Managing visibility in a flat supply chain

The paper describes how flat supply chains are different from traditional supply chains, and how companies can address the challenge of 'managing supply chain visibility'. Looking at some of the factors that are fundamentally altering the supply chain management landscape, it is quite imperative that organizations need to quickly adapt their strategies. As described in author Thomas Friedman's book 'The World is Flat', there exists a level playing field for everyone today. Supply chains, irrespective of industry, are experiencing this uncontrollable phenomenon of being flat. This phenomenon is posing a big set of opportunities and challenges to the companies across the globe. One of the most critical differentiator that can turn a traditional supply chain into a seamless flat supply chain is managing supply chain visibility'. Visibility, as we refer in our paper, encompasses all sorts of supply chain information such as demand, supply, capacity, inventory, shipment, revenue and cost.