Introduction
Expectation that top management in companies – both in private and public sector – places on supply is growing exponentially, mainly because of the permanent drive to lower cost and retain competitive advantages on the market, but also to create additional value. Research has shown that the perception of impact of supply chains on the results of businesses will grow in the future, taking a more prominent role in company structures over time.
According to research conducted by Monczk (2010), there is a strong indication that top level managers will be included in the supply chain much more in the future, mainly in the form of adding value through supply than in cost reductions. Top companies are already focusing their efforts on supply chains in the process of making business plans, and consider that better supply management can lead to better results in all branches of the company (Kearney, 2002). According to Dwyer (2010) there is evidence to show that companies allocate larger amounts of expenditure towards supply. This means that supply chain, besides raw materials, maintenance materials and other functions takes an increasingly prominent role in decision making regarding machinery, construction/acquisition of property and related equipment procurement. Top management in leading companies, almost without exception, finalises decisions concerning supply in over 70% cases – excluding salaries – which led to nearly 10% cost reduction (Dwyer, 2010). When compared to companies where management finalises up to 40% of costs, the difference is obvious, the latter has shown only 1% cost reduction.
Supply is slowly coming to the forefront of business management, and corporate leaders everywhere begin to realize how benef...
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In the 1960s through the 1970s, companies realized strong engineering, design, and manufacturing functions were strong market strategy keys to create and capture customer loyalty. As the demand for new products rose in the 1980s, these market requirements were to increase their flexibility and responsiveness to adapt existing products and processes or to develop new ones in order to meet customer needs. As manufacturing improved in the 1990s, managers began noticing material and service inputs involving suppliers and their major impact on an organization’s ability to meet customer needs. As a result of these changes, organizations now find that it difficult to manage their own organizations. First, they must be involved in the management of their network of all upstream firms that provide directly or indirectly, as well as the network of downstream firms, which are responsible for delivery and market service of the product to the end customer. In order to succeed, managers have to realize that they cannot do it alone and they must work together on a daily basis with the whole organizations in their supply chains. Because supply chain management involves all functions within an organization, managers need to know what a supply chain is, why it is important, and the impact of supply chain management on the success and profitability of their organization. Today, Wal-Mart topped the list of the America’s biggest companies on the Fortune 500 list, “with sales of almost $345 billion — more than a quarter of a trillion dollars” (Forbs). Wal-Mart’s supply chain management is becoming recognized as a core competitive strategy.
Royal Caribbean Cruise Ltd (RCCL) has two distinct supply chains which create a unique challenge. Each supply chain is managed by a Provision Master. The first supply chain includes all food, beverage, and lodging inventories that needed for the trips. The second supply chain encompasses “corporate spend” materials, such as office supplies, printing services, hardware and software, printed materials, computer supplies, marine consumables (spare parts, fuel, lubricants, any and all services associated with the ship maintenance and etc).
Generally, a superior supply Chain is an important and unique source of competitive advantage. Its importance is especially illuminated in Multinational companies such as Toyota. Putting this into consideration, the question that now begs for an answer is whether Toyota’s supply chain is effectively serving the organization. Without a doubt, Toyota ha...
When businesses start making money, the upper management focusses on maximizing speed, but when the economy is bearish, companies try to minimize supply costs. But there is an issue with this approach, companies who become more efficient and cost-effective, they do not gain a sustainable advantage over their rivals. What gives supply chains of Dell, Amazon and Wal-Mart, the edge over their competitors is not their efficiency but differentiating characteristics such as agility, adaptability and aligning the companies with sustainable competitive advantage.
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Supply chain management has been defined as that process that involves the management of information, materials, and all the finances that are handled within and across the entire supply chain process (Christopher, 2016). The management is usually done through out the entire supply chain management from that moment when the suppliers are involved through all the manufacturing activities, different distribution activities, and the way that the products are served to the final product consumer (Turban, et al., 2002). The process also includes all the activities that different organizations offers to their customers as after sale services for purposes perfecting their services and products towards their highly valued customers (Christopher,
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"A lot of companies think of supply chain as a cost centre. They don’t always see it as helping to funnel top-line growth." Supply chain touches practically every part of operations inside an organization: from determining client interest, to sourcing crude materials, to assembling, distribution and returns Supply chain is to adjust supply and request, for example the demand for goods and services. You need to get the right quantity and quality of goods and services
Supply Chain Management is the science that improves the ways companies use raw materials to make a product or service and deliver it to the customer. Every product that reaches an end consumer is the result of a cooperative effort between several organizations. This means companies need to manage their product, not just inside of the business walls, but the path that their product takes to reach the final consumer. If companies only focus on their product and do not follow its way to the market, many inefficiencies may occur in the companies supply chain (Baltzan 2014). Businesses who cooperate in a successful supply chain are linked with one another and allow an easy flow ...
‘Supply chain management integrates supply and demand management within and across companies. It encompasses the planning and management of all activities involved in sourcing and procurement, conversion, and all logistics management activities. Importantly, it also includes coordination and collaboration with channel partners, which can be suppliers, intermediaries, thir- party service providers, and customers’. (Web: Council for Supply Chain Management Pr...
The key performance drivers of Supply Chain Management (SCM) are - facility effectiveness, inventory effectiveness, transportation effectiveness, information effectiveness, sourcing effectiveness, pricing effectiveness, delivery effectiveness, quality effectiveness and service effectiveness. These drivers include various performance markers that may be measured quantitatively by gathering information and applying them in SPSS. The works here may principally be quantitative with spellbinding measurable investigation. In the current world, practical supply chain management to help the triple primary concern, (nature, domain, and economy) is likewise included in the extent of supply chain performance drivers. This is relatively a quite new research region.