According to this article by Adrian Gonzales from Talking Logistics he says that in 25 years, he has never come across a Request For Proposal(RFP) for a Supply Chain Operating Network (aka “business network” or “multienterprise collaboration network”).
He questions why that is and comes to the conclusion that there are various reasons as to why, and that the reason is this: Companies don’t have a Chief Network Effects Officer (CNEO). That is, companies don’t have a C-level supply chain executive who views supply chain management through a “network effects” prism.
“Your organization needs a CNEO — a Chief Network Effects Officer — to integrate and align how your enterprise gets value from ‘harvesting collective intelligence’ [from colleagues, suppliers, customers, channels, and other trading partners].” - Michael Schrage (December 2013 Harvard Business Review)
Simply put, companies don’t send out RFPs for Supply Chain Operating Networks because they don’t understand what they are; they don’t know how to define and quantify their business value; they still think and operate in functional silos; and they don’t have an executive responsible for harvesting the value of network effects to create more resilient and collaborative supply chains.
Active would posit at this point, that all of these are already provided through our model and through an engagement with a 4PL Supply Chain as a Service provider.
A multi-enterprise, multi-service provider network that is optimized on an ongoing basis. Internally in each customer, given the specific needs of that customer, and externally across all of our customers and all of our suppliers.
"In other words, business networks have reached the C-level and it is now a critical component of the company’s supply chain value proposition and roadmap.” - Adrian Gonzales
Source: Talking Logistics
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