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Logistics and Supply Chain Management

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International Logistics

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Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Table of Contents

1.0 Executive Summary 3

2.0 Introduction and Background 4

3.0 Literature Review 5

4.0 Recommendations 8 Reference List 10

1.0 Executive Summary
The globalisation of markets has increased customer demand and product differentiation. Higher quality products and shorter delivery times are essential for maintaining customer satisfaction in highly competitive markets like the consumer electronics industry. Consequently, supply chain management is an important process in all businesses, and if managed effectively, can give companies a competitive edge. However, it often …show more content…

Mentzer (2004) argues that no matter how large a firm is, in a globalised world, it lacks the total resources and requisites for success. Supply chain management is a complicated process which is enhanced by globalisation and communications technology (Coyle et al. 2008). Many businesses have no experience or expertise in logistics operations (Baxter, 2006). Managing the transition from a 3PL to an in-house operation is a long and challenging process, with little or no external support, and the penalties for mistakes could be extremely high and damaging to the performance of the firm (Baxter, 2006).
The time and resources required to set up and manage an in-house distribution centre will likely divert the firm away from its core competencies. More and more activities are being shifted to the warehouse (Maltz & DeHoratius, 2005). Consequently, managing a warehouse is very expensive and requires a significant amount of resources and labor (Feare, 2000). Warehouses of consumer electronics companies have to support highly variable customer demand, therefore the firm will have to rely on temporary workers (Maltz & DeHoratius, 2005). Harry Drajpuch, executive vice president of USCO Logistics, argues that these workers are often less reliable, which will leave the company most

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