26 September 2008, Athens Royal Olympic Hotel

The Managing Directors, CEOs, Supply Chain Directors, and other C-Level Executives, for more than 40 leading Greek and Multinational companies, operating in the industrial, commercial, and services business fields of the public and private sector, were the panellists and the audience of the interactive Business Strategy Round Table – BSRT "Supply Chain Management as a Competitive Tool" which organized by Supply Chain Management Forum (SCMF) on Friday 26 September, at the Athens Royal Olympic Hotel.

The presentations and the discussions of the above business event was based on the results and the critical findings, of the studies delivered by  Gapgemini in collaboration with the Georgia Tech, concerning the global business environment, as well as by ICAP concerning Greece, about the present and the future of the global supply chains

The authors of the above studies and the Managing Directors, CEOs, Supply Chain Directors of the firms Goldair Cargo, Trade Logistics, MAVE Logistics, Johnson & Johnson Hellas και Carrefour presented their valuable experiences, on the first session of the event. The results and the findings of the studies, the innovative ideas and the proposals of the panelists, the well pointed questions and observations of the audience, which combined with a number of main issues raised through the SCMF blog scmforum-2008. blogspot.com, were rich food for thought.

The discussions and the debate, that lasted till late in the afternoon, were a creative effort for searching existing or new policies, strategies, methodologies, and tools, which will define effective and efficient supply chain management as the key factor for business success, not only for the business activities of today but for the next decade also.

The new profile and the required skills and capabilities of the supply chain managers, which will make them capable to respond effectively on the new needs and requirements of the market, the role of technology and the required futures of the IT systems to meet their users’ expectations, the required key skills and capabilities of the Logistics Services Providers (LSPs) in order to be characterized as value added partners of the supply chain, the strategic role of logistics as a leverage tool for improving the competiveness of Greek economy, the roadmap of transforming supply chain partners cooperation into collaboration and the expected main characteristics of future supply chains with milestone the year 2016 were among the main issues of significant concern to the BSRT panelists and participants.