review, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP), and Michigan State University (MSU).

The “2009 Global Survey of Supply Chain Progress” polled 176 supply chain professionals representing large and mid-sized companies from more than 20 industries and every major geographical segment of the world.

Here are a few of the key findings:

• 88% of respondents have established objectives for purchasing to generate cost savings in the next year.

• 33% of respondents indicate they leveraged supply chain initiatives to reduce costs 1-5% in the last three years.

• 27% report realizing even higher cost reductions, ranging from 6-10%.

• Last year, 22% of survey participants reported no impact –or did not know the impact –of supply chain initiatives on costs. This year, that number dropped considerably, to only 13%.

• 32% of those polled saw their revenues increase 1-5% in the past three years as a result of supply chain initiatives.

• 24% saw revenue increases in the 6-10% range.

“That’s a total of 56 percent, a significant number given the current downturn,” says Chuck Poirier, a partner in CSC’s Global Business Solutions and Services group, who helped analyze the survey results. “We see this trend as evidence of the fact that supply chain is finally becoming entrenched as a company-wide improvement effort. Leaders are implementing strategic supply chain efforts to transform business processes to achieve near-optimum operating conditions. At the same time, most firms identified as followers and laggards have not reached the limit of what can be done to enhance financial performance with their supply chains.”

This was the first time the CSC survey included questions about supply chain sustainability, and the answers to these questions were intriguing:

• 87% of survey respondents say they are either evaluating or implementing options related to supply chain sustainability.

• Just under half say they already have green initiatives underway. 54% report quantifiable savings, although 77% say green initiatives have led to no increase in revenues.

• 62% report paying more attention to sustainability issues now, compared to 18 months ago.

Clearly, there’s an enhanced focus on supply chain management today, as C-level execs begin to realize the central role supply chains play in business success. Thinking strategically about your supply network means integrating supply chain management processes enterprise-wide and understanding that purchasing can be leveraged for a wide range of benefits, including cost savings, revenue generation, product development, and achieving sustainability goals.

The complete survey results are available here.