Essay about B2B v. B2C Supply Chains

A. Analyze whether a Keiretsu network, a virtual company, a vertical integration, or a different supply chain strategy should be adopted.

Supply chains must be managed to coordinate the inputs with the outputs in a firm to achieve the appropriate competitive priorities of the firm’s enterprise processes. The Internet offers firms an alternative to traditional methods for managing supply chains. A supply chain strategy is essential

Supply Chain Management (SCM) aims at integrating all corporate activities to improve relationships at all levels (internal operations, supplier networks, and distribution channel) to meet the competitive edge and satisfy the customer. In order to build an effective and complete business process that supports SCM, information among all business partners need to be shared. Information sharing through the Internet reduces the gap for business-to-business (B2B) commerce by enabling seamless integration with enterprise processes among partner corporations.

Question #2-Define the supply chains for the following products from the first source of raw materials to the first customer. A) Big Mac, B) Gasoline, C) Automobile repair, D) A Text book.

Unlike the B2B relationship, B2C e-tailers would not likely have concern regarding contracts as consumers purchase product directly from a business. Many business Web sites contain information for consumers to peruse such as privacy policy information, a disclaimer, or terms and conditions for using the site. Privacy also falls under legal issues for the B2C relationship and, "some countries are far more restrictive than others in terms of what type of information collection is acceptable and legal" (Schneider, 2004, p. 316). Consumers enter credit card and other personal information through electronic retail sites, so it is essential for the site to be secure. Other legal issues that might arise in the B2C relationship include misrepresentation of company products or services.

B2B E-commerce helps to remove barriers raised by geographic fragmentation of the market. While buyers get to know about new sellers with better products, suppliers discover new buyers. B2B also helps in

Companies such as eBay and Amazon exploited the internet to support their business model of business-to-consumer (B2C) retail purchasing. E-commerce has proved to be a disruptive technology to traditional retail markets, such as Walmart. It also provided advantages to consumers with lower pricing, sales tax avoidance and convenience purchasing. Convenience purchasing is the ability to conduct business transactions using mobile technology from anywhere. E-commerce has become so effective that traditional bricks and mortar institutions, such as Walmart, have developed e-commerce capabilities to stay competitive. Walmart has adopted a bricks and clicks business model to help combat threats from Amazon and others. Bricks and clicks are defined as able to support online transactions while offering the convenience of

This report is a supply chain comparison between two companies in which one is a business-to-business (B2B) model company and the other is a business-to-consumers (B2C) model company. The comparison will be between the companies Wal-Mart and Grainger. Wal-Mart is a well-known conglomerate known around the world that is in the retail business that seeks to sell products to consumers at a significantly reduced discount compared to its rivals. Grainger sells supplies to different companies through the company 's own website.

Why is a supply chain important for businesses? Supply chain is a chain of interconnected links that facilitates the movement of supplies, materials, products, and so on (Arway, 2013, pp.3). Supply chain management has become the critical backbone to businesses today (Management Study Guide, 2013). The reason comes from the fact that effective market coverage and availability of products at market locations depends on the effectiveness of supply chain management. Any fault in product not being available at the right time can cause drop in customer interest and demand which can be catastrophic. On the other hand, effective and secure supply chain can successfully boost customer service in following four aspects (Council of Supply Chain

While researching on line I came across an article that described the affect that the Internet is having on supply chains today. “E-enabled supply chain management is fast emerging as a core strategy that organizations worldwide are adopting for sustainable business advantage”. (4)

There is a lot that eCommerce sites have to offer to B2B, so let's mention just a few main

Mobility, Collaboration and transportation are not so easy and it’s hard to achieve the profit from your global supply chain. It’s time to make your supply chain flexible and open to all. Let your supply chain to be customer driven, connected, risk managed, complexity managed, new technology/updated technology mixed, work force controlled and cost perspective. It’s not easy when we are thinking the above points to modify the Supply chain. Then what is next?

I declare that all materials included in this essay/report/project/dissertation is the end result of my own work and that due acknowledgement have been given in the bibliography and references to ALL sources be they printed, electronic or personal.

Evolution of the supply chain stems from Physical internet. Montreuil“If you think about the early days of computers, people loved using them, but they had no way to connect their computers to a community,” he says. “To get connectivity, we looked to transportation for a model and the information superhighway became the metaphor for the Internet.” The Physical internet approach is influenced by the internet network system where information is moved globally efficiently. The Supply chain system could use the Internet as a metaphor for a new way to move physical objects through the supply chain. As said by Meller “Imagine an EBay like exchange with all freight specified based on smart modular containers and visible to a vast community of users that rate each other to drive performance’’. This is a decentralised system that enables networking by aligning and coordinating the processes between customers’ suppliers and providers to manage logistics units efficiently and in a sustainable manner.

Information and communications technologies are revolutionizing the scope and scale of e-supply chain infrastructures. Online data exchange is transforming business practices, allowing managers to capture and track complex data more effectively. Orders and various products related to that order can easily be traced. It also is possible to exchange information among entities within the value chain, thus greatly improving customer-provider relationships.