With so many success factors hinging on the supply chain, it's surprising to see so few companies placing supply chain at the C-level. 76% of manufacturers operate without a Chief Supply Chain Officer. Consider how many parts of an organization the supply chain touches directly or indirectly. Basically, all of them. The supply chain is an extension of the business. It's the extra-enterprise that has no boundaries. Yet, it has to be managed and controlled. Visibility, transparency, and collaboration are essential to making this happen. Unfortunately, without a strategic C-level leader, supply chain strategies often fall short. Without a champion of end-to-end visibility or a visionary who can move the enterprise towards a supply network approach, many initiatives collapse. The result? Short-sighted goals. In this study, 41% of manufacturing executives said their most important supply chain goal for the near future is reducing costs.