Creating a Competitive Advantage through Supply Chain Management
Introduction
The supply chain is one of the primary ways in which an organization adds value to the consumer. Value is gained through this process in several ways. It can come from design, quality, price, or efficiency. Furthermore, supply chains can be optimized for tactical considerations such as turnover rates or economic, strategic decisions such as location or product life cycle management, or even strategic factors such as creating long term partnership or maintaining sustainable practices. Through any combination of these factors, an organization can create a competitive advantage in regards to its operating environment. Thus the supply chain can be one of the most complex aspects to running an effective organization. This analysis will provide an overview and conduct a brief literature review that will highlight some of the factors that MedCom will have to consider to create a competitive advantage in operations management.
MedCom Situation Overview
MedCom1 is an Australian-based manufacturer of award-winning medical devices that are used to manage a particular type of medical condition. The firm was formed in 1980 and is currently focused on medical devices for this particular medical condition. In 2010 they have revenues of AUD $2b and they operate in over 35 countries either with their own sales offices or distributor networks. This industry in which the company operates is among the
Success for many organizations depends on the firm’s ability to balance product and process changes while exceeding customer expectations for improved cost delivery and quality. In lieu of these issues firms have started to implement principles of supply chain management. Supply chain management mainly involves managing the flow of incoming materials, manufacturing operations, and downstream distribution has to be in alignment that is responsive to change in customer demands eliminating a surplus of inventory.
The supply chain management is considered as a management concept from past two decades as the customers are concerned about timely and safe delivery. The competitiveness has been increasing among the companies to deliver the products as quickly as possible to the customers all around the world. This has made the supply chain management as a vital tool for the management. This is also measured as a competitive parameter for the companies.
Reorders are placed at the time of review (T), and the safety stock that must be reordered is:
A supply chain is a net work of firms. Thus, each firm in the chain should build its own supply chains to support the competitive priorities of its services or products. Two distinct designs used to competitive advantage are efficient supply chains and responsive supply chains. Efficient supply chains work best in environments where demand is highly predictable. The focus of the supply chain is on efficient flows of services and materials keeping inventories to a minimum. The firm’s competitive priorities are low-cost operations, consistent quality, and on-time delivery. Responsive supply chains designed to react quickly in order to hedge against uncertainties in demand. Work best when firms offer a great variety of services or products and demand predictability is low. Typical competitive priorities are development speed, fast delivery times, customization, variety, volume flexibility, and top quality. Tables below show the environments and design features that best suit each design.
Supply chain management is a practice that involves the planning, supervision, and implementation of strategies and controls to direct the movement of goods and services provided to customers. The intent of this essay is to incorporate a synopsis of existing literature and to provide the reader with a general understanding of how supply chain management correlates with the organizational design and structure of modern firms. The essay comprehensively reviews the components of supply chain management and their integration with functional areas within an organization. The information presented in this essay
A supply chain is very important to an organization. It can and should show the relationship between suppliers, distributors, managers and consumers. This paper would detail how important suppliers and distributions are to an organization’s success. And how important a supply chain is within an organization and how managers can utilize the supply chain. It is important that companies such as Target Corporations utilize the supply chain and gain competitive advantages. Target is one of the world’s largest retail stores; the first Target was opened in 1962 in Roseville, Minnesota (Target.com). By the end of 1962 there were only four Target and they were all operated in Minnesota.
Supply-Chain Management is the activities that procure materials and services, and transform them into intermediate goods and final products and deliver them, through a distribution system (Heizer & Render, 2011, p. 452). DELL is a computer technology corporation that develops sells, repairs and supports, computers and computer related products. DELL has realized that supply chain is becoming more and more important for the success of today’s business world and they work accordingly to keep a competitive advantage in the market. This study will examine to what extent Dell has used supply chain management to gain and retain a competitive advantage in the computer market.
The group of firms that makes and delivers a given set of goods and services is known as a supply chain.
In the San Diego distribution center (DC) information flow example, dealers not being notified automatically of order status would be classified as
Westminster Company has a long, rich tradition of being one of the biggest healthcare supply businesses in the world. They developed from a simple pharmacy supplier into an expanded, diverse variety of healthcare products to satisfy customer requirements. Westminster has operated in the United States (US) as three separate entities under one company that differ in location, size, and products produced. These three entities are individually operated and have no centralized management. In recent years, Westminster has observed the changing market and competition related to supply chains. In response, Westminster has conducted surveys and research over the past couple months that found some of the major issues that need to be addressed, to better serve their customers. As a result, they have sought solutions to adapt to these necessities in order to remain a solvent, competitive organization. The customers that make up the largest portion of sales (80/20 rule) are the mass merchants. These mass merchants are expected to continue growing during the upcoming decades. Therefore, it is imperative for Westminster Co. to ensure that they are able to properly serve the mass merchants’ requirements, while still being able to maintain customer requirements of non-mass merchants. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate Westminster’s current traditional supply chain practices and integrate solutions that will target efficient use of company resources while building stronger
Through a review of literature, problems have been identified in the current supply chain activities in the health care industry, impacting on the overall efficiency in the medical sector. Although the success of SCM in manufacturing industry sectors in our economy has been commended through several sources (Stevenson, 2007; Youngdahl, 2000; Gryna, 2001), it has also been frequently pointed out, by many academics, that the current application of SCM in the health care sector is extremely poor. In contrast to other manufacturing logistical structures, the health care industry is not effectively utilizing the benefits that could be derived from establishing an effective SCM (Rai, Patnayakuni, & Seth, 2006; Sing, 2006; Long, 2005).
Introduction: Economic downturn in Healthcare sector has given renewed importance to supply chain management in healthcare industry. Supply chain management has great effects on hospital organizations. On papers Supply chain accounts for 30 to 40% in healthcare industry but that is only if we consider just the cost of goods under the supply chain , instead if we look at factors like cost of inventory , cost of procuring and other costs associated with the different supplies such as engineering , food services , nurses and engineering , also the time spent on activities related to supply chain management then supply chain in actual holds for 50% or more .As per one of the CEO from
Evaluation of management and organization is another key component of successful supply chain management. Its key strengths and weaknesses are shown in Table 5-4.
Supply change management (SCM) is active in many organizations today. The purpose of SCM is to maximize the company value in order maintain a competitive advantage in the market place. As an Operational Managers (OM) it is essential to oversee the supply chain within an organization. The OM responsibility is to manage the supply chain flow, and to ensure the supply chain has a quality design in order to reduce cost and drive efficiency. (Reid & Sanders, 2010) An organization supply chain includes activities such as product development, sourcing, productions, logistics, material, and other information systems needed to coordinate the movement of goods from suppliers to manufactures, and to final customers.