Supply chain management is a subsection of procurement activities that are concerned predominantly with the development, management, and monitoring of continuing contractor relations and the related courses of supply inputs. It is all about the managing the flow of services and goods from raw materials to the consumer goods that are in the stores. When dealing with supply chain management, one is allowed to contribute their personal ideas and experiences to the job, while working with colleagues and customers to develop innovative supply chain solutions. These solutions support customers’ business objective while giving them a competitive edge. Supply chain management is necessary for the companies to ensure that they compete and gain market share.
Supply chain deals with the joining and blending of actions and tasks all through the value chain to ensure a commercial worth offer to clienteles in a market. For a company’s supply chain to be fully functional, all four elements must be at work. The first key element of supply chain management is integration. Integration is considered to be central to supply chains as overseeing supply chain integration entails the synchronization of communications amid the remnants of the chain to yield operational and apt results (Genovese, et al., 2017). This will require discovering novel software and other scientific ways to nurture communications between the current sections.
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The four main drivers affecting these elements are the demand variations, the market meditation costs, a products life cycle and the relevance of assets to total costs (Mamun, 2016). Demand variations influence the stability and consistency of the manufacturing assets workload thus affecting the product's efficiency and cost. Market mediation costs result from the consequences of the degree of demand and predictability of product. With the constant changes in technology, products are being developed and improved thus ensuring that the product lifecycle is short and company portfolios are being renewed regularly. When commercial returns are exceedingly interconnected with the benefit operation rate, the significance of the price of resources to total prices become dire to the manufacturing segments (Russell, & Milwaukee, 2013) Individuals that have been charged with the task of incorporation are accountable for ascertaining that everything is running as planned and with respect to the financial plan without affecting the superiority of products made.
Operations are the next main element of the supply chain management. This is where the supply chain synchronizes the particulars of the daily processes for the business. Operations deal with the planning of the firm’s output to ensure all is going on as planned and that the possible compensations are being exploited (Mamun, 2016). Operations ensure that the firm’s inventory is up to date while also using occupational conjecturing to envisage which provisions will be required by whom and when. They are also tasked with finding different ways to predict the effectiveness of market approaches, products, and end-user results. The general productions of any firm are overseen by the operations team.
Purchasing is the third element that deals with the sourcing of raw materials, other goods and products that are required to generate a firm’s end products (Russell, & Milwaukee, 2013). It is through purchasing that relationships are established with the various dealers and similarly ensures that quantities and qualities of desired items are known. This ensures that there are no over purchases or under purchases that will lead the firm to experience loss by with producing less production or getting more raw materials than needed (Mamun, 2016). Those responsible for purchasing are required to watch the budget so that they can find raw materials that they can purchase at cost-effective amounts while still keeping to the high quality standards expected from the clients and the firm’s managerial board.
Distribution is the final element required dealing with the organization of how the final products end up to their clients. The logistics of communications amongst vendors, consumers or traders is the accountability of the delivery segment in the supply chain of command (Russell, & Milwaukee, 2013). It is this department that pays specific attention to the shipment of finished products and has the knowledge on what is needed in-house to manufacture products and to reach to the consumer in a good state and on time. All the elements are required to work together if the supply chain is to be effective and benefit everyone (Russell, & Milwaukee, 2013). With a successful supply chain, employees get job satisfaction from producing high quality products and might even get incentives from their respective firms, customers get rewards of high quality products and the firm gets proceeds from the high quality products resulting from the effective supply chain.
The commercial scenery is developing more globally due to the advances in communications and technology. Globalization is responsible for the method by which business are achieved and conducted including the indigenous levels and especially in the supply chain management area. With universal consumers and provider base, many firms discover that current methods and expertise are not accommodative to help in the sourcing of materials, their manufacturing, distribution and invoicing over the global markets (Mamun, 2016). There are several supply chain strategies that can be applied to the international business environment to ensure that the supply chain is effective and yields desired results.
Adopting a needs motivated scheduling and commercial functioning model founded on real-time needs insights and demand influencing is a strategy that can be applied to the international business environment (Genovese et al., 2017). This ensures that firms adjust their prices and campaigns to model demand and move extra products fast thus driving proceeds, development and additional expanding precincts for high demand merchandises with the minimal market source through having a right prediction and contingency planning tools (Sindi, & Roe, 2017). They can leverage opportunities for their international customers so as to mitigate the challenging events to ensure the corporation succeeds and survives in this age of cloud supply technologies.
Having an agile and adaptive supply chain with the cohesive implementation of plans ensures that once the plans are carried out, risks and demands can be shaped. Since the international market keeps on changing, this strategy allows supply chains to be adaptive thus dynamic planning is at play in this strategy (Sindi, & Roe, 2017). Adjustments in this strategy are welcomed at any stage so as to eliminate and minimize shocks across the supply network. With sustainability being pushed for in all sectors, a strategy that elevates merchandise schemes and organization for sustainable supply and developing is sure to quicken lucrative novelty (Genovese, et al., 2017). Innovation is paramount for a competitive edge while sustainability makes the strategy more appealing. International organizations are more likely to work with corporations that push for sustainability thus ensuring that a balance is maintained across the end-to-end business while optimizing designs for manufacturability and supply chain operations.
Supply chains have been used by their companies to ensure that they compete and gain market share. Recent advancements in communications and technology have made the activity effective thus resulting in maximum proceeds when effective strategies are utilized. Having an adaptive and agile supply chain, and a sustainable product design are some of the strategies that can be applied to the international business environment to ensure that the supply chain is effective and yields desired results.
Reference
Genovese, A., Acquaye, A. A., Figueroa, A., & Koh, S. L. (2017). Sustainable supply chain management and the transition towards a circular economy: Evidence and some applications. Omega , 66 , 344-357.
Mamun, H. (2016). Supply chain management: Applications for manufacturing and service industry. Management science-Theory and Applications. Hauppauge, New York: Nova Science Publishers, Inc. eBook. , Database: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost)
Russell, J. P. & Milwaukee, WI (2013). The ASQ supply chain management. Quality Press. eBook. Database: eBook Collection (EBSCOhost)
Sindi, S., & Roe, M. (2017). The Evolution of Supply Chains and Logistics. In Strategic Supply Chain Management (pp. 7-25). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
