The changing business environment has forced companies to change their supply chain strategies. Companies have started outsourcing and partnering with other enterprises to reduce complexity of their SCM. Companies have recognized that supply chain innovations not only reduce cost, but also generate revenue by achieving greater levels of customer satisfaction. To satisfy the ever-demanding customer, companies have moved towards incorporating agility into supply chains. The author discusses the characteristics of agile supply chains, the need for agile supply chains and proposes a framework to help companies move towards agile supply chains with the help of performance metrics.

Supply chain strategies have undergone tremendous changes in response to these pressures. Companies have started outsourcing and partnering with other enterprises to reduce complexity of their SCM. Companies have recognized that supply chain innovations not only reduce cost, but also generate revenue by achieving greater levels of customer satisfaction. To satisfy the ever-demanding customer, the companies have moved towards incorporating agility into supply chains. To successfully implement an agile supply chain, companies have to establish high levels of cooperation and partnership among the supply chain partners. As agility depends on qualitative factors like `level of cooperation and partnership', it is necessary to make controlled and structured supply chain decisions. Performance measures play an important role in helping companies retrospect their strategies to achieve agility. Companies can use these metrics to take corrective steps and enhance agility in their supply chains. Importance of performance measures takes even more prominence to ensure adequate controls on the supply chain in the changed business models of virtual and extended enterprise. As Victor Fung, CEO of Li & Fung, had identified that success increasingly depends on the ability to control what happens in the value chain outside company boundaries (Magretta, 1998).

Business environment, supply chain strategies, enterprises, customer satisfaction, SCM, ever-demanding customer, incorporating agility, supply chains, performance metrics, supply chain partners, agility, business models, company boundaries, Magretta, Victor Fung.