The Last Word
An Educational Value Chain

As organizations become leaner and less hierarchical, you need to be able to succeed across multiple functions and departments, and international borders. Advances in technology, communications, and new business designs have reshaped supply chains. We now talk about supply networks or supply webs. We talk about technology that allows disintermediation. Retailers link their store cash registers directly to their suppliers' information network to match supply and demand as it happens, blurring once-clear borders between suppliers and purchasers in the supply chain.

While the processes and technology have changed, one thing still counts in every part of the value chain: knowledge. At one end of the spectrum, we can help you design a supply chain that adds to your competitive advantage. We can help you improve your new-product development. We can help you make the alliances with partners in your supply chain more effective. And at the downstream side of the supply chain, we can help you develop competitive marketing strategies, build successful businesses, and improve your customer relationships.

We have created an educational value chain that offers knowledge for improving your professional value chain at every point along the way. Our chain runs parallel to yours; our mission is to help you strengthen any part of your chain that needs attention. The result is that you can create more value, deliver more value to customers, and provide more value to investors.

Robert E. Mittelstaedt, Jr.
Vice Dean and Director
Wharton Executive Education

• Wharton Executive Education
  
  
• The Wharton School

This month's articles:

• Thought Leaders: Insights from a survey of more than 350 companies on successful CRM practices.
  
  
• In the Classroom I: Professor Robert Holthausen on mergers and acquisitions in a time of economic turmoil and corporate scandals.
  
  
• In the Classroom II: Use "discovery-driven planning" to test your assumptions in building businesses.
  
  
• Certificate of Professional Development: A focus on value creation changed the way Schick executive Andrew Chrostowski approached his work.
  
  
• The Last Word: The right knowledge can add value all along your value chain.