Global supply chains require worldly managers who not only excel at outsourcing and other cost-cutting measures but have a broad enough base of experience to aid the company's growth as economies recover, according to Jim Davis, a managing director at Russell Reynolds who conducts searches for top executives in industrial manufacturing and distribution industries and co-heads the recruiting firm's supply chain practice.

“On the recruitment side, demand is pretty heavy” for executives to head integrated supply chains, Davis says, noting that a cadre of senior executives is approaching retirement and companies are finding “inadequate replacements.”

That's partly because the push toward increased outsourcing and just-in-time inventories has made the business environment so complex that executives often specialize in vertical silos of the integrated supply chain, such as purchasing, manufacturing, distribution and logistics, Davis says. “It tends to limit the supply of people who have that broad experience.”