Why Process Excellence Isn’t Enough: Rethinking Supply Chain Design for Growth

Growth remains a top priority for CEOs and supply chain leaders are expected to deliver, with nearly 70% of CSCOs prioritizing supply chain-driven commercial growth in the next six to 18 months. Many have pursued this through end-to-end process excellence, which has historically improved efficiency, productivity and cost, yet often results in rigid, process-first designs that create friction, competing priorities and slower responses to changing business needs. Leading organizations are moving away from this model by redefining supply chains around value flows instead of processes, constructing workflows backward from desired outcomes to create more flexible, composable operations that better support growth and faster decision making.