Ten Most Important Skills—Table 3.3 shows the top ten skills in terms of mean
importance ratings. These concern the management of inventory, supply chain
awareness, cross-functional awareness, customer service, supply chain cost minimization,
ability to see the ‘big picture’, transport management, cross-functional
coordination, team work, and integration of information flow. It is important to
note that the respondents appreciated the soft skills such as cross-functional
coordination, team orientation, supply chain concept, and ability to see the big
picture as some of the critical skills required by logistics managers.