Mrs Neli
Logistics and supply chain management: all about relationships
The battle of market is no longer a contest between rival companies; it is a contest between competing supply chain. The struggle to find the balance between effective cost control and efficient customer service drives improvement across the entire supply chain. The challenge facing organizations today as they struggle to grow in this competitive environment is the number of relationships that must be developed and level of co-operation that must be achieved between suppliers and customers to win the contest.
In this chapter ,we will explore the component part of supply chain and the relationship among and between them,we will also look at the individual processes that logistics is concerned with-as discreet processes and as inter-related parts of larges systems.
One’s perspective of supply chain depends on one’s position within the chain. The producer or manufacturer of the goods is usually located in the middle of the chain. Traditionally it was the manufacturer who “owned” the chain, leading change initiatives both upstream to raw material suppliers, and downstream through distribution channels to retailers and end users. Today, with the increasingly strong leadership role played by the mega retailers (yes, Wal-mart is a prime example), manufacturers are taking the secondary role to retailers in supply chain leadership issues. If producers wish to get their goods onto retail shelves, they must either create their own retail opportunities (OLD navy, Gap, Roots) or they must reconcile themselves to being at the mercy of the retailer.
Regardless of the position and leadership role of the participant, players in supply chain recognize that success is fuelled by cross-organizational integration of key business processes across the entire network. Valuable resources are wasted when elements of the supply chain duplicate effort and when they are not properly streamlined, aligned and managed.
The battle of market is no longer a contest between rival companies; it is a contest between competing supply chain. The struggle to find the balance between effective cost control and efficient customer service drives improvement across the entire supply chain. The challenge facing organizations today as they struggle to grow in this competitive environment is the number of relationships that must be developed and level of co-operation that must be achieved between suppliers and customers to win the contest.
In this chapter ,we will explore the component part of supply chain and the relationship among and between them,we will also look at the individual processes that logistics is concerned with-as discreet processes and as inter-related parts of larges systems.
One’s perspective of supply chain depends on one’s position within the chain. The producer or manufacturer of the goods is usually located in the middle of the chain. Traditionally it was the manufacturer who “owned” the chain, leading change initiatives both upstream to raw material suppliers, and downstream through distribution channels to retailers and end users. Today, with the increasingly strong leadership role played by the mega retailers (yes, Wal-mart is a prime example), manufacturers are taking the secondary role to retailers in supply chain leadership issues. If producers wish to get their goods onto retail shelves, they must either create their own retail opportunities (OLD navy, Gap, Roots) or they must reconcile themselves to being at the mercy of the retailer.
Regardless of the position and leadership role of the participant, players in supply chain recognize that success is fuelled by cross-organizational integration of key business processes across the entire network. Valuable resources are wasted when elements of the supply chain duplicate effort and when they are not properly streamlined, aligned and managed.