Competitive Supply Chain Relationship Management Essay

Supply-chain management consists of developing a strategy to organize, control, and motivate the resources involved in the flow of services and materials within the supply chain. A supply chain strategy, an essential aspect of supply chain management, seeks to design a firm’s supply chain to meet the competitive priorities of the firm’s operations strategy.

The ultimate goal is to effectively change the nature of the relationships between vendors and buyers from a traditional perspective to a non-traditional one. Comparatively, when implementing SCM, firms must take in to consideration the impact of the human side of the equation whereas, CRM though relationship based, affects all aspect of supply chain and directly influence performance. More than likely, the base setup such as the information and technology systems needed to implement the supply chain system will be readily available and can be executed almost immediately. Even with all this in place, there are instances where a number of supply chain and customer relationships initiatives fail due to lack of communication or clear and concise expectations from all parties involved. The customer relationship aspect is usually assumed by managers of a firm, and thus tries to merge the SCM and CRM, the result of said merger often end up being one the most difficult part of the integration.

This first section provides a general discussion of the Supply Chain Management mainstream idea supported by Christopher. This framework focuses strictly on the firm and how Supply Chain Management (SCM) is addressed from a management perspective. It states that cooperation between firms is necessary in order to obtain a

Supply chain management places importance on managing the customer relationship, as well as the supplier relationship. By effectively managing these relationships, the company can become more competitive, while increasing the quality of the product to the customer. Placing emphasis on the supplier relationship and the businesses along the supply chain increases product efficiency and quality. The importance placed on the customer relationship focuses on the demands and needs of the customer. Through effective communication within the relationships along the supply chain, a basic balance of supply and demand is established.

Young (2012) writes that supply chain management (SCM) is a function of collaborating firms working to improve operating efficiency and to leverage strategic positioning. In addition, Young references this function as not only the physical attributes of product distribution, but also to include related information, such as production or delivery status, and the capability to access such information. Such capabilities allow SCM to be an important link in fulfilling customer needs and providing value. Young adds that in the current customer-driven market, the perceived value of the entire relationship

Managing a supply chain implies the integrated management of a network of entities, that begins with the suppliers' suppliers and ends with the customers' customers, for the production of products and services to the end consumers. Supply chain case studies analyze how companies seek to achieve cost reductions or profit improvements and make the supply chain more competitive as whole.

Understanding supply chain perspectives was a bit more complicated for me. After reviewing the material, I realized that companies need to find ways to differentiate from other companies. Supply chain strategies help companies make their products more desirable by consumers. Once again I concluded that customer satisfaction is the most important KPI in an organization. Just like marketing strategies, supply chain strategies also target customers. They are a chain of dependent activities that, if used consistently, collaborate to target the highest levels of customer service at a lower cost.

Every organization strives to ensure that all of its operations are efficient and effective to the highest level, thereby enabling them to achieve a sustained competitive advantage. Over the years, experts have introduced various specializations in various parts of business operations. One of the key aspects of any business that firms are required to manage efficiently is supply chain. Supply chain is an

Effective supply chain management (SCM) has evolved as an essential prerequisite of securing competitive advantage and boosting organizational performance as supply chain is an integral part of the organization. This article covers the seven most popular SCM practices (Strategic Supplier Partnership, customer relationship, level and quality of information sharing, demand management, procurement, inventory management,) and describes how SCM can give a company competitive edge and improved performance.

The ultimate goal of strategy for organizations is long-term, sustainable superior performance, and such superior performance depends on the ability of organizations to become a fully integrated partner within a supply chain context (Green, Whitten and Inman, 2008). Organizations began to realize that it is not enough to improve efficiencies within an organization, but their whole supply chain has to be made competitive and thus

Supply chain management is an integral component of operation management and has a direct effect on how successfully organizations function. The purpose of supply chain management is to remove communication barriers and eliminate redundancies by coordinating, monitoring, and controlling processes within an organization. Identifying the components of the supply chain, facilitating better decision-making, creating improved communication, and identifying weak links in the chain causing bottlenecks in an organization are crucial to supply chain integration. There are three principle elements of supply chain integration: management of information and financial flows, inventory management, and management of relationships of

Supply Chain Management has significantly evolved in recent time with the new technology that is now available for organizations. With the creation of new systems and enhanced technologies, organizations have been given the opportunity to improve their operations with new Supply Chain Management systems by having access to the tools necessary to understand issues in their supply chain and look for opportunities to become more efficient while minimizing costs and keeping their customers happy. Supply Chain Management is a systematic and strategic function within an organization that works cross functionally amongst the different departments from the creation of a service or product to the end consumer. This report

The ultimate goal of supply chain management is to achieve a higher-quality or lower-cost product at the end of the chain. This requires building long-term relationships with a small number of very capable suppliers, who in turn have their own relationships with suppliers.

Today’s business has become more competitive and requires cost effective solution to give a better quality product to the customer. The productivity advantage of supply chain management gives a winning edge to the suppliers. More production has been possible in recent times dues to better management of

Fundamental to any business organisation is the need to have an effective supply chain strategy (Aronsson, Hakan & Maria, 2006). This is achieved mainly by how an organisation can develop and implement its supply chain strategy. Development and implementation of these strategies may differ from one institution to another, but the general idea is the same across all organisations (Brewer, & Thomas, 2001). This article, therefore, shows the general importance of supply chain strategy to any organisation.