Dynamic Supply Chains

by John Gattorna

Published 18 May 2006

‘Dynamic Supply Chains is a masterpiece in the field of supply chain management’

Dr Rakesh Singh, Chairman, Institute of Supply Chain Management, India

Dynamic supply chains are at the heart of your business. You need to get them right.

Are your supply chains equipped to compete for a faster, more flexible future? Supply chains are not just part of your business: in many ways they are your business. They are made up of living, active people, and to really get supply chains right you need to capture the dynamism that people can bring to the flow of goods and services, both inside and outside your business. In this third edition of Dynamic Supply Chains, renowned international expert John Gattorna gives you a practical and effective new model for supply chains that will help you get closer to your customers and suppliers, and set your business on a new path to growth. John’s ‘outside-in’ philosophy is based on ‘Design Thinking’ principles, underpinned by business analytics, visualization, and the passion to get things done. This is indeed, supply chains by design.


Reinvent your supply chain from the outside in – leverage customer insight, heuristics and digital tools to meet rising expectations and adapt in a volatile world.

Customers have become increasingly demanding, and the operating environment has become more turbulent and complex. Mature companies wishing to survive and thrive in the coming decades must transform themselves to become flexible and market responsive. They need to reconsider their traditional supply chains and find ways to increase the clockspeed of their operation and their decision making without creating more complexity for their staff and partners.

But where to start this transformation journey? Most of the world’s largest corporations have logistics networks and supply chains that have evolved over time, many based around systems that drive a ‘one-size-fits-all’ philosophy, which does not fit anymore. And most have not kept up with the changing cadence of their markets.

This book describes the path to a different paradigm; where a set of tailored supply chains are used for in-built flexibility and adaption as the world changes, and where internal capabilities and digital capabilities are consciously aligned with the customers and strategies they serve.

Transforming Supply Chains builds on John Gattorna’s seminal Dynamic Alignment framework; and he and his long-term collaborator Deborah Ellis review the analytics and decision-making tools needed to be effective in the digital age. Case Studies of organisations that excel using the ‘outside-in’ paradigm that they describe are scattered throughout the book; as are a series of prompts to help ‘kick start your thinking’ about your own transformation path.

Transforming Supply Chains is your guide to designing supply chains that fit, and adapt, and bring competitive advantage - whatever your business and whoever your customers.


Reinvent your supply chain from the outside in – cut costs, growth revenue and increase customer satisfaction.

We are now seeing and experiencing increasing turbulence in practically all our major industries, which is leading to costly mis-alignments between suppliers and their customers/end users. The world is no longer as forgiving as it was a few decades ago. Customers going online have become increasingly demanding, and the operating environment has become exceedingly complex. This combination means that companies wishing to survive and thrive in the coming decades must transform themselves to become more agile and market responsive.

The problem is: where to start this transformation journey? We all pay lip service to being customer-centric, but the reality is that most of the world’s large corporations have built up their logistics networks (and by extension their enterprise supply chains) over many years of sunk investment, pursuing the flawed philosophy of ‘one-size-fits-all’.

The solution to this dilemma is the Dynamic Alignment™ framework, which directly links the target market, to the operational strategies, internal cultural capability, and leadership styles inside our enterprise. It will help you to adopt an ‘outside-in’ perspective of our market by seeing the world through the lens of our customers; and use the insights gained in this way to reverse engineer the capabilities inside our enterprises to more precisely align with customers’ expectations.

Transforming Supply Chains allows you to segment your customer’s expectations into not one, but several dominant buying behaviours. By identifying how your market is structured, you can develop matching value propositions and corresponding operational strategies for each behavioural segment identified and then use those findings to redefine the internal operating structure as well as the external supply chains. Companies already using this model have seen greater customer satisfaction, an uplift in revenue, and a reduction in costs. In some cases, companies have doubled their margins within a year.

The full text downloaded to your computer

With eBooks you can:

  • search for key concepts, words and phrases
  • make highlights and notes as you study
  • share your notes with friends

eBooks are downloaded to your computer and accessible either offline through the Bookshelf (available as a free download), available online and also via the iPad and Android apps.

Upon purchase, you'll gain instant access to this eBook.

Time limit

The eBooks products do not have an expiry date. You will continue to access your digital ebook products whilst you have your Bookshelf installed.