Why Companies Should Pay Attention On Technology And Talent

A supply chain is a net work of firms. Thus, each firm in the chain should build its own supply chains to support the competitive priorities of its services or products. Two distinct designs used to competitive advantage are efficient supply chains and responsive supply chains. Efficient supply chains work best in environments where demand is highly predictable. The focus of the supply chain is on efficient flows of services and materials keeping inventories to a minimum. The firm’s competitive priorities are low-cost operations, consistent quality, and on-time delivery. Responsive supply chains designed to react quickly in order to hedge against uncertainties in demand. Work best when firms offer a great variety of services or products and demand predictability is low. Typical competitive priorities are development speed, fast delivery times, customization, variety, volume flexibility, and top quality. Tables below show the environments and design features that best suit each design.

Supply chain is the process of getting a product from point A to point B. With how advanced technology has become, there are more ways than ever to transport the product. The goal of a supply chain managers is to get the product into their hands. The mangers negotiate with the suppliers to purchase the raw materials. Then, they ship those materials as efficiently as possible through trucks, ships, and trains. Then finally, they do everything they can to make the product gets to the store on time so the consumer can enjoy the product. Why is this so important? Well, without it, we as the consumer wouldn’t enjoy that fresh produce that Kroger provide or the convenient drive thru pharmacy. Everything we own is because of a company’s supply chain, and without these supply

Supply chains represent the procurement, production and distribution activities of an organisation. Within a supply chain, these activities are viewed as linked and reliant on one another to produce the final outcome. It is believed that if one component of the chain fails, the whole chain is broken and product/service delivery goals will not be achieved.

The supply chain is the network created amongst different companies producing, handling and/or distributing a specific product. Specifically, the supply chain encompasses the steps it takes to get a good or service from the supplier to the customer {1}. Supply chain management is a crucial process for many companies, and many companies strive to have the most optimized supply chain because it usually translates to lower costs for the company and in Zara’s case a highly competitive and profitable system.

The importance of the supply chain hasn’t always been so critical. It wasn’t until the railroad industry in the early 20th century that we first started to see real focus given to the supply chain. World War II put an even greater focus on the importance of a good supply chain and that emphasis was felt on a global scale. In the 1970s the oil embargo and shortages of other raw materials brought the attention of purchasing and supply management to a new level, once again. As more companies began competing on a global scale, innovative strategies arose. In the 1980s

According to O’Brien (2011), “supply chain management helps a company get the right products to the right place at the right time, in the proper order quantity and at an acceptable cost.” In recent years, companies have begun to restructure their supply chains to incorporate more technology that can be used not only by themselves, but also by their customers and suppliers. Technology is necessary to enable the increase in collaboration allowing internal systems to provide more visibility to different data views externally in a safe and efficient manner; therefore, allowing for greater analysis and decision-support for supply chain managers (Carter, 2007).

According to Routroy and Shankar (2014), supply chain systems are becoming increasingly lengthy and complex. This is an indication that the modern global marketplace has become dynamic in nature. Supply chains are very complex, with a lot of parallel physical and information flows taking place so that products are delivered in the correct quantities, to the right place in a cost-effective manner. As a result of the forgoing situation, it has been suggested that supply chains may not be the most accurate term to define the interactions but supply networks may be a rather more precise term to describe the situation. However, the focus on achieving more efficient supply chains has rendered them more prone to disruptions (Jüttner, 2005).

The supply chain has been defined as ‘the network of organizations that are involved, through upstream and downstream linkages, in the different processes and activities that produce value in the form of products and services in the hands of the ultimate customer’ (Christopher, 1992, p.74).

The work of a global supply chain manager is ever changing. These global supply chains must be fluid and responsive to keep with the changing landscape that is global business. Risk factors, consumer expectations, political change, and environmental concerns are many of the things that they must overcome. Planning, communication, and strong relationships can aid these managers in doing what the need to stay on top of all these challenges. The main goal of the supply chain is to provide the customers with what they want. The supply chain either globally or domestically needs to know and understand the needs of its consumers. Supply chains are here to stay, and supply chain managers will probably have a growing source of responsibility. Even

“The best supply chains aren’t just fast and cost effective, they are also agile and adaptable and they ensure that all their companies interests stay aligned.”- Hall L Lee

A supply chain may be defined as an integrated process wherein a number of various business entities (i.e., suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers) work together in an effort to: (1) acquire raw materials, (2) convert these raw materials into specified final products, and (3) deliver these final products to retailers. This chain is traditionally characterized by a forward flow of materials and a backward flow of information. For years, researchers and practitioners have primarily investigated the various processes of the supply chain individually. Recently, however, there has been increasing attention placed on the performance, design, and analysis of the supply chain as a whole. From a practical standpoint, the supply chain

Supply chain is long and penetrates almost all business processes. The chain can extend from raw materials to final sales or deliveries to end users. It connects an organization with multiple levels of customers as well as suppliers, and acts as a channel on which to exchange information and transfer orders in terms of product flow (CIPS, 2013). The role of supply chain plays in a business determines the necessity of supply chain management (SCM) improvement. According to APICS Dictionary (2016), SCM involves “design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring of supply chain activities”. It affects

Supply chain is a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the functions of procurement of materials, transformation of these materials in to intermediate and finished products and distribution of these products to the customers. Supply chain Management (SCM) is the management of flow of information, products and services across a network of customers, organization and supply chain enterprises. It incorporates the development and capacity of raw materials, work-in-progress of stock, and finished products from purpose of origin to purpose of utilization. Interconnected or interlinked systems, channels and hub organizations are included in the vision of items and services required by end users in a supply chain. Supply

Chapter 1 Understanding the Supply Chain Chapter 2 Supply Chain Performance: Achieving Strategic Fit and Scope Chapter 3 Supply Chain Drivers and Metrics

A supply chain management may be defined as the process involving all the activities like planning, organising, implementing and controlling the cost effective flow of goods from the point of origin to the point of consumption. This involves various other activities which is required to add value to the product along the supply chain like procurement, sourcing and conversion of the products. There are a lot of players involved like the suppliers, manufacturers distributors etc. They have to have a lot of coordination and collaboration among them to in order to be really efficient and deliver good quality products and services. The whole process is integrated to meet the supply and demand. The supply chain networks have drastically changed over the years in the era of globalization. They are very global in nature involving various complex interactions and flow of goods, data and funds between companies which are situated in different countries and continents. Even though the companies are spread across the world the manufacturing plants generally follow a similar structure which normally comprises of the suppliers, assembly plants, distributors, retailers, inbound and outbound logistics providers. There were a lot of challenges which arose because of the competition