This report aims to discuss the supply chain management of two business sectors. The two sectors are the petrol management at a fuel station and the sofa business. An overview of the two supply chains is provided using a process view approach. A notion is provided about the effective crafting of the strategy of supply chain for achieving the competitive strategy by considering the examples. A critical analysis is carried out of the complete set of the cross-functional drivers that can be utilised by the organisations in both the kinds of supply chains for optimising the performance and obtain positive outcomes.
Supply chain management refers to the management of services and goods flow and it also includes all the processes that can be used for transforming the raw materials into final products (Christopher 2016). This includes the active streamlining of the side activities of the supply of business for maximising the customer value and obtain a competitive advantage in marketplace.
Process view approach
The process in this approach includes the movement, storage, and managing of the raw material from the producer to the distributor than retailer and ultimately to the consumers with the flow of physical distribution, cash and, information. In the supply chain of the examples, the major part of the business is the customers as without the customers there would not be any processes and null business (Jacobs, Chase and Lummus 2014). The main intention of making products and the services is to fulfil the needs of the customers and the products are designed according to the requirements of the customers. In the process of supply chain, there are commonly five communities that are involved, which are manufacturers, suppliers, customers, distributors and the retailers and often the warehouses, customers and the transporters themselves are also involved in the process (Monczka et al. 2015). Supply chain is the process and the flow that functions accordingly among and in the various phases of the supply chain to allow the company in fulfilling the requirements of the customers. The two methods that are used in the supply chain of the provided example for viewing the methods of the processes are performed are:
Cycle view
Cycle view of the supply chain process
The example of the customers in the petrol pump follows the cycle view of the supply chains process. In this process, the customer is the real customer and the order cycle of customers starts when the customer interface and the process includes direct satisfying and receiving of the order of customers (Seuring 2013). Commonly, the customer place the order and his specification of products from the service provider and the process revolves around the fulfilling of the demand of customer. The interaction among the retailer and the customer starts with the customer placing the order to retailer and it ends with the customer acceptance of the order. Some other processes are involved in the order cycles of the customer, which are:
Arrival of the customer: The arrival of the customer involves the customer arrival at the market for purchasing or selling according to their choice. The first success of the business is the arrival of the customers to the market for purchasing the products. The sole reason for this exercise is for transforming the arrival of customer into purchase of the customer. The major effort must be in putting the orders in respect to the perspective of the supply chain (Ahi and Searcy 2013). This is the customer arrival and the main prospect is to create possible contact between the product and the customer and in telemarketing centre, the waiting time of the customers should not be long and the representative of the telesales should acknowledge the orders of the customers.
Order entity of the customer: This phase involves the transforming the arrival of customer into an order placing of the customers (Brandenburg et al. 2014). It is being informed by the customers to the retailers that the product of the retailers can fulfil the requirements of the customers. The major aim is the intake the order of the customers quickly and deliver the product as fast as possible.
Order fulfilment of the customer: This phase involves the fulfilling of the order of the customers by providing the order according to the requirements. At any supermarket, this particular technique is commonly performed by the customer purchasing of the item from retailers (Wisner, Tan and Leong 2014). Furthermore, at the order of mail, when any customer places an order, the process involves the getting the order from inventory, packing it, and then shipping it to customers and all information is maintained regularly.
Order receiving of the customer: This phase of ordering includes the customer ultimately gaining the order and then the payment is made to the retailer with the ownership of the product shifting to the customer from the supplier (Dekker et al. 2013). All information is updated related to the purchase. When the customer buy the product at the petrol pump, petrol is received by the customer at the checkout counter.
This is the process of pushing and pulling the process of supply chains, which is increasingly productive in comparison to the tactful process of supply chain. These particular processes of supply chain are commonly considered to be the most efficient method of supply chain management. In the supply chain process of pull, order is implemented related to the demand of customers (Pagell and Shevchenko 2014). In the sofa shop, the customer places the order for any particular product. In the process of push, the execution of the order is done according to anticipation of the customer orders. In process of pull execution, demand of the customer is majorly known still, in the implementation of process of push the customer demand is known (Hsu et al. 2013). The process of pull is commonly known as a hasty process as some response is made related to the demand of the customer while in the process of push, the proactice strategy is utilised as the response of the proactive strategy separates the process of push from the process of pull in any supply chain. It is essential for making any strategic decision that can affect the decision of the supply chain in little time. However, the view forces the actual viewpoints that are globalised model with the perfect combination in minimal bounded way. These are the functions that are related to the order of the customers (Fahimnia, Sarkis and Davarzani 2015). The order, customer, and the cycle of manufacturing are commonly included in the process of pull in a manner that is hard to grasp. The sole reason behind the practical approach that allows the monitoring of the unfolding of the events at the last stage and they are being started by the customer arrival. These particular factors are most commonly known without hurdle with the issues of supply chain.
The aspect of SCM is considered as the external and internal integration of the processes of enterprise with the suppliers and the customers for creating value for customers (Zhu, Sarkis and Lai 2013). It involves the various requirements of the implementation that are provided by actors among the origin place and ending point of the consumption, still it mainly denotes to vision of single factor. The need of implementing the SCM majorly inside the MPE represents a major factor of huge alteration for competitiveness in the present times. Several researches discovered that implementation of SCM combines the functions that are logistic combining the processes of enterprises that are external to or internal to companies (Beske, Land and Seuring 2014). Still, there lies a lack in the literature review related to implementation of the SCM, combining the process of competitive strategy for MSB. One research discovered that some of the crucial implementation of the factors and as control could be prioritised and the factors can be applied for implementing the SCM in MSB. Moreover, the research identified the gap in the literature and provided clarity out that quantitative empirical research should be extended, according to place of the qualitative research for investigating the SCM implementation in several companies (Lin 2013). With concern regarding the conditions that are internally developed to the SCM implementation of the MSBs, and the report of any implementation and the tools of the ordinance that is derived from theoretical concepts discovered that these assists the company managers for determining the internal factors that are influential and affect the implementation of the SCM in MSBs (Hazen et al. 2014). This tools is the application for conducting analysis of the importance of performance and it can be utilised for evaluating the current stage of implementation of the SCM in any MPE and for providing the priorities for implementing variable for increasing the success rate.
The searching activities of coordination for the synchronisation all through the chain, according to the information shares. The differentiation accomplishments are the activities that concerns the adjustments of the design and the participation in the chain situation and ability that is intended in keeping or developing (Golicic and Smith 2013). The supply chain strategy within Zara aims to supply a proper and well-planned chain of strategy in order to chive the desired results in sales. It is applicable even in the fuel or the custom-made sofa industry. It should be able to help in maintaining the balance between responsiveness as well as the efficiency in order to allow Zara attain a better market competitive advantage over its competitors (Chopra and Meindi, 2013). However, it is crucial to understand the technique through which Zara achieves the competitive advantage by its strategy of being highly responsive to the market changes and effectively dealing with the ever increasing needs of the customer by coming up with newer lines of products as in the sofa industry. The supply chain management in the soft industry always aims to come up with newer lines of products, which is more attractive for the markets. The three cross functional as well as the logistical supply chain drivers mainly uses business models that helps the company to come up products of more affordable prices (Mangan, Lalwani and Lalwani 2016). Finally, the efficient management operations at the inventory to ensure that out of stock products are adequately reported to the concerned departments in order to be efficiently transported and replenished back into the retail stores plays a very important role for Zara. The other transformational drivers such as pricing, information are also properly managed and used in the different stage of business operations within Zara juts as in the fuel industry. This is seen by the changing prices of the ful because change of operational costs at every level of the fuel supply chain management.
A common problem is concerned regarding the identification of passage of the SCM and the combination of the chain. Several researches discovered the importance of the SCM in the processes of organisations and then segregated the processes of the operational and strategic SCM. Both of these kinds appeals to all the processes, which are internally interconnected within the organisations (Tseng and Chiu 2013). The model was created on the prerequisite of the orientation of relationship, which serves as the driver for connecting all the processes of the business among a minimal three organisations.
Several concepts of the SCM has been measured and developed of the SCM on the basis of the SCM constructs and the SCO. While the SCO includes the specific implications on management and some of the flows are being deployed in a company, the SCM concerns with the coordination among the conventional functions of businesses and the methods all over the supply chain (Govindan et al. 2014). This is the main reason why the companies would have to monitor the proper functioning of the business and improve the performance which is measured by the availability, opportunity, products, yield, growth and the services. The management of logistics can offer several steps for the intention of increasing the efficiency and the productivity, which will impact directly on the reduction of the cost per unit, and it is reflected on the common performance of the company.
For increasing the competitiveness of the small companies, a reliable option has been in the cooperation among the companies of the similar activity branch, in the similar industry (Mathiyazhagan et al. 2013). The best example of this is the pharmaceutical sector of retailing. The massive success of the corporate chains is encouraged by several stores that are independent for forming the retail cooperatives. A group of retailers who conduct business independently combines for establishing a common office of the purchases and for executing the promotions of merchandising as a complete set. Complementarily, the cooperative creates the possibility of creating economies of the promotion and the purchases for the stores that are independent (Wang and Cullinane 2015). The creation of all the combination of the small companies creates the opportunity of using the structure of the net, if it is located using strategies in any market, as an example, within any three broad strategies which are differentiation, leadership in the cost, and the approach. These strategies are no considered to be mutually exclusive in any direction, and the company can procure significant competitive advantage more by benefiting from the position of the company in the market (Wang et al. 2016).
The creation of these particular nets has been observed to have contributed in the business-orientated environment, and it allows increased capacity for competition for participant companies, subsequently promoting the services and providing products that are qualified in the economy due to the lower cost for the customer (Martínez-Jurado and Moyano-Fuentes 2014). The strategies alliances appears in various kinds of the organisations, which begins to observe the cooperation as the crucial method of increasing the competitiveness using the information sharing, resources, technology, risks, and the opportunities. The companies conducting business in the same sector consists of similar kinds of the products, activities of marketing of the purchase, operations, technologies and the interests. These particular similarities forms more options for the cooperation among the companies working in the unique sectors. The cooperation among the companies allow these companies in gaining improved access of the resources and improved monitoring of the market. The relevance to this subject in the present times proves from the fact that in the country of Brazil, almost 98% of the organisations are the small and micro companies (Winter and Knemeyer 2013). While the multinationals, companies and the conglomerates of the huge transport are decreasing the participation between the complete numbers of the people who are active in the various sectors of the economy, the small and micro companies are growing the intention of increasing the relative participation. Some of the results that are obtained proves that the research are also linked with the waiting for gaining in accordance modern approach.
The companies in the present times need to improve the efficiency of the supply chains constantly for surviving in the market. It requires several strategies for improving the supply chains and increase the profits of the company. Some of the strategies are:
Strategy 1: adoption of a planning that is driven by business and the operating model of business on the basis of the demand insights that are real time and the shaping of demand. The correct prediction and the contingency tools of planning will determine the total view and an efficient response for the risks like the loss of the business of the suppliers, the upheaval in the political environment and the natural calamities that affects the manufacturing (Beske and Seuring 2014). The companies then would have the capacity of adjusting the pricing and the strategies of promotion for shaping demand and move extra products rapidly, drive the growth of revenue and further expand the margins of the product that is high demand with the limited supply of the market. The key is in having the complete foresight for leveraging the opportunities and the mitigation of the events that are challenging for the survival of the business and succeeds. With the arrival and the maturation of the ability of the supply chain based on the cloud technologies, the companies now can observe the conditions of the business more efficiently and provide the necessary amends quickly. An agile supply chain that is driven by the demand needs the end-to-end visibility all across the business from the buyers and market for supply.
Strategy 2: Building of an adaptive and the agile supply chain with the rapid planning and combined execution. As soon as the executives gain the ability of understanding and shaping the demand and the risk, they would need to adapt the supply chains for changing the opportunities of the market and the events (Fredendall and Hill 2016). The companies should deploy the dynamic capabilities of planning and the continually operations that are customised accurately for ensuring the agility that would be responsive for meeting the changes in demand.
Strategy 3: Optimisation of the designs of products and the management of product for the supply, sustainability and the manufacturing for accelerating the innovation that would be profitable. The crucial factor in the success of the supply chains is the innovation and it helps in staying several steps ahead of any competition. For being successful, the products must be manufactured at correct cost, time and the place. The decisions that are made in the early stages of the development of the product can help in creating or breaking the products. The optimisation of the designs must be done for the supply, manufacturability, and the operations of the supply chain (Rushton, Croucher and Baker 2014). All the correct costs for delivering should be accurately analysed and captured for maintaining the balance across the point-to-point business. Additionally, the innovation of the products and the competitive advantage additionally supports the management and the selection of the suppliers and the technologies. If any company can effectively manage information, processes, people and the decisions according to the product all over the lifecycle, and it can achieve this than with the seamless collaboration processes all over the supply chain of point-to-point, from the demand, market, and the customers prior to manufacturing and the suppliers.
Strategy 4: aligning of the supply chain with the goals of business by the integration of the sales and the planning of the operations with the business planning of corporation. Even though the planning of the operations and the sales processes provides the coordination among the sales, distribution and the manufacturing, still there are some disconnects and the gaps in the finance, operations and the strategy in several companies. One method of bridging the gaps is with the integrated planning of the business that includes the process, people and the technology business elements. The process combines the financial strategic forecasting and the budgeting with the planning of the operations and allows the smart decisions to take for the business.
Strategy 5: embedding of sustainability in the operations of supply chain. The importance of the triple bottom line of the people, planet, and profit is increasing in the recent times. The studies prove that the companies that are striving for the social and the sustainability of the environment achieves major advantages for competition, specially with the regards to the efficiency of production, skills of supplier management and the attractiveness for the employees.
Strategy 6: ensuring a dependable and expectable supply. Deprived of any dependable supply for the stakeholders that are facing towards of the customers for meeting the service levels that are agreed upon and a manufacturer will tend to hold the buffers of inventory for ensuring the meeting the service levels of the customers. This costs business and it might mean that the mean products that are wrong are the wrong place and results in the shortfalls of supply. Working on the prolonged improvement and the excellence at operation strategies is the basis for the successful operations of end-to-end supply chain (Dyckhoff, Lackes and Reese 2013). The cloud and the oracle provides the infrastructure for the analytics and the processes of application for supporting the thread of digital manufacturing thread across the supply chain in end-to-end that ensures the operations of manufacturing are efficiently synchronised, integrated and connected with the demand-facing and customers and the processes of planning.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded for the supply chains to improve the business, they need to follow the strategies. Supply chain management refers to the management of services and goods flow and it also includes all the processes that can be used for transforming the raw materials into final products. The process in this approach includes the movement, storage, and managing of the raw material from the producer to the distributor than retailer and ultimately to the consumers with the flow of physical distribution, cash and, information. Cycle view of the supply chains process is the example of the customers in the petrol pump follows the cycle view of the supply chains process. This is the process of pushing and pulling the process of supply chains, which is increasingly productive in comparison to the tactful process of supply chain. These particular processes of supply chain are commonly considered to be the most efficient method of supply chain management. The aspect of SCM is considered as the external and internal integration of the processes of enterprise with the suppliers and the customers for creating value for customers. It involves the various requirements of the implementation that are provided by actors among the origin place and ending point of the consumption, still it mainly denotes to vision of single factor. The searching activities of coordination for the synchronisation all through the chain, according to the information shares. A common problem is concerned regarding the identification of passage of the SCM and the combination of the chain. Several concepts of the SCM has been measured and developed of the SCM on the basis of the SCM constructs and the SCO. For increasing the competitiveness of the small companies, a reliable option has been in the cooperation among the companies of the similar activity branch, in the similar industry.
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