SAP America

As the consumer goods landscape changes due to the mergers and acquisitions driven by the industry's leading players, the question of how the combined companies manage and integrate separate I.S. entities into a new whole becomes paramount for long-term success and efficiencies across the enterprise and supply chain.

The ability to render the perfect order is the single most daunting task facing the CG industry today.

As a Florida native and employee of Hawaiian Tropic for more than 19 years, one would think that Bill Jennings, executive vice president and chief financial officer, knows a thing or two about obtaining a killer tan.

Three years ago the Scotts Company was turning inventory twice a year, which may not sound like much to a company that does 50 turns a year like Dell.

To get a sense of just how much the supply-chain planning market has changed during the past year, you only have to look at the top of the 2003 Best of Breed rankings.

Selecting an enterprise suite is a little like choosing between an exotic sports car and a mid-priced sedan, according to research published by Gartner (www.gartner.com).

Continuing a trend THAT started last year, the results of this year's CGT Best of Breed survey on the customer relationship management (CRM) market once again shows that consumer goods firms are far from unanimous in their choice of the top provider.

Two of the three new e-business integration players roared to the top of this year's Best of Breed list, with Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) taking first place and IBM (www.ibm.com) second.