Deloitte Consulting and the Metro Atlanta Chamber have teamed up to analyze how seven large metropolitan areas of the United States are transforming their traditional supply chain base into digital supply chains. Given that the study was funded by an Atlanta-based group, the results are hardly authoritative (for instance, a number of major cities, such as Boston, Charlotte, Denver, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Washington, are not included in the study), but they do offer an interesting view on the supply chain capabilities of seven major regions.
The study looks at four key metrics that, the researchers say, help determine the robustness of a city’s supply chain:
• Corporate activity, measured by the existing corporate presence;
• Talent and education, measured by the extent of talent in the area and the ability to attract new talent via a low cost of living;
• Policy and ecosystem infrastructure, measured by the availability of freight transportation;
• Technology prowess, measured by the number of new startups and the availability of funding.
The following slideshow offers a look at how the seven cities studied ended up in the overall rankings of their digital supply chains.
