Supply Chain Management Essay For Operational Research.

Description and Features of Supply Chain Management

Discuss about the Supply Chain Management for Operational Research.

The report helps in investigation of different kind of characteristics of the supply chain management in different organizations. Proper identification of the different characteristics of the SCM has to be analysed in an effectual manner. Proper examination of the different kind of barriers that has been faced by different organizations in leveraging the SCM for gaining competitive advantage will be analysed.

The main motive of the report is to identify the diverse kind of role of technology in the supply chain will be done as this will help in analysing the importance of the same. The contribution of the supply chain management has to be discussed as this will help in enhancing the customer service along with differentiation of the organizations.

The structure of the report includes the contribution of the supply chain management in the different kind of organizations. The analysis of the different barriers that has been faced by the organizations has to be analysed in an effectual manner.

Supply chain management is defined as oversight of the different kind of information, materials and finances when they move in the process from supplier to the manufacturer to the wholesaler and retailer as well. The SCM helps in involving the different kind of integration and coordination that helps in flowing between and within the different kind of companies. The main goal of the supply chain management is to achieve the efficient fulfilment of the resources to make the inventory available in fulfilling the demands of the customers (Beske and Seuring 2014).

The different kind of characteristics of the supply chain management are as follows:

• Proper coordination of the workflow is essential in nature as this will help in increasing the efficiency of the supply chain of the organization. Proper integration is essential in nature as this will help in developing delivery along with production mechanisms in an effectual manner
• Proper synchronization of the time is essential in the supply chain management in the organization. It is very essential for the companies to design the supply chain management in an effectual manner as this will help in balancing the economies of the different kind of products in terms of the quality, flexibility and delivery of goods and services
• Proper and efficient response from the customers is essential in nature as this helps in creating a link between the retailer and the manufacturers. This kind of linkage will help in sending and capturing the point of sale information through the channels of distribution.

SCM plays a major role in the organizations as this will benefit in considering the status of the same in improving the satisfaction provided to the customers. The vision of the SCM has to be improved with the implementation of proper planning and understanding the requirements and interest of the customers to meet their expectations effectively (Touboulic and Walker, 2015).

Furthermore, the effective and efficient supply chain management will help in contributing towards the success of the entire business (Mangan, Lalwani and Lalwani, 2016). Proper communication and integration is essential in collaborating the different technologies in effectually. The demand management is essential as the collaboration will help in making the supply chain management effective and efficient in nature (Khalid et al. 2015). Furthermore, there are different barriers that can be faced by the different organizations effectively. The reduction in the costs along with improvement in the working capital is vital as this will benefitting organizations in solving issues.

Contribution of Supply Chain Management in Organizations

There are different kind of barriers faced by different kind of organization in leveraging the supply chain management for gaining competitive advantage. The different kind of barriers are as follows:

Poor planning of the SCM is one of the blockades of the supply chain management wherein it has been seen that in many organizations (Chin, Tat and Sulaiman 2015). SCM fails as there is insufficient amount of forecasting and planning is poor in nature as well. In order to perform correct forecasting, the process of planning is required to involve appropriate players and relevant kind of information as well (Brandenburg et al. 2014).

External and Internal turf wars is the other barrier wherein there is conflict within the organization along with departments are the fundamental kind of barrier to the collaboration of the supply chain management. It has been seen in many companies wherein all the departments that includes marketing, operations and finance work independently (Tatoglu et al. 2016).

However, it has been seen that when the managers make any kind of decisions, they consider the respective department and not the other departments (Monczka et al. 2015). The company ignores the impact of the decision on other departments and the same kind of case is with the supply chain partners wherein the company work for their own interest and they gain competitive advantage as well. It can be commented that supply chain management is vital in different organizations as this will helps in gaining competitive advantage and solve different kind of issues effectively as well (Schorsch, Wallenburg and Wieland 2017).

Lack of trust in the process of supply chain management is the other issue wherein the channel partners do not share any kind of information openly. It has been seen that due to globalization, the integration has become a huge challenge and this is one the major barriers as the information sharing is not possible without proper and integrated kind of system (Simpson et al. 2015). The poor understanding of the SCM is the other challenge in different organizations wherein it has been seen that employees in the different kind of organizations do not have any kind of understanding relating to the importance of the SCM in their job along with organization (Wisner, Tan and Leong, 2014).

There is lack of alliance guidelines wherein it has been seen that each of the channel partners of the supply chain management has different set of activities along with plan and schedule of the production. The lack of the performance measures can lead and create conflicting behaviours and this can affect the behaviour of the individuals both externally and internally as well (Stadtler 2015). The incomplete kind of technology can create huge issues in the implementation of flexibility in the organization. The entire organizational culture and structure can get affected and this is one of the crucial barriers to the collaboration of the supply chain in the company as well (Fernie and Sparks 2014).

Barriers faced by organizations in leveraging SCM for competitive advantage

It can be seen that there are different kind of barriers that has to be faced by the different organization and this can create issues in the leveraging the supply chain management as well. These are the different kind of issues that has affected the organization in a negative manner and this will create huge issues in the gaining of the entire competitive advantage as well (Carter, Rogers and Choi 2015). However, the respective company needs to adopt different kind of strategies in the organization as this will help them in resolving such issues with proper implementation of the technology in an effectual manner as well (Wieland, Handfield and Durach, 2016).

The different kind of bridges that can be adopted by the different organizations in order to remove the barriers in an effectual manner. Proper examination is done by the different organizations as this will solve the issues and solve it in an effectual manner.

Proper transparency in the information is vital as this will aid the members in receiving all the information about other members in the organization. The sharing of the information will help in improving the performance of the entire system.

Proper and collaborative planning is essential in nature in the organizations as wherein all the involvement of the parties will be complex in the supply chain management process. The forecasting of demand along with schedule of the information is essential in nature to be provided as this will help in being more effective in nature with involvement of the partners.

Proper adoption of the strategic vision of the SCM is essential as this will benefit the chain partners in providing clear along with common vision of the entire SCM process. Proper measurement of the supply chain management performance helps in reducing the cost and this will help the companies in gaining competitive advantage as well.  

Proper supply base reduction is indispensable as this will aid the organizations in enhancing the excellence of the different products and amenities in an effective manner wherein this will increase the responsiveness. Proper segmentation of the customers is essential in the organization as this will collaborate with the different suppliers and this will generate strategic and supportive culture as well.

Proper and shared investment is important as this will aid the organization in making the entire SCM successful in nature. The proper sharing of the benefit is essential in nature wherein there is trustworthiness and this will help in strengthening the relationship effectively as well. Proper attention to the different kind of human factors is essential in nature as this will help the organizations in strengthening the quality in an effectual manner.

Solutions to overcome barriers

The information technology architecture or the internet has to be analysed effectively in different organizations as this will improve the performance of whole management of the association. The proper analysis is required to be done in an effectual manner as this will help in making the entire supply chain management process effectual and effective in nature.

The technology or the information technology theatres an essential role in the improvement of the supply chain management process. Proper enhancement of the different superiority of the products and services is essential in nature as this understand the various kind of issues and resolve them in an successful manner. Proper implementation of the information technology system will help in providing different kind of advantages that include improvement in the productivity, reduction in the cost and different implementation of the market or the product strategies.                               

With the proper and accurate implementation of the electronic data interchange, it can be seen that the SCM process will become effective. There will be quick process of the entire information that will help in reducing the paper work and increase the entire productivity of the organization as well. The implementation of the electronic data interchange will help in creating cost effectiveness and efficiency that will help in solving such issues and this will help in improving the expediting and tracing of the different kind of information in an effectual manner as well.

Similarly, with the help of enterprise resource planning, it will be helpful for the organizations to improve the entire infrastructure and solve the different kind of uncertainties and capturing the data as well. As the expectations of the customers, it is required for the different organizations to improve the different kind of issues and help the customers in receiving satisfaction in an overall manner. Proper and strategic planning is required to be done wherein proper and strategic planning is required to be done as the organizations will gain knowledge in solving the issues in a successful manner.  

Conclusion

Therefore, it can be concluded that proper and effective supply chain management is vital in diverse kind of companies as this will help in satisfying the diverse customers and solving their grievances as well. It has been seen in the report that there are different kind of barriers that has been faced by the organizations in leveraging the entire SCM. The role of the technology has been discussed that has helped the organizations in improving the supply chain management and this will help the companies in gaining competitive advantage as well. Proper mission and vision of the supply chain management has been analysed effectively as this helped in solving the beliefs of the retailers, suppliers and customers as well.

References

Beske, P. and Seuring, S., 2014. Putting sustainability into supply chain management. Supply Chain Management: an international journal, 19(3), pp.322-331.  

Brandenburg, M., Govindan, K., Sarkis, J. and Seuring, S., 2014. Quantitative models for sustainable supply chain management: Developments and directions. European Journal of Operational Research, 233(2), pp.299-312.

Carter, C.R., Rogers, D.S. and Choi, T.Y., 2015. Toward the theory of the supply chain. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 51(2), pp.89-97.

Chin, T.A., Tat, H.H. and Sulaiman, Z., 2015. Green supply chain management, environmental collaboration and sustainability performance. Procedia CIRP, 26, pp.695-699.

Fernie, J. and Sparks, L., 2014. Logistics and retail management: emerging issues and new challenges in the retail supply chain. Kogan page publishers.

Khalid, R.U., Seuring, S., Beske, P., Land, A., Yawar, S.A. and Wagner, R., 2015. Putting sustainable supply chain management into base of the pyramid research. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 20(6), pp.681-696.

Mangan, J., Lalwani, C. and Lalwani, C.L., 2016. Global logistics and supply chain management. John Wiley & Sons.

Monczka, R.M., Handfield, R.B., Giunipero, L.C. and Patterson, J.L., 2015. Purchasing and supply chain management. Cengage Learning.

Schorsch, T., Wallenburg, C.M. and Wieland, A., 2017. The human factor in SCM: Introducing a meta-theory of behavioral supply chain management. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 47(4), pp.238-262.

Simpson, D., Meredith, J., Boyer, K., Dilts, D., Ellram, L.M. and Leong, G.K., 2015. Professional, research, and publishing trends in operations and supply chain management. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 51(3), pp.87-100.

Stadtler, H., 2015. Supply chain management: An overview. In Supply chain management and advanced planning (pp. 3-28). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Stevens, G.C. and Johnson, M., 2016. Integrating the supply chain… 25 years on. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 46(1), pp.19-42.

Tatoglu, E., Bayraktar, E., Golgeci, I., Koh, S.L., Demirbag, M. and Zaim, S., 2016. How do supply chain management and information systems practices influence operational performance? Evidence from emerging country SMEs. International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications, 19(3), pp.181-199.

Touboulic, A. and Walker, H., 2015. Theories in sustainable supply chain management: a structured literature review. International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 45(1/2), pp.16-42.

Wieland, A., Handfield, R.B. and Durach, C.F., 2016. Mapping the landscape of future research themes in supply chain management. Journal of Business Logistics, 37(3), pp.205-212.

Wisner, J.D., Tan, K.C. and Leong, G.K., 2014. Principles of supply chain management: A balanced approach. Cengage Learning.a