Swot Analysis : Supply Chain 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.

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

Supply chain is starting point before transforming product to customer. Supply Chain Management (SCM) as defined by Tom McGuffog is "Maximizing added value and reducing total cost across the entire trading process through focusing on speed and certainty of response to the market." Supply Chain Management has allowed company to rethink their entire operation and restructure it so that they can focus on its core competencies and outsource processes that are not within the core competencies of the company.

To start, Schroeder, R., Goldstein, S., and Rungtusanatham define supply chain as “the set of entities and relationships that cumulatively define materials and information flows both downstream toward the customer and upstream toward the very first supplier.” Schroeder, R., Goldstein, S., and Rungtusanatham goes on to identify supply chain management as “the design and management of seamless, value-added processes across organizational boundaries to meet the real needs of the end customer.” Organizations have to prepare themselves to the best of their ability in order to provide or their customers. Customers expect to receive the upmost service, regardless of the type of organization they make contact with.

Supply chain management is a complex undertaking that must involve more than one organization’s efforts to succeed. A tremendous amount of skill, time, and money must be present to build and develop relationships, discover and implement a strategy, and use the capabilities of the chain to build quality at an efficient financial rate. Allowing for these requirements, it leaves one to wonder whether supply chain management is a viable option. The answer is yes, because an organization needs a strong supply chain to compete and be profitable in the marketplace. The key points for supply chain management should be to meet customer demand, produce excellent customer value, enhance responsiveness to change, build a network that can resist risk, and develop financial success.

The Supply-Chain Council defines supply chain management as “[m]anaging supply and demand, sourcing raw materials and parts, manufacturing and assembly, warehousing and inventory tracking, order entry and order management, distribution across all channels, and delivery to the customer” (Wisner, Leong & Tan 2005).

The guiding force in business today is the ability to adapt to ever changing markets and circumstances while staying competitive. Strategic planning is where each company starts. Airgas is an American company that has just been purchased by the European company, Air Laquide. We are going to develop a strategic plan to grow their business over the next three years. Our strategic planning process will look into the following areas which include company history, products, competitors; we will look at the current situation of the market and use a SWOT analysis to determine areas of opportunities. Finally we will look at a few areas of the SWOT analysis and gain a better understanding of why they were chosen and understand why they are essential to the strategic plan.

Assessment 1 Weetbix Section 1.1)   Perceptual Map • Frootloops • Just Right • Crispix • Weetbix   Competitor Analysis Data Table Attribute/Factors Brand Just Right Brand Crispix Brand Frootloops Brand Weetbix Business scope and objectives Expand overseas into new markets for people who live healthy active lifestyles Become a strong brand and can compete against other stronger brands around the world. Become a strong brand and can compete against other stronger brands around the world. Introduce more healthy options such as different products with different better ingredients Target Markets Woman that are active.

Supply chain management plays a very crucial role in the success of any organization and how it can cater to a customer’s need and provide the maximum satisfaction. Supply chain management is essentially managing the flow of goods/services of an organization. It involves raw materials storage, transportation, inventory management, distribution and procurement.

According to Hugos (2013), The term Supply chain management arose in the late 1980s, and prior to that time, many business used terms such as operation management and logistics, and supply Chain management can be defined as :” A supply chain consist of all stages involved, directly or indirectly, in fulfilling a customer request. The supply chain not only includes the manufacturer and supplier, but also transporters, warehouses, retailers and customer themselves”

SWOT analysis is a study made by companies to be able to identify their internal strengths and weaknesses, and also to know their external opportunities and threats. Every business should conduct such an analysis in order to set their strategic plans and goals. According to Wright (1998), “The SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) framework is proposed by many as an analytical tool which should be used to categorize significant environmental factors both internal and external to the organization”.

Supply chain management is a main process in all kinds of companies. That’s because an optimized supply chain results in lower costs and a faster production cycle.

Amazon.com has a responsibility to manage its operations for the benefit of its stakeholders. Stakeholders comprise not only the shareholders of the stock of the company, but also the employees, customers, suppliers, trade associations, and community. The decisions made by amazon.com may be influenced by the government, activist groups, and the media, all who have their own agendas and duties to the people they serve (Kimmich, 2012). Each stakeholder has a link with Amazon.com and this association is the source of the stakeholder’s power to affect the decisions of Amazon.com. The distributed business model of the company ensures that no stakeholder has a level of importance that could singly change the direction of the company, but the way that the mass of web users, media, and governments interpret their activity could influence the company’s objectives (Schmitz and ILO, 2005).

Strategic management has brought together all the areas I have learned in the business program; some better than others, but all. Intermediate and advanced accounting seemed to help me with the ratio analysis because I got to analyze the financial statements of a company and use them to calculate ratios such as: profitability, liquidity, and capital structure ratios. To implement a suitable strategy for our cases, I had to calculate the ratios to find out how liquid the company was, and if it could pay bills on time. It also showed the company’s return on investments and how the purchase of assets was financed. It was difficult understanding what line item on the financial statement affected each of the ratios. For example, I know gross profit margin was affected by sales and COGS, but I was not sure what else fit into the equation. I still do not fully understand every individual ratio in the analysis, but I do understand how to compare a company to the industry. The other classes I have taken in the college of business such as; operations management and management information systems helped me understand the implementation and control part of the case work we had to do. I believe I will use operations management when I get out into the workplace because companies are keen on sales and efficiency, therefore, a consistent business model is important.

Supply Chain is a system of organizations, people, activities, information and resources related to the transfer of products or services from suppliers (supply chains) to customers. Supply chain operations involve converting natural resources, raw materials and components into a finished product to be delivered to the end customer. In complex supply chain systems, the products used can re-enter the supply chain at any point where the residual value can be recycled. Supply chain links the value chain. Supply chain management includes all planning and management related to supply, procurement, conversion, and logistics management activities. Equally important is that it also involves coordination with partner channels such as vendors, intermediaries, third-party service providers, and customers. Essentially, supply chain management integrates supply and demand management within and outside the company. Supply chain management is an integrated function with the primary responsibility for connecting the core business functions and business processes within companies into a high-performance and engagement business model. It covers all of the logistics management activities outlined above, as well as manufacturing activities, and it promotes collaborative processes and activities with marketing, sales,