The C-Suite Agenda

Navigating times of such fast-moving change and uncertainty requires both poise and clarity, else progress is nearly impossible. This report is focused on clarification, simplifying key themes the C-suite will be focusing on in 2025. Our data science team analyzed nearly 1,000 earnings calls and categorized the percentage of companies discussing these themes related to supply chains. Here’s what we found: 

In the full report, we delve into four top priorities: the geopolitical landscape, cash, agentic AI, and fusion teams. Our analysis, research, and use cases get into the specifics of what the operations executives are doing in these key places and how they’re leading from the front, now. 

The Geopolitical Landscape  

Our data science team analyzed 971 earnings calls from 265 companies in 2024 and found that discussions around tariffs significantly increased, up from 2% in Q1 to 20% in Q4, on average.  

If the first few weeks of 2024 have taught us anything, it’s that there’s an ever-growing list of things we can’t directly control. But how can we shift things so we can squarely own them?  

Firstly, focus on the data problem. Recently, a CSCO in the Zero100 community underlined the real to-do amid the uncertainty – build the capability to define the best risk-adjusted sourcing and network strategy in an instant.  

Secondly, invest in relationships and education. Engage policymakers, public figures, and even your own internal government and affairs leaders on potential policy measures and the implications on your supply chains.  

Finally, go beyond the traditional approach of resilience and agility. A study published by The Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis showed that a one standard deviation increase in lobbying expenditures boosted the approval chances of exclusions to Trump first-term tariffs by 2.15 percentage points. We are in a deal-making environment.   

Cash Is King 

Cost pressures have been a topic of conversation in 97.3% of earnings calls over the past three years. One of the ultimate levers supply chain leaders can pull to alleviate cost pressures will be productivity, and technology is the key to productivity leverage. So, what big technology bets are the fastest bang-for-buck? The full report shares real-life examples from The AI Hub. But also vital for growth and profitability is labor leverage.  

The name of the game is productivity and maximizing return on headcount – but the next step-change in value delivery goes beyond penny-pinching suppliers or making further G&A reductions. It’s about expanding our enterprise definition of productivity to capitalize on the next wave of step-change value delivery inclusive of capital, IP, and relationships as well as labor.  

The Newest Teammate: Agents  

We tracked Google searches for “AI agents” and found that interest in the topic is up 12x YoY. Patent and talent data from 250+ companies suggests that at least 8.5% of companies are using AI agents within supply chain, with most of these being tech companies. Where to start? We suggest leaders: 
 

• Focus on the business strategy for AI agents and applications. Prioritize the underlying data associated with your business use case.   
• Cast a compelling vision for the future of your human-machine teams. Build your human-machine team with agents as teammates.  
• Have a bias for action and learning. Don’t wait to invest in making “smart bets.”   

Fusion Teams Make It Happen 

We define fusion teams as seamlessly connected tech-ops teams and workflows. What makes a fusion team? A new breed of leadership, a barrierless organizational model, and new skills and roles (ie, the Translator) that connect business with technology and data.  Building them will involve: 
 
1. Prioritizing the mindset shift you want the team to adopt. Ask: What performance and structural mechanisms do I have in place to reinforce systems thinking as well as a broader business leader mindset for the leadership team?  

2. Embedding a systems thinking mindset into your leadership team. In a quarterly offsite, one retail CSCO required peers to present each other’s strategic roadmaps to build empathy and collaboration.  

3. Hiring leaders in adjacent functions. One CSCO at a global pharmaceutical company hired a commercial leader as the head of the supply chain for a market and is reaping the benefits of an operationalized customer-centric strategy.  

4. Asking peers to sponsor transformation initiatives. Mike Barga shared his story of how this helped Mondelez procurement to create buy-in and accelerate progress.  

As Moshe Bar says in his book Mindwandering, being fully immersed in our current experience, rather than juggling multiple competing details, allows for the creative leaps that can lead to innovation. In a time of increasing uncertainty and constant change, this is the most important job for leaders who want to win – to foster an environment where teams have the space to create 

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