Collaboration Nation Looks Out To A Collaboration Planet

The collaboration word got a bad rap in WWII, when local politicians and
sometimes Fascists were called "collaborators" when they helped the Nazis seize
power and occupy formerly sovereign nations. A better term would have been
"traitors" for these "collaborators" were actually cooperators with bad
intentions. You history buffs might want to look up Quisling, Vichy government,
and several other examples.

This week's CSCMP Annual Global Conference was filled with talk of
collaboration. Some cynics pooh-poohed the enthusiasm, pointing out that
collaboration during the Great Recession looked more like shippers and carriers
gouging out one another's eyes. But DSC's Ann Drake got it right, pegging
collaboration as the 21st-century mega-trend in the supply chain
world.

Why will it be different this time? Because the real players have finally
realized that collaboration within high-trust, high-communications supply chains
is the only path to the end-to-end chain succeeding - and surpassing the
competition.

A word of caution. The word "labor" lies buried within "collaboration," and
labor means serious work. These things don't happen simply because we throw an
attractive word on the table. The "co" part of the word, though, means that we
will all be working hard to make collaboration work - and pay off.