SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT Essay

3. How can supply chain design and integration help John Wolf reduce investment and space requirements while maintaining adequate service levels?

My recommendation is for the company to stay focused on its main competitive advantage of supplying a

A significant step towards Air Canada’s success was implementing a multiple-vendor sourcing strategy for IT. Utilizing their long time trusted partner, IBM, who was familiar with their industry needs and company IT standards became the key liaison for expanding additional technologies needed by other outside vendors. This newly expanded relationship between IBM and Air Canada allowed for the airliner to concentrate on what they do best which is fly airplanes and IBM to become an invested partner in the company’s success towards innovation because they were like an employee of Air Canada acting as their main IT sourcing vendor and consultant

Strategies: What strategy or mix of strategies is the corporation following? Are they consistent with each other,

e) Will Breezy be able to gain competitive advantage over local suppliers? Breezy could choose between cost leadership strategy or product differentiation strategy.

Discuss the strategic decisions that firms in this sector may be facing. What future strategies can firms pursue to try to secure their competitive advantage and long term survival?

2. How have Deere’s business strategy choices strengthened or weakened its competitive position in the agricultural and construction equipment industries?

The current strategy of the company is to enter foreign markets and to succeed there. The corporate main strategy is to provide high quality product to its customers.

Strategy formulation has been acknowledged as one of the most crucial factors of ensuring the long-term growth of the business. However, the manner in which strategy is formulated, and most importantly, the nature of the strategy chosen for the company determines its future position in the marketplace (Grant, 2005).

3. Describe the competitive strategies used by each of Williams-Sonoma’s competitors. Which of these are most effective?

4.Given the 4 areas of the company, choose some supply chain processes and suggest appropriate performance metrics.

• Reach out to the strategic vendors and partners and include them in MaxTrade IT strategy

One more strategy is Alliances ; There is a very small line between alliances and collusion . So it should be taken a good care from crossing this line . Collusion is when two organizations within the same industry work together in the same field mostly in order to make control on prices . Alliances is like joint ventures of the business . It's used in pooling the resources also in the detriment of different contenders not in the partnership .

Question 1. What competences has IBM had to invest in arising from its transformation from a ‘product-centric’ to a ‘service-centric’ organization?

IBM has weaknesses in the transformation of its business model. It is lack of flexibility in the transition because of its large company