Supply Chain ManagementEssay Preview: Supply Chain ManagementReport this essayTo compete in todays global markets, organizations strive to deliver their products and services in both an efficient and effective manner. A critical component in this effort is the design and coordination of the supply and distribution networks–supply chain management (SCM). SCM was originally limited to traditional areas like purchasing, distribution and logistics. Over time, SCM has evolved as a field of inquiry and has expanded to include a myriad of areas, including supplier relationships, supply network structure and supplier collaboration. The majority of the SCM research has focused on the manufacturing sector even though the private services-producing sector leads the U.S. economic expansion and outpaces the goods-producing sector. In 2004, the private services-producing sector accounted for almost 70 percent of the current-dollar GDP (Strassner and Howells 2005). As the prominence of the service sector increases, attention is being directed to help understand the issues and complexities within “service” supply chains.
It is important to highlight the differences between service supply chains and the more traditional manufacturing supply chains. In service supply chains, human labor forms a significant component of the value delivery process and while, physical handling of a product leads to standardized and centralized procedures and controls in manufacturing supply chains, in services this is not entirely possible as many of the decisions are taken locally and the variation and uncertainties in outputs are higher because of the human involvement. In addition, the focus of efficiencies in service supply chains is on management of capacity, flexibility of resources, information flows, service performance and cash flow management. These issues are quite different from manufacturing supply chains and hence extensive examination of service supply chains is required to further understand these issues (Ellram, Tate and Billington 2004). However, there are also many areas where there are similarities. For instance, demand management, customer relationship management and supplier relationship management are critical factors in manufacturing supply chains that remain equally important in service supply chains.
Although these similarities and differences are well known, little research has been conducted to explore the implications for practicing supply chain managers. To address this gap, this paper analyzes specific supply chain-related strategies and the corresponding organizational performance in both manufacturing and service sectors. The results include an analysis of the relative prevalence of specific strategies and tactics within each sector and the differing impact on firm performance. The results provide supply chain managers in manufacturing and service sectors benchmarking data for deciding if various strategic SCM initiatives may enhance organizational performance. The following sections
Conclusions
Supply chain managers may not be as well-suited to each of the relevant service sectors as would reasonably be expected from an organization operating in highly-satisfactory conditions. Supply chain management might have to focus primarily on service quality in order to be successful, but in any given sector, organization performance generally reflects the relative position of all relevant supply chain managers and they tend to perform considerably better across industries.
It may be that an organization can be more easily placed to evaluate effective supply group management strategies than an existing business class, but it may also have other advantages, such as flexible strategies, that may be available to the organization.
The main advantages of specific supply chain team management strategies over a variety of other factors are as follows:
• All groups and industries are more diverse
• Supply chain managers take full advantage of different supply chain settings
• The ability to create product and organizationally targeted supply chain action plan and management plans for different product and organizational strategies is more often deployed
• A greater understanding of current and recent supply chain dynamics allows a greater ability to evaluate and identify supply chain managers for different job requirements
• The quality of the team is better as well as its success in moving forward in organizational and business life
These considerations would support research into how supply chain managers could improve their effectiveness in managing different issues or in resolving large gaps. In addition to the above advantages and challenges, supply chain managers may also benefit from a wider range of organizational and business skills.
Recommendations for Supply Chain Management and Supply Chain Marketing in Organizations
• Ensure that supply chain management strategies are used consistently across industry
• Integrate best practices from business class, service and supply chain managers to achieve different objectives
• Provide a high level of organization autonomy
• Make better use of team building, resources and information between departments
Sites
Recommendations from a Supply Chain Management Group
• Use clear guidance
• Use clear policies and guidelines to allow members to evaluate and evaluate supply chain management strategies
• Support supply chain management organizations to continue to meet the requirements of their own needs and responsibilities, if any
• Make the team a better supplier of product and organizational services
• Use competitive criteria and policies to maximize product value
Training and Experience
One of the best strategies for increasing the quality of supply chain management as the supply chain manager is to maintain an organization of strong professional standards or to increase organizational expertise. To achieve this approach effectively, supply chain managers need professional training to recognize the best way to achieve these goals. The specific needs that make a given job a great fit include:
• the need for a broad networked, quality-integrated supply chain management strategy (GIS) that includes all of the relevant elements, including personnel, experience, leadership, and organizational experience
• the ability to understand and utilize