1. How has your understanding of managing the value chain changed as you progressed through the subject?
2. Has what you have learned in this subject created an increased awareness of the importance of managing the value chain Explain your reasons?
3. You have participated in a number of group activities and discussions. How have these discussions influenced your views and/or knowledge on managing the value chain?
The subject of chain analysis has been an interesting one as I have learned and expounded on the basic concept of how business enterprises use the economic advantage they have to thrive in an environment. The fundamental concept about companies operating in particular sectors where they believe that they bear more advantage in comparison to their fellow competitors forms the foundation of value chain. The concept of establishing a company where I believe it holds significant advantage over my competitors forms the major concept on managing the value chain that I can apply in practice as a manager in my organization. The idea of locating an enterprise where it is relatively advantaged makes the business establish quickly and possibly start generating profits within the shortest time possible (Thompson et al., 2013). Having a fair upper hand means that customers will prefer my company over my compatriots and I can build a reputation over the advantage. At the same time, the subject of chain value has made me understand how companies consider the location of their business as they aim to offer the best services to their client (Caniato et al., 2013). It is through the group projects and presentation, individual assignment, discussions in tutorials and workshops as well as consultations with my lecturer that I have learned the art of managing a value chain.
1. How my understanding value chain management has changed through learning the subject
Learning the concept of value chain changed from an initial assumption that I had regarding it as a simple and easy work. Through the study, I have learned that even though the concepts may appear easy theoretically, they are indeed tough to be effectively implemented and effective leadership skills are required to make any company a success. The concept of supply chain management involves implementing simple procedures to more complex entities in a company that make it achieve its objectives in the stock market (Gereffi, 2013). There are several factors that make a value chain organization thrive in any place. These factors begin with the company identifying every department that is involved in the process of production as well as determining where a step can be abolished or rather be improved. Nevertheless, proper inquiry has to be conducted before initiating any changes as the improvements are meant to either lead to cost saving in the company or enhanced productivity.
Learning value chain has enlightened me with the fact that it is the activities that take place in a company that enhance service delivery. Furthermore, it is these activities that add product value thereby building a company reputation. It is therefore important that these activities run at the best conditions so that the company can realize an actual competitive advantage. A company can realize that it is running efficiently when the value it obtains exceeds the cost that is used in running them (Hasan, 2015). For instance, the clients are supposed to return to the organization cash as well as carry out their transactions in a free and willing manner. The concept of competitive advantage is derived when a company is observed from the various different activities that a company performs like planning, production, advertising and distribution rather than seeing the company as an entire institution (Hasan, 2015). It is these activities that lead to a company’s comparative cost position as well as create a foundation for variation.
2. How this subject has created an increased awareness of the importance of managing the value chain
Learning of value chain has created awareness regarding the importance of managing the value chain and has immensely improved my knowledge regarding the concept of human resource management. The subject has enlightened me on the fact that when a company creates more value, the more it is likely to make more profits. Most customers mostly consider the value of a product rather than just having large quantities of goods as they pay close attention to their health (Lim et al., 2016). The major competitive advantage is built based on provision of better value to the consumers. The subject has increased awareness regarding value chain in an immeasurable manner as I understand how the market operates and that every organization strives to come up with the best product compared to its competitors both locally and internationally. It is how well an entrepreneur understands how best their organization creates value as well as how they look for additional ways of creating value that matter (Soosay et al., 2012). These two factors are crucial while coming up with an effective and long lasting competitive plan. It is the manner in which a company is affected by value chain that determines the costs and profits that a company generates.
3. How individual assignments, group activities and discussions have influenced my views and knowledge on managing the value chain
Group activities have greatly shaped my views and knowledge on managing the value chain as I realized that working as a group can make a company strong and more productive. When working as a group, all the members come up with ideas that can shape an organization thereby settling with an all-inclusive and effective mode of operation. Group discussions open a person’s mind as one does not only rely on their ideas but the ideas of the entire members. It is here that your ideas can be shaped, rejected or accepted. In similar manner, working together as one unit in a company makes the company realize its goals as the ideas that are found to be most effective are the ones that are implemented (Palan, 2016). Furthermore, there are members who are specialists in particular fields while some are even authorities, such members possess great ideas that can shape the working of any company thereby realizing its goals (Mudambi and Puck, 2016). There are also the experienced individuals who bring about ideas that have been tested and proven in other places thereby making it easy for a company to be more productive.
There are also the individual assignments that have shaped my thinking regarding value chain. For instance, value chain analysis has greatly influenced by globalization. Globalization has a great impact on the lifespan of any business activity in a company. The influence of globalization and the advent of the mobile technology, there has been a rise in effectiveness as well as efficiency in value chain analysis. Supply chain management and the concept of globalization seem to be interlinked as management of social change leads to globalization while on the on the other hand, globalization leads to the introduction of novel customer markets as well as the procurement of new resources (Marchi et al., 2013). Globalization also leads to an organization understanding various risks, cultures, regulations, markets and social backgrounds. This information is important in attaining proper social change management thereby decreasing interruptions in workplaces as well as delays (Sinha, 2015). Globalization therefore brings about new opportunities in supply chain management.
The mobile telephony industry has impacted on value chain to a great measure. The concept of value chain has been put to use by the famous Apple Company in its bid to establish itself as a renowned company. The company employed the implementation of the vertical integration concept from which it acquires Nextstep (Bergvall-Kåreborn and Howcroft, 2013. It is through this concept that the company gains an effective competitive advantage against its competitors globally as it accomplishes the multi-tasking system of operation. Apple also realized significant milestones when it partnered with Intel as it enabled it realize huge profits as it delivered more goods (Cheng, 2017). It is through Intel that Apple realized efficient goods delivery as the transition period was significantly reduced. Apple has established itself as a leading mobile company partially due to its effective value chain policy. The fact that it rides on the value chain policy makes it deal with various helping customers and also realizing its goal of connecting millions of customers globally. Samsung on the other hand has built a reputation for respecting its customers’ choice thereby sustaining product lines efficiently. LG has also build and developed its brand through investing in research. The company has established a form of competitive advantage through offering customers longer warranties on their products.
Conclusion
Learning the concept of value chain has led to learning the fact that in every process, the result should lead to customers deriving the best benefits from a product at a cheaper cost compared to other competitors. It is this concept that forms part of the most fundamental activities that make a company run effectively and achieve its goals. Understanding that idea that value chain involves all the activities that go on in the company such as planning, production, advertising and distribution make any director a complete supply chain manager. The manager is mandated with ensuring that all these activities are properly organized thereby fulfilling the goal of ensuring that the employees mandated with running each stage of processing read from the same script. Value chain does not involve merely overseeing what other employees are doing but also participating in the production to ensure that the products get to the customers without a glitch and swiftly. The process is therefore not easy as it appears but the real actions are indeed hectic and require some experience in the field.
Bergvall-Kåreborn, B. and Howcroft, D., 2013, December. The Apple business model: Crowdsourcing mobile applications. In Accounting Forum (Vol. 37, No. 4, pp. 280-289). Elsevier
Caniato, F., Golini, R. and Kalchschmidt, M., 2013. The effect of global supply chain configuration on the relationship between supply chain improvement programs and performance. International Journal of Production Economics, 143(2), pp.285-293
Cheng, M. (2017). Samsung vs. Apple: Who Was No. 1?. [online] WSJ. Available at: https://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/01/29/samsung-vs-apple-who-was-no-1/ [Accessed 10 Jan. 2017].
Gereffi, G., 2013. Global Value Chain Perspective on Industrial Policy and Development in Emerging Markets, A. Duke J. Comp. & Int’l L., 24, p.433.
Hasan, A., 2015. Consumer Brand Preference for Consumer Durable Goods With Reference to Lucknow District. International Journal of Economics & Management Sciences, 2015
Lim, L.G., Tuli, K.R. and Grewal, R., 2016. Customer Satisfaction and Costs of Selling and Producing.
Marchi, V.D., Maria, E.D. and Micelli, S., 2013. Environmental strategies, upgrading and competitive advantage in global value chains. Business strategy and the environment, 22(1), pp.62-72
Mudambi, R. and Puck, J., 2016. A Global Value Chain Analysis of the ‘Regional Strategy’Perspective. Journal of Management Studies
Palan, R., 2016. 9 Corporate power in a global economy. Susan Strange and the Future of Global Political Economy: Power, Control and Transformation, p.152.
Sinha, N., 2015. Globalization and Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure (CSRD) Reporting Practices: An Investigation of Power and Oil & Gas Sector in India. Globalization, 7(34)
Soosay, C., Fearne, A. and Dent, B., 2012. Sustainable value chain analysis-A case study of Oxford Landing from “vine to dine”. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 17(1), pp.68-77.
Thompson, A., Peteraf, M., Gamble, J., Strickland III, A.J. and Jain, A.K., 2013. Crafting & Executing Strategy 19/e: The Quest for Competitive Advantage: Concepts and Cases. McGraw-Hill Education
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