The Gartner Supply Chain Podcast

In this episode, host Thomas O’Connor and guest Ewan Andrew, President & Chief Sustainability Officer at Diageo, explore Diageo’s approach to sustainability initiatives and the related strategies and trade-offs. They explore Diageo’s simultaneous commitments to stakeholder expectations and driving business growth through real-world examples of successful circular supply chain initiatives, as well as strategic pivots when difficulties arise.Thomas and Ewan close the show with recommendations to help supply chain leaders drive relevant productivity increases that support sustainability initiatives aligned to their organization’s wider goals.Drivers for Diageo’s sustainability initiatives. (2:09)Diageo’s approach to strategic investments that balance sustainability trade-offs. (5:35)Real-world examples of Diageo’s sustainability strategies in action. (8:45)Real-world examples of Diageo’s strategic pivots when plans didn’t go as expected. (18:44)Recommendations for supply chain leaders tackling sustainability through their supply chains. (21:02)Ewan Andrew’s career with Diageo spans over 25 years, but he has been President of its Global Supply Chain & Procurement since September 2019. Within this role, he leads a team that ensures Diageo’s complex and modern supply chain operations work to the highest standards delivering a range of premium drinks for consumers.  Ewan also is Chief Sustainability Officer. Diageo has ambitious commitments through its 10-year environmental, social and governance (ESG) action plan, which will help create a more inclusive and sustainable world. An integral part of this plan is pioneering grain-to-glass sustainability focused on three areas: preserving water for life, accelerating to a low-carbon world and becoming sustainable by design.

This episode explores: Why aren’t supply chain leaders seeing the value they expect from digital trade-off analysis technology? (4:45)Creating returns on digital trade-off analysis investments by closing the “digital to reality gap” through localized, cross-functional decision makers. (07:03) Who are localized, cross-functional decision makers? What roles do they hold? (10:06)How does decision making change going forward? How do chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) know what choices to send down to localized decision makers? (11:34)Three steps toward reaping the decision-making benefits localized leaders can provide. (20:40)Host Caroline Chumakov and Gartner Research Director Suzie Petrusic discuss how digital trade-off analysis technology is not providing the expected benefits, and how supply chain leaders should respond. As discussed in Suzie’s research Leverage Human Visibility and Digital Analytics for Better Decision Making, global, end-to-end (E2E) decision makers rely on digital technology and data-derived models to make better decisions. However, poor process adherence and incomplete process digitization mean these technologies and data models provide crystal-clear insight that is fundamentally flawed and inaccurate. Therefore, Suzie and her research recommend leveraging the human visibility from localized, cross-functional leaders to improve decision making. Caroline and Suzie discuss the reasoning and data behind these findings, as well as recommendations for supply chain leaders looking to employ them.Suzie Petrusic, Ph.D., is the Gartner Senior Director Analyst serving chief supply chain officers in all the areas of supply chain related to strategy leadership and execution. She has authored and co-authored research and case studies on topics such as risk, supply chain maturity, the future of the supply chain, customer enablement, inflation and recession, and supply chain constraints. She also leads Gartner’s research agenda for chief supply chain officers. Upcoming research topics from her team include supply chain sustainability and digital technology.

This episode explores:How supply chain operations in Asia/Pacific (APAC) countries have evolved in recent years. (1:16) How organizations are reoptimizing their supply chain networks in Asia/Pacific regions. (3:27)How supply chain leaders are responding to the challenge of upskilling the talent needed for moving into new markets in Asia/Pacific. (6:14)The key logistics challenges businesses need to tackle as supply chains shift toward deglobalization. (9:37) Guidance for supply chain leaders with operations in Asia/Pacific regions over the next three to five years. (12:07)In this podcast, host Thomas O’Connor and guest Teh Leng Tan, a Gartner analyst focusing on Asia/Pacific supply chain trends, discuss how supply chain operations in that region are rapidly evolving as businesses explore new manufacturing and distribution network strategies. At the same time, supply chain organizations are also tackling talent and logistics challenges in that part of the world.As disruptions in APAC have increased and tensions between the United States and China have intensified over the last five years, supply chain operations have been exploring such strategies as regionalization, localization and deglobalization. Prior to this time, China was viewed as a low-cost, fast-paced manufacturing hub. But more recently, those geopolitical tensions, along with a declining population in China coupled with increasing wages, have forced companies to think outside the box. For example, some organizations are looking toward expanding operations in markets such as India or Vietnam, and are rethinking talent acquisition and logistics strategies. Tan offers his observations and advice to supply chain leaders on how to advance and enhance their operations in the region.

Explore how supply chain leaders can turn employee turnover into an opportunity, the importance of backfilling roles smoothly, improving employee productivity, and onboarding senior stakeholders for cultural change. With insights from Caroline Chumakov, uncover strategies for attracting and retaining top talent, creating diverse work environments, and developing supply chain centers of excellence.

This episode explores:Defining GenAI: a capability at the peak of its hype and plenty of use cases (2:20)Reasons for CSCOs to take action on GenAI now rather than later (5:02)Real-world GenAI use cases in supply chain (7:04)Recommendations for supply chain leaders implementing GenAI in their own organizations (13:03)Host Thomas O’Connor explores generative AI (GenAI) with guest Cliff Henson, corporate vice president of cloud supply chain at Microsoft. They discuss approaches and opportunities in this emerging space, including use cases for GenAI in space planning and order fulfillment. Though early in the GenAI journey, Cliff discusses the transformative potential of the technology and how it has enabled the connection of disparate systems and provided the ability to obtain data-driven insights in minutes, rather than weeks or months. Then, Thomas and Cliff close the show with four discrete recommendations for supply chain leaders seeking to implement GenAI in their own organizations. 

This episode explores:The concept of antifragile supply chains and thriving due to uncertainty. (00:44)Supply chains are on a spectrum of coping with uncertainty from a state of fragile to resilient to antifragile. (3:12)How supply chains respond to uncertainty depending on where they are on the spectrum of fragile to resilient to antifragile. (5:48)Insight from organizations already on the path to supply chain antifragility. (11:39)Advice for listeners on how to get started on their journey to supply chain antifragility.  (17:56)Host Thomas O’Connor and Gartner research vice president Tim Payne discuss findings from the Executive Report: The Antifragile Supply Chain - Thriving Under Uncertainty, a report that proposes a paradigm shift towards managing uncertainty in supply chain organizations. Tim, author of the report, dives deep into how the majority of supply chains’ approach to uncertainty is fragile, and ultimately rooted in preventing major losses from uncertainty. These organizations are protective of stability, and build their supply chains for redundancy and efficiency. However, shifting towards an “antifragile” mindset allows supply chain organizations to convert uncertainty into business growth and competitive advantage. Thomas and Tim close the show with recommendations for supply chain leaders interested in pursuing this antifragile mindset, including how and where to begin the process.

This podcast explores how honeybees can inspire supply chain design through the concepts of biomimicry and autonomy. It discusses the role of swarm intelligence and provides actionable advice for supply chain leaders. The podcast emphasizes the importance of purpose, culture, and governing frameworks in achieving autonomy and flexibility in supply chain organizations.

An overview of Gartner’s Supply Chain Top 25 ranking — what it measures and what the leading companies are doing differently than others: New opportunities and how supply chain can respond to risk and drive commercial innovation and growth for its organization. (3:16)Stories of innovation from organizations in the Gartner Supply Chain Top 25 (5:51)The idea of collective progress and how supply chains in the Top 25 are driving it (09:37)How leading supply chains are transforming how they work to cope with challenges, such as employee burnout, high turnover and lower employee engagement (13:12)Recommendations for supply chain leaders who want to embody best practices of the Top 25 (18:24)In this podcast, host Caroline Chumakov and Gartner VP analyst Simon Bailey discuss lessons and best practices from Gartner’s Supply Chain Top 25. They explore how companies featured within the Top 25 drive growth and mitigate risks by seizing innovative opportunities, transforming their organizations and engaging in collaborative action across the supply chain landscape. This exploration includes specific examples from the pharmaceutical, retail and automotive industries. Caroline and Simon also recommend actions for supply chain leaders seeking to integrate these top companies’ practices into their own organizations, including how supply chain can drive business transformation and drive growth.

This episode explores: Insight into Haleon’s transformation from three supply chains to one big supply chain (0:44)The role of agility and resilience in Haleon’s supply chain transformation (5:33)Avoiding change burnout during transformation and disruption (9:28)Key advice on preventing change burnout for chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) (13:56)Host Thomas O’Connor and Haleon CSCO Bart Derde discuss how Haleon managed its transformation from three distinct consumer pharmaceutical supply chains into one. Bart discusses the transformation’s consumer insight, agility and resilience goals. Bart shares direct insight into gaining employee buy-in for these transformation initiatives by building agility and resilience into their corporate culture. Thomas and Bart also share recommendations that help supply chain leaders avoid change burnout by connecting interpersonal employee goals with organizational goals.

A tale of two companies — “build-in” vs. “bolt-on” sustainability. What is the difference and what works? (1:27)How can CSCOs effectively manage the enterprise’s approach to sustainability and risk management? (4:52)How to build a strong offense for sustainability. (9:28)How can CSCOs better build sustainability into supply chain capabilities? (11:22)How can CSCOs make sustainability a part of everyone’s job in supply chain? (14:35)Key recommendations for CSCOs who are keen to keep sustainability a top enterprise priority. (17:02)In this Supply Chain Podcast, host Caroline Chumakov and Gartner Research Director Sabu Mathai outline findings from Gartner’s Supply Chain Executive Report: Balancing Sustainability and Resilience for Our Climate Future.They discuss the two types of company responses to sustainability and resilience: “build-in” companies who integrate sustainability as a core tenet of supply chain planning and operations, and “bolt-on” companies who retrofit sustainability onto existing businesses where it is most convenient.Caroline and Sabu walk through the sustainability benefits and best practices “build-in” companies enjoy, and how chief supply chain officers (CSCOs) can acquire the necessary attention, accountability and cooperation from their business partners to strengthen their organization’s sustainability efforts.