A supply chain is very important to an organization. It can and should show the relationship between suppliers, distributors, managers and consumers. This paper would detail how important suppliers and distributions are to an organization’s success. And how important a supply chain is within an organization and how managers can utilize the supply chain. It is important that companies such as Target Corporations utilize the supply chain and gain competitive advantages. Target is one of the world’s largest retail stores; the first Target was opened in 1962 in Roseville, Minnesota (Target.com). By the end of 1962 there were only four Target and they were all operated in Minnesota.…
The corporation is seeking data to determine the optimal course of action for distribution, referred to hereafter as the supply chain. This analyst has researched several supply-chain strategies. These strategies will be presented in this report. The analyst will also provide a concerted recommendation for a course of action that will support the company’s profit-maximization goals.…
In order to remain competitive, a company must offer superior quality goods or services at the lowest prices possible. Supply chain enables a company to reduce the cost while increasing the efficiency. However, there are risks that are associated with such benefits. These issues should be properly addressed when a company is trying to rely heavily on supply chain management in order to stay competitive within its industry.…
References: Bianco, D. (2011). The business encyclopedia 2nd Ed. Retrieved March 28, 2011, from http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/encyclopedia/Str-The/Supply-Chain-Management.html.…
d. In general, different parts of the supply chain have objectives that are not aligned with…
Lee, H. 2010. ‘Don’t Tweak Your Supply Chain – Rethink It End to End’ Harvard Business Review. Vol. 88, Issue 10, 63-69.…
Creating the Right Supply Chains for Your Product Marshall Fisher UPS Professor © 2007 Marshall L. Fisher Products differ Product variety Low High Forecast accuracy High Low Product life cycle…
Supply chain’s long-standing image problem has at times masked the true importance of the function. Those who oversimplified the function as merely a means to transport products and parts from point A to point B often overlooked its strategic significance. As organizations today have become more complex and global, supply chain management has been charged with keeping pace. From R&D and product innovation to M&A and customer development, supply chain can touch nearly every aspect of the business. In light of the growing demands of the function and its rising prominence in global organizations, the game has been raised for supply chain leaders and their teams.…
Lee, Hau L. "The Triple-A Supply Chain." Harvard Business Review 82, no. 10 (2004): 102-112.…
A company’s supply chain strategy specifies how the market will be segmented and how the product will be positioned, priced, and promoted.…
Principles of Supply Chain Management, Third edition Joel D. Wisner, Keah-Choon Tan, G. Keong Leong Editorial Director: Jack W. Calhoun Sr. Acquisitions Editor: Charles McCormick, Jr. Developmental Editor: Daniel Noguera Editorial Assistant: Nora Heink Marketing Manager: Adam Marsh Media Editor: Chris Valentine Manufacturing Buyer: Miranda Klapper Production Service: PreMediaGlobal Sr. Art Director: Stacy Jenkins Shirley Cover Designer: Lou Ann Thesing Cover Image: iStock Photo…
competitive or mature markets, and we have recently seen, also in economic downturns. A well-coordinated supply chain process is difficult to imitate for competitors since it becomes more difficult to compete on product level. Globalization and liberalization in the market place are important drivers for the growing competition together with the changing demand of the consumer. A shift arose from a more technology-oriented view towards a point in time where collaboration and trust become important along the partners in the supply chain. Effective management of relationships in supply chain management is a necessity in order to withstand competitive pressures and economic downturns. Therefore supply chain management is not anymore a support function in order to implement a business…
Maastricht University School of Business and Economics Academic Year 2008/2009 Zhang, Qin (Student ID: i579246) Master of Science of International Business Track: Supply Chain Management Thesis Supervisor: Dr. Lieven Quintens Maastricht, Nov 12th, 2009…
Even as companies have learnt to squeeze efficiencies out of their manufacturing plants through concepts like just in time replenishment, statistical process control, and lean manufacturing practices, they still find that moving goods and services through several layers of their global supply chains is time consuming and costly. Logistics and supply chain management has become one of the last frontiers that still remain to be conquered by most businesses in the twenty first century. Yet this cannot be done unless all managers and supervisors, irrespective of their functional orientation and current job responsibilities, fundamentally understand their supply chains and how their effective functioning flows right down to the bottom line.…
1.0 Introduction Christopher (2005, p.5) describes supply chain management as follows: “The management of upstream and downstream relationships with suppliers and customers to deliver superior customer value at less cost to the supply chain as a whole” Until recently, supply chain management has been largely viewed as a necessary evil and the focus has been strictly on cost reductions. Today however, many are coming to the realization that supply chain management can be much more strategic, affording a company the opportunity to out-perform competitors. With supply chains becoming more elongated as they become more global, the pace of demand changes increasing and product lifecycles shrinking, the responsiveness of a company’s supply and fulfillment networks to change is becoming a more substantial determinant of company success. As such, companies must view their supply networks as a competitive weapon that can not only deliver low costs but impact top-line growth through superior responsiveness and best-in-class customer service. If these and other similar strategies as will be described in this write-up are available for only one company at the markets, this company has competitive advantage over its competitors (Barney, 1991; ketchen, 2004; Rungtusanatham et al., 2003). Another way to gain competitive advantage is to optimize one or several activities. However, a consideration has to be taken so that optimization does not end in optimizing one function at the expense of the others (Lumsden, 1998; Porter, 1985). Porter (1985) argues that competitive advantage is gained by being the lowest costcompetitor or by differentiating. However, within the supply chain domain, competitive advantage is gained by two facts: reducing costs and increasing responsiveness (agility) to customers’ needs (Martin & Grbac, 2003). If the company strives to meaningful cost reductions, more efforts on cross-firm…