The world has changed in ways we couldn’t imagine. And more than halfway into 2021, societies, leaders, and organizations are still grappling with all that’s happened—and the uncertainties of what’s to come. This year, either we’re trying to come to grips with our new realities, or we’re seeking respite from them. The most discussed topics inside the boardrooms were about the supply chain. Specifically, the uncertainties and volatility throughout the supplied has caused CEO`s around the world to rethink about the role of supply chain in their respective industries. Those who were reluctant to continue the old way of doing business, they also took this great opportunity to transform their business by digitalization.

Most of the companies are focusing on internal transformation to redesign the supply chain. On the other hand, the Resilience becoming the key strategy for the supply chain industry. As a supply chain professional, we must acquire new Knowledge to weaponize ourselves for the upcoming challenges. Ignoring or not being aware of those trends in industry can uphold us. Upon reading couple of the books in 2022, I curated a list of best supply chain books that I thought you can benefit from it. This list is targeted toward advance supply chain professional.

 

Strategic Planning for Dynamic Supply Chains: Preparing for Uncertainty Using Scenarios

In today’s world of high volatility in commodity prices and “black swan” events, forecasting is not enough – companies must envision different scenarios and prepare for them. This book is a great primer for any company embarking on scenario planning. The authors lay out the roles, process and analysis that accompany good scenario planning thoroughly and clearly. Once again, the MIT team from the Center for Transportation and Logistics have broken new ground. The use of scenario planning, whilst widely used elsewhere, has rarely been deployed in the development of supply chain strategies. Now, this timely book provides a valuable guide to help organizations re-shape their supply chains to cope with the challenges of an uncertain future.

This book presents a strategic decision-making process (i.e., scenario planning) to help managers build supply chain infrastructures that can adapt to uncertain shifts in the business environment.  Using three cases in which the process was applied in association with the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics, this primer also explains how companies can monitor their business environments to decide when to take the necessary steps to adapt their supply chain strategies and assets.

 

 

Digital Supply Networks: Transform Your Supply Chain and Gain Competitive Advantage with Disruptive Technology and Reimagined Processes 

This is a very timely book and a great read for professionals who want to learn how to transform their organizations and supply chains to become more agile and resilient. The book provides an in-depth yet approachable overview of key technologies and digital transformation challenges faced by companies today as well as a hands-on playbook providing practical guidance to navigate these difficult waters. While the topic is complex, the authors manage — through extensive experience — to break it down nicely and present a book that ends up being hard to put down. I recommend it to professionals in all types of industries that deal with global supply chains, plus academics and students, and anybody with an interest in how COVID and the digital transformation will most certainly change the world we live in.

 

 

Supply Chain Strategy and Financial Metrics: The Supply Chain Triangle Of Service, Cost And Cash

This book presents supply chain knowledge as a tool to accomplish an organization’s goal. How different supply chain design and ideas can enhance value to customers. Even though, a unique set of benchmarks ( namely, revenue, cost and asset based) track performance of different supply chains, all supply chain designs/ideas should optimize and maximize return on capital employed (broadly return on assets). Keeping this concept in mind, this book quantifies impact of different supply chains to achieve the organization goal and add customer value. This book is a milestone in the evolution of supply chain planning literature. It presents a comprehensive methodology for connecting supply chain improvements to business performance, a topic that has not been often addressed. I would recommend this book as a must-read to all supply chain practitioners.

 

 

Data Science for Supply Chain Forecasting

The objective of Data Science for Supply Chain Forecasting is to show practitioners how to apply the statistical and ML models described in the book in simple and actionable “do-it-yourself” ways by showing, first, how powerful the ML methods are, and second, how to implement them with minimal outside help, beyond the “do-it-yourself” descriptions provided in the book. It should be a standard position for all people working in supply chain. Very accessible language giving strong fundamentals to deep dive into more complicated SCM topics.

 

 

Digital Transformation: Survive and Thrive in an Era of Mass Extinction

Artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing and the Internet of Things, as disjunctive terms, frequently permeate discussions of commerce, technology and even the operations of governments. This fascinating book explains in compelling language the currently evolved meanings of those terms, the synergism of their ever-burgeoning capabilities and the profound consequences of their confluence. Tom Siebel portrays in vivid detail how those four technologies relate to each other, the dramatic business and governmental opportunities which are presented to organizations which recognize the compound power of these developments, and the life or death risks which face those which do not recognize this challenging, onrushing step function of evolutionary change.

 

 

The Age of Sustainable Development

Jeff Sachs’s admirable book explains what sustainable development means, why it matters, and our history in relation to our environment. It shows how the pattern of growth we have followed has placed intense strains on our planet and generated severe risks to our lives and livelihoods. Above all, it explains clearly where we can go and how to get there. It describes a potential future of great attraction in terms of wellbeing, community and prosperity, properly understood. It should, and I hope it will, strengthen both the understanding of the great choices we face and the resolve to act. It is a splendid achievement.

This is basically a must read for everyone. It outlines the fundamental issues of concern under the most recent global development agenda; the nature of which is related to the lives of everyone, irrespective of geography or wealth. It also outlines the essential transformations the current generation needs to promote in order to avoid various social, economic and environmental disasters in the future.

 

 

The Circular Supply Chain: Basic Principles and Techniques

The Circular Supply Chain: Basic Principles and Techniques presents the key principles and techniques for the effective integration of a circular economy into supply chains. It discusses sustainability, digitization and the application of blockchain to enhance operations within the realm of Industry 4.0. Principles to assist managers in effectively adopting circularity business models for sustainability improvements are provided, along with the historical background, so the reader can have a better understanding for implementation. Case studies and reading comprehension questions are also offered to help with the effective integration of a circular economy into supply chains.

 

 

Definitely there are lot of books on Supply Chain and Logistics, but listed books above really stood out for me. For Supply Chain professional, it is very much important to be in the loop of current trends and changes. And act quickly to adopt a new strategy. The recent Transformational exercise is also very encouraging.

Lastly, a company needs clear KPIs to measure complexity and monitor progress, and these KPIs need to be linked in a way that helps companies make the necessary trade-offs between cost and value.