New Role for the CPO: Orchestrating the End-to-End Value Chain

In more and more industries worldwide, outsourcing to specialists is rapidly becoming a necessity for maintaining a competitive edge.

Companies as varied as Skype, Coca Cola, Procter & Gamble, and Apple are acutely aware that their success no longer depends on doing everything themselves. These companies, and many others like them, have defined the business functions they are truly good at. They focus their internal resources on these functions, while tightly orchestrating a value chain, which spans functions from market insight and product development to delivery and customer service, and includes many well-managed external partners and suppliers.

“We are in the business of building and creating brands,” A. G. Lafley, former chief executive of P&G, said in a 2003 interview in Bloomberg Businessweek. Notably, he did not mention manufacturing, distribution, or even product development.

Read more: Supply Chain Management Review