Asians Follow U.S. Supply Chain Lead

If it’s any consolation to American supply chain managers, while U.S. companies are looking to Asia for sourcing and manufacturing, Asian companies are looking westward for supply chain expertise. By a margin of almost 3-to-1 compared to their counterparts in the U.S. and Europe, business leaders in Asia are turning to outside experts to manage their supply chains, according to a survey conducted by Harris Interactive and sponsored by UPS.

Having embraced the outsourcing of supply chain management, the Asian business leaders are much less likely to view "customer loyalty" as a business problem. Some 14% of the U.S. and European executives surveyed listed "customer loyalty" as the most important business issue they face compared to only 2% of the Asian executives. The latter say a much more important business issue facing them is "expanding to new markets."

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