Global Supply Chain Management for Clarks Footwear

This report discusses the importance of supply chain management and customer relationship for Clarks Footwear. It features key aspects of their business and their future opportunities, including lean production, quality management, sustainable supply chain, and more. The report also highlights the challenges of building a sustainable supply chain and the importance of customer feedback for the company.

Running head: GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Global Supply Chain Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Executive summary
The aim of the following report is to depict the importance of the proper supply chain
management and the usefulness of building a proper customer relationship for the chosen
organization. The chosen organization for this paper is the Clarks Footwear based in United
Kingdom. In this paper, some key aspects of their business have been featured to assess their
performance and their future opportunities. The company wants to locate their manufacturing of
the Desert Shoes to United Kingdom through the robot assisted mechanisms. This technology
will be able to produce at least 300,000 pairs of shoes each year. Thus they will be able to meet
the requirements of their customers. However, some very important things have been discussed
in this paper regarding the context like the lean production, customer relationship management,
quality management, supply network and sustainable supply chain management. These things
have been very much evident in the shaping of the business decision of manufacturing the shoes
from their headquarters.

2GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Supply network................................................................................................................................3
Supplier Collaboration.................................................................................................................4
Quality Management.......................................................................................................................5
Lean Production...............................................................................................................................6
Waste recognition and waste reduction.......................................................................................6
Sustainable supply chain..................................................................................................................7
Customer relationship......................................................................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................12

3GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Introduction
The purpose of this following report is to measure the importance of the supply chain
network in the global business context. The supply chain management is considered to be one of
the most important issues for the firm performance. The chosen organization for this report is the
Clarks Footwear that is based in the United Kingdom. They are considered to be one of the
oldest and most trusted international shoe manufacturers in the country. The headquarters of this
organization is situated at Somerset in England (Clarks.co.uk 2018). The company operates in
the retail industry and it is a heritage company indeed.
The company was begun by the two brothers, Cyrus and James Clark. The ownership of
the company is private and the Clark family holds around 84% of the shares where the rest 16%
is owned by the employees and other stakeholders (Clarks.co.uk 2018). According to the case,
the company is planning to produce the Desert Boot (Clarks.co.uk 2018). This has been one of
their iconic products over the years and they want to produce it by redesigning. The company has
declared that they will continue with their effort to manufacture the Desert Boot from its source
of Vietnam and India. However, this facility in UK will be assisted by robots and it will be able
to produce around 300,000 pairs of Desert Boots per year (Clarks.co.uk 2018). The distribution
of the products will depend largely on the proper sales and distribution through the proper
logistics and supply chain management (Elliott 2012). The different issues related to this will be
discussed in this report.
Supply network
A significant part of the production process of Clarks is their supplier selection. Supplier
selection is also an integral plan of the cost optimisation plan of the production team of the

4GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
company. Clarks shoes maintains a typically complex supply chain. The supply chain of the
company sprawls across continents, thereby making overseas sourcing or making optimised
inventory management. In the words of the chief executive of the company, Mike Shearwood,
there is an acute need to substantiate and supplement the supply chain of the organisation. They
have decide to manufacture one of their signature product that is desert shoe of Clarks, by
300000 units per annum from an automated production unit in the Somerset factory at UK. The
approximate expected demand from the leading shoe manufacturing brand of UK is 50 million
pairs every year. As opined by Brandenburg et al. (2014), in order to tackle the tremendous
pressure in the brown shoe industry in UK and elsewhere the company is projected at making
mass production and engage more and potential suppliers in the production line. The company
uses exquisite brown untanned leather from Egypt, Cambodia and other African and Asian
nation states.
However, the organization has planned to centralise the supply line of the Dent Leather
that is used for the Desert shoes that is the premium product of Clarks’s shoes in UK.
Supplier Collaboration
Supplier collaboration is an important factor for the company also. The organisation
previously followed the policy of acquiring products form the local producing franchises of
Vietnam, and India mainly. The hide collection and processing as well as a significant part of the
R&D activities of the company took pace in China. The company is now destined to ensure
supplier collaboration with local suppliers of Italy and Romania, which are supposed to be
biggest suppliers of Dent skin for the company’s production unit in Somerset. At present the
automated facilities have been so designed that it will concentrate in the manufacture of desert
boot for the supply market of UK and US, so that the number of units of production can be

5GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
increased also (Brunninge & Fridriksson, 2017). The hide would be imported from the local
supplies of India and Vietnam also.
Quality Management
Quality management is also an important part of the supply chain management of the
organisation. The technological innovations that the new supply partners of the company are
bringing with them are going to reduce the operational cost of the company also. The new
facility of the company in Somerset will include an automated stitching facility also that would
be called the Track line. According to Busse, Kach and Bode(2016), many of the high profile
companies like Adidas also use automated stitching facility in their production process.
Sportswear companies bring precision and calibre to their products by means of this automated
stitching facility (Wang & Cullinane, 2015).
Besides skills retention is another step towards the quality management of the company.
The new auto-stitching facility have been designed by the internal R&D experts of the company.
The CEO have emphasised that the traditional production line comprising of the expert crafters
from all the production hubs of the company. The global supply line of the company have been
disrupted and subsequently devaluated as an impact of Brexit and the ecp0nomic downgrade of
China. As an impact of all these, the company’s annual revenue form the Asian market has fallen
by 50%. Home production have given the production a stable boost (Christopher, 2016). The
supply market in UK is quite expensive. However mature customers favour Clarks as a brand for
the school shoes for the children and the comfortable slipper shoes only. This is why the
company is going to internalise the productions so that the premium products of the company
gets popularized in the domestic markets as well.

6GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
The intense industry collaboration of Clarks in the leather supply market of entire UK,
have enables them to make this big corporate decision. The capability of the leather sector,
according to the corporate head of Clarks, Anthea Carter, to leverage as a by-product has been
reduced traditionally. As opined by Conlon and Taylor(2016), in the past, there was observed a
possibility among the supply sector to ignore the aspects of their supply chain. However, now the
company is working hard for establishing raw material suppliers. This is what enables them to
open a new production unit for the desert shoes of the company. The supply risk that the
company faced has also been reduced as an impact of their new decision. The management did
not have complete control over the production lime of the company owing to the handling of
their major part of the production in the foreign countries by the franchises. The management
were forced to negotiate with the quality of production. However the production unit set up by
the company in UK, the company will be able to set an ideal for the franchises.
Lean Production
Waste recognition and waste reduction
At the end of the useful lives of the foot wears of UK. The products are disposed. As
opiend by Fahimnia, Sarkis and Davarzani (2015), this disposal causes a big source of
environmental pollution from the harmful chemicals that are used in tanning of leather. The
organization has a policy for collecting various used shoes of their brand and utilizing these for
manufacturing of other products as cork bases or other padding covers. Besides the company is
now using bio-plastic for making the shoe bases, a material that goes in as an successful
replacement of the petrochemical plastic that have been used in the products of the company for
so many days.

7GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Along with waste elimination. The company is also looking forward to maximise their
production floe by enhancing production of their desert shoes in their new production line at
Somerset. The company has also been successful in pulling production over the customer
demands. The shoe brand was widely reputed as a school shoe and informal and casual shoe
manufacturing agency. However, as Ramachandran, Hora and Gaimon(2017) opines, the demand
for the premium product that is the increasing day by day in UK, have been addressed by the
new production line in Somerset. The products manufactured in the Somerset factory are going
to set standards for the franchise productions in India, Vietnam, and in China.
Sustainable supply chain
It is very important to denote the fact that supply chain management will be very
important for the company to distribute their Desert Boots among the people within the UK since
their flagship Desert Boots will be manufactured in India and Vietnam. It is a great challenge for
the logistics and supply chain experts to carry out this strenuous job of distributing the shoes
across their physical stores and delivering them through online orders as well. They must look to
build a sustainable supply chain management for the company so they can build a proper supply
chain across their customer networks (Elliott 2012).
Their primary purpose is to go global and spread their business across the many countries
indeed. The retail planning of the Clarks group will be discussed and redesigned by the JDA
Software Group Inc. They are very sure that their orders will begin to grow as they begin to sell
the Desert Boots from their headquarters from Somerset. The fulfillment solutions require a
proper planning for them in the retail field (Dincer and Rosen 2012). The main purpose of the
company os to increase their profits and they want to take the measures for getting it. Some of

8GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
the major issues related to the successful sustainable supply chain management are the society,
economy and the environment (Christopher 2016). The economy is a very important factor in
this condition since the event of Brexit has laid a huge impact on the economic downfall of
United Kingdom. It is very crucial from the social perspectives that the customers should always
get the best products at the right time. This is indeed instrumental for the customer satisfaction
for the competitive business environment (Christopher 2016).
The amount or quantity of the products should be maintained properly as well. As their
flagship manufacturing sources are situated in the Asian countries like Vietnam and India, they
would surely like to transform and develop their business all across the world (Monczka et al.
2015). This will surely popularize the brand as well. The products will have to be delivered as
per the quantity and quality across all the channels indeed. It is indeed very important to
maintain the environmental safety as well. They should build up their supply chain in a way that
they should abide by all the environmental guidelines within the United Kingdom. Clarks has
always wanted to ensure the environmental safety (Monczka et al. 2015). The manufacturing of
the Desert Shoes through the Robot assisted process can save much money because a huge
workforce would not have to be employed (Hugos 2018). The contrasting fact in this issue is the
unemployment of the youth that will lower down the GDP of the United Kingdom. This is why
seeking the help from the robot assisted process might endanger the skilled workforce that is
very abundant in the country.
The stock of the shoes has to be available all the time according to the demographic of
the region. A big part of the sustainability of the global success of Clarks is its innovative power
and bringing new products into the market. This is the reason why the organization has to sustain
the need of the eco-friendly products in the market. They want to keep the operation costs and

9GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
labor costs so they can distribute the products through different channels The use of the
technology will be very essential in retaining the sustainability of the company. The business
services will have to be more agile and the better performance will help the company to boost up
their confidence in the supply chain network. The logistics network should always function to
meet the demands of the customers and delivering them within the time.
Customer relationship
Another very important aspect of the better profits and sustainable supply chain
management of Clarks Footwear will be building the good customer relationship management
that will be effective for the development of the brand reputation for the company (Stone 2012).
They must provide the better connection with the customers so the customers can be able to
provide the feedback to them. Clarks Footwear has always built up a proper global platform so
they can be able to provide the best customer relations and ask to the customers for the
improvement process of the company (Kumar and Reinartz 2018.).
If they have to begin their production of the Desert shoes in United Kingdom, they have
to make the customers aware of this (Nguyen and Mutum 2012). The impact of the social media
platforms on the marketing strategies will surely improve the condition of the company in many
ways. The collection of the feedback and transferring it to the headquarters for the annual audit
will be an essential factor in this case. The quality of the shoes will be important to measure the
success or failure of the product indeed (Nguyen and Mutum 2012). The feedback from the
customers should be collected via their official website or the official software application. The
official social media platform pages should be used in this case as well. The stakeholders should
build up a good rapport with the managers to understand the customers’ desire (Morana 2013).

10GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Thus they will be able to understand what sort of things will be needed to please the
target customers. Clarks Shoes can choose to promote their Desert Shoes through the physical
retail stores. This is why the organization should also focus on the customer education as well. It
is an exclusive part of building proper relationship with the customers (Seuring 2013). Once the
Clarks Footwear succeeds in convincing the customers about the heritage they possess and the
quality of the products they can produce in the competitive business environment of the present.
They can also opt for arranging programs or providing advertisements in which they can feature
the famous celebrities from sports, films and other fields (Walker and Jones 2012). This will
definitely attract the customers to buy their products. The high quality of these shoes will
definitely attract the customers. As the target audiences are the working professionals, they can
approach them through advertising in the business magazines as well.
There are many opportunities for the further improvement in the customer relationship.
The customers are the best judges of the products like Desert shoes so they can give the best
verdict on the quality of the product. Another issue is the robot assisted manufacturing of the
shoes; it is very evident that the company must look for the physical stores to meet the
requirements of the customers and provide them with the orders on time (Seuring 2013). It would
be very costly to bring the products from India and Vietnam to UK and distribute them among
the customers. This is why they have planned to manufacture the desert shoes in UK itself for the
benefit of the customers with an efficient logistics and supply chain network.
Conclusion
This paper can be concluded by saying that the Desert Shoes are the iconic products of
the company and they would like to produce the things in United Kingdom at their headquarters

11GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
at their headquarters. Eventually it would require the proper supply chain network across the
globe. This would help the company to achieve the sustainability indeed. The company would
look to build up a strong customer relationship that would be the key thing for increasing the
profits. The organization should always build a proper strategy in this context so they fulfill the
orders of the customers. The manufacturing of the products through the robot assisted
mechanism can increase the unemployment in the country and affect the social balance as well. It
will be highly important for the company to capitalize on their heritage and take proper steps to
gain the interest of the customers.

12GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
References
Brandenburg, M., Govindan, K., Sarkis, J. and Seuring, S., 2014. Quantitative models for
sustainable supply chain management: Developments and directions. European Journal of
Operational Research, 233(2), pp.299-312.
Brunninge, O. and Fridriksson, H.V., 2017. “We have always been responsible” A social
memory approach to responsibility in supply chains. European Business Review, 29(3), pp.372-
383.
Busse, C., Kach, A.P. and Bode, C., 2016. Sustainability and the false sense of legitimacy: How
institutional distance augments risk in global supply chains. Journal of Business Logistics, 37(4),
pp.312-328.
Christopher, M., 2016. Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK.
Clarks.co.uk (2018). Clarks Online Store | Footwear since 1825 | Pioneers & Innovators.
[online] Clarks.co.uk. Available at: https://www.clarks.co.uk/ [Accessed 29 Jun. 2018].
Conlon, J. and Taylor, A., 2016. Radicalising your Lifecycle’s full potential with PLM.
Dincer, I. and Rosen, M.A., 2012. Exergy: energy, environment and sustainable development.
Newnes.
Elliott, J.A., 2012. An introduction to sustainable development. Routledge.
Fahimnia, B., Sarkis, J. and Davarzani, H., 2015. Green supply chain management: A review and
bibliometric analysis. International Journal of Production Economics, 162, pp.101-114.
Hugos, M.H., 2018. Essentials of supply chain management. John Wiley & Sons.

13GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Kumar, V. and Reinartz, W., 2018. Customer relationship management: Concept, strategy, and
tools. Springer.
Monczka, R.M., Handfield, R.B., Giunipero, L.C. and Patterson, J.L., 2015. Purchasing and
supply chain management. Cengage Learning.
Morana, J., 2013. Sustainable supply chain management. John Wiley & Sons.
Nguyen, B. and Mutum, D.S., 2012. A review of customer relationship management: successes,
advances, pitfalls and futures. Business Process Management Journal, 18(3), pp.400-419.
Ramachandran, K., Hora, M. and Gaimon, C., 2017. Process capabilities and leveraging
advances in science and technology. In The Routledge Companion to Production and Operations
Management (pp. 197-213).
Seuring, S., 2013. A review of modeling approaches for sustainable supply chain
management. Decision support systems, 54(4), pp.1513-1520.
Stone, M., 2012. Customer Relationship Management. The Marketing Century: How Marketing
Drives Business and Shapes Society the Chartered Institute of Marketing, pp.115-137.
Walker, H. and Jones, N., 2012. Sustainable supply chain management across the UK private
sector. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 17(1), pp.15-28.
Wang, T. and Cullinane, K., 2015. The efficiency of European container terminals and
implications for supply chain management. In Port management (pp. 253-272). Palgrave
Macmillan, London.