It has become fashionable - even a cliche - to opine, as if a new tablet had been discovered on the Mount, that "Companies don't compete against other companies any more; today, supply chains compete against other supply chains."  C'mon guys, that pseudo-aha moment was already passe by the end of the last century.

What we need to be focusing on in the 21st century is how to leverage business relationships to further optimize the power - and outcomes - of end-to-end supply chain peeformance.  The supply chain world has an enormous advantage in being able to create multi-directuional business relationships; it is not confined to more traditional customer account management constructs (although those remain vitally important).  A player in any given supply chain can have the potential to build upstream relationships with suppliers, as well as downstream with customers.  And, the prevalence of third parties - logistics service providers - in logistics and supply chain operations and planning introduces still more powerful relationship opportunities.

So, where are you in the realm of supply chain opportunities for business relationships?  Does an ultimate customer (even two steps further down the chain) dominate - or trump - what you'd like to do with relationships?  Are you a weak player in a strong supply chain?  Or, a strong player in a weak supply chain?  Are you seeing potential breakthroughs, or substantial improvements, in prospective supply chain business relationships?