Logistics & Supply Chain Management

This assignment delves into the complexities of logistics and supply chain management. It explores the balance between centralized and local control within a supply chain, highlighting key functions for each level. The importance of effective inventory management is discussed, outlining five crucial aspects to ensure success. A case study examines the challenges faced by a global company attempting to penetrate the rural Indian market, emphasizing the need for thorough market research and adaptable supply chain strategies. Finally, the assignment analyzes the benefits of Just-in-Time (JIT) inventory systems, demonstrating their advantages in cost reduction, efficiency, resource management, and customer satisfaction.

Running head: LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Logistics and Supply Chain Management
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1LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Question 1
A. The correct balance between the local and the central control is important in supply chain
management. The functions that are carried out by the central control include the planning of the
supply chain. Along with the planning, the other activities and functions that need to be carried
out centrally include strategic, technical and operational management, the delivery of the final
products (Christopher 2016). These functions taken up centrally, results in efficient supply chain
management.
B. The functions that are locally carried out include the procurement of the raw materials. This
needs to be done locally in order to ensure the raw materials reach the company fresh. The return
of the products also needs to be carried locally (Solyal et al. 2016). This will ensure that the
products returned by the customers are returned to the local stores and replaced with new
products. The choice of the suppliers, the inbound logistics as well as the outbound logistics have
to be carried out local, to avoid delay in the supply chain.

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Question 2
The five items that needs to be learned, in order to ensure successful management of
inventories are as follows:
1. Forecasting of the demand and supply: This is important in order to determine the forecast of
the demand among the customers and ensure the supply
2. Monitoring the supply of the inventory management: The supply of the inventories needs to be
monitored in order to ensure efficient inventory management.
3. Controlling unwanted delay in the supply chain: The unwanted delay in the supply chain needs
to be controlled and monitored (Lu and Swaminathan, 2015).
4. Transferring inventory: The transferring of the inventory needs to be carried out effectively.
5. Tracking the inbound and outbound logistics: The inbound and out bound logistics have to be
tracked and monitored, in order to ensure successful inventory management.

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Question 3
a. The company did not do enough research in order to match the requirement of the
customers of rural India. If the company would have done adequate research, then the company
could have launched the low cost sampling sachets, without much rework on the Indian supply
chain management (Khmelnitsky and Singer 2015).
b. The global company could not compete with the price offered by the local companies,
since the global company had not carried out adequate research on the needs of the customers of
rural India. The demand of the rural Indian market is different from that of the urban market.
Hence, the local companies are able to meet the requirements of the rural India, thus gaining
competitive advantages over the global company.
c. The term “rework of the Indian supply chain” means that the company has to
reconsider their supply chain, and change their strategies, in order to ensure that the actual
demands of the supply chain could be met (Stadtler 2015). This reconsideration could be
reduced, if adequate market research could be carried out by the global company.
d. The changes in the supply chain that needs to be made, in order to ensure that the
global company gains adequate profit, includes low cost manufacturing of the sachets, which
could be bought by the rural market, as per their need.
Question 4
The Just-in-Time (JIT) inventory system provides various competitive advantages of the
companies that follow this style of inventory system. The advantages are as follows:
1. Low cost warehouse

4LOGISTICS AND SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Storage of the excessive inventory might result in excess cost and wastage of money.
However, reducing the amount of the inventory will result in lowering the inventory cost of the
company, thus giving competitive advantages.
2. Efficient supply chain management
The efficiency in the supply chain management is seen if the companies use the just-in-
time inventory management. The more the supply chain is efficient; the better is the
manufacturing process (Monczka et al. 2015). Thus, it increases the competitive advantages of
the company, using it.
3. Lesser wastage of resources
The wastage of the resources is reduced, thus ensuing effective supply chain
management. Moreover, with the lesser wastage of the resources, the increase in the profit of the
company is witnessed thus enhancing the competitive advantages.
4. Achievement of better customer satisfaction
The effective supply chain management includes timely delivery of the products to the
customers, thus achieving better customer satisfaction. Thus, the company gains competitive
advantages, with the increased satisfaction of the customers.
Thus, the JIT inventory management provides key advantages to the companies using it and
ensures gain of competitive advantages.

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References
Christopher, M., 2016. Logistics & supply chain management. Pearson UK.
Khmelnitsky, E. and Singer, G., 2015. An optimal inventory management problem with
reputation-dependent demand. Annals of Operations Research, 231(1), pp.305-316.
Lu, L.X. and Swaminathan, J.M., 2015. Supply chain management.
Monczka, R.M., Handfield, R.B., Giunipero, L.C. and Patterson, J.L., 2015. Purchasing and
supply chain management. Cengage Learning.
Solyal, O., Cordeau, J.F. and Laporte, G., 2015. The impact of modeling on robust inventory
management under demand uncertainty. Management Science, 62(4), pp.1188-1201.
Stadtler, H., 2015. Supply chain management: An overview. In Supply chain management and
advanced planning (pp. 3-28). Springer Berlin Heidelberg.