At a company like Dell, it's a strategic variable. Their strategy is to have the best product at the best price. But in order to have this, the supply chain must be competitive. Everybody [at Dell] is trying to reduce costs, increase flexibility, reduce inventory and get their cash more quickly. All of these drive financial performance.

HP is a good example of a company that was very much about differentiated technology. With Dell competing with a very innovative supply chain, HP has had to remake its supply chain.

It all depends on whether [companies] view supply chain as a strategic variable or an execution variable.

When buying a VCR, DVD player or a PC, for example, people want the features they want, and they want them right away at a very low cost and [to] have it work well. In a more commoditized area like this, the supply chain is more critical than technology. In a highly technical area like medical equipment, the technology is more important.

Supply chain has to be important all the way up to the chief operating officer and chief financial officer level, because the way a company brings a product to market is on average as important as the product that they bring.

All in all, the union has a good working relationship with the company.