In recent years numerous trends regarding the organisation and structure of supply chain systems have emerged. These trends have been developed as a consequence of the rapidly changing political, economic, social and technological environment. The rational planning and design of supply chains should consider these emerging trends in order to respond efficiently to the needs of the new business environment. The objective of this paper is twofold: first, to propose a methodological framework for developing and assessing scenarios describing the evolution of supply chain management trends; and second, to apply the proposed framework in order to assess supply chain management trends for a number of industrial sectors. The proposed methodology provides decision-makers with a tool for developing future strategies for the organisation of the supply/distribution networks.