13. The Whole Chain or Separate Links?

One of the greatest risks to the performance of a company is their inability to move beyond functional silos. This is seen in the tendency to ‘throw’ transactions over the wall from one function to another as well as in the individually set – and often contradictory – objectives that the functions are simultaneously working toward. Ironically, the same challenge often exists within the supply chain as a whole. Whether it is companies or banks, entities would benefit from trying to understand the inner workings of the entire chain from end to end rather than approaching each link individually. Gary is an advocate of cooperating financially over the supply chain and this effort starts with the linking of stakeholders internally.