Strategic Operation and Supply Chain Management

Strategic operation and supply chain
management
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Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Mentzer’s proposed drivers of supply chain competitive advantage............................................................2
Supply chain strategies as sources of competitive advantage......................................................................8
Two supply chain strategies as sources of competitive advantage...........................................................8
Identification of the supply chain strategy as sources of competitive advantage.....................................8
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................9
References.................................................................................................................................................10
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Introduction
The paper provides a summary of Mentzer's twelve drivers of the supply chain management to
gain a competitive advantage for the firm (Islam Molla and Ha-Brookshire, 2015). The paper
summarises all the facts provided within these drivers and also provides a suitable example and
an unsuitable example based on the context. The paper finally discusses two peer-reviewed
journals and extracts substantiated topics to achieve competitive advantages from them
respectively
Mentzer’s proposed drivers of supply chain competitive advantage
Coordination of the traditional business functions across the company and supply chain
The collaboration between teams and resources in an organisation leads to business functions
which are traditional across the organisation as well as the supply chain. Decision making plays
an essential role in this collaboration. Slow decision making by the employers leads to
ineffective management of the supply chain (Porter and Heppelmann, 2015, pp.96-114). For
work coordination between individuals, the highest set of standards needs to be maintained as
these standards determine the productivity in the organisation. The methods and concepts of the
management must be apparent to the individuals for functional expertise. Well, the integrated
supply chain process is required for the seamless flow of services, information, finances, and
products (Neubert, Ouzrout and Bouras, 2018). Long term relationships could benefit the
organisation as long term gains with the increase in the complexity of the environment.
Unsuitable example – when Nike decided to launch its new shoe segment of self laced shoes the
product was an instant hit, but the company ran out of stocks soon enough because the company
didn't consult the suppliers before the product launch.
Suitable example – Apple conducts an organisational change by providing a buyer and logistics
manager as well as a merchandise manager to each supplier for smooth distribution of the Apple
products.
Collaboration with supply chain partners
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The procurement of the products and selling those products in a company are the two most basic
functions and important one. The most important role lies with the supplier who carries the
inventory within the supply chain. The stocking of the products in the form of the stock is called
displaying. Risk and finance are the two sides of the same coin (Soosay and Hyland, 2015,
pp.613-630). Cooperation or alliances between organisations are done because all the
functionalities can be solely done by a particular company and thus it needs help from the
outside organisation. The means to enhance the likelihood to achieve cooperation among the
companies should be based on good predictors of appropriate cooperative behaviours (Chen et
al., 2017, pp.73-87).
Suitable example – General Motors, an automobile company based in the US has stopped
outsourcing its services when the company found discontent among its customers.
Unsuitable example – Alibaba.com outsourced too many services to the US which caused the
company to lose its control over the core functions
Looking for synergies in the supply chain
To preserve the strategic vendors of the company and ensuring minimum to none disruption in
the consumer base are the most important guiding principles of any supply chain logistics
(Ciccullo et al., 2018, pp.2336-2350). The vital steps to achieving deal goals as well as
delivering the value committed to the shareholder's synergies within the company and function
of the supply chain logistics must be maintained. It is essential to assess the synergies across the
processes of the supply chain management and prioritise the implementation of synergy one the
sources of the values are identified (Fernandes et al., 2017, pp.53-67).
Suitable example – Tooton’s photography is a photo retailer based in Canada and is distributing
Kodak products since 1949 due to the positive synergy between the manufacturer and the
distributor. The company establishes a pricing structure which is fair to both sides.
Unsuitable example – Hero Honda was a motorcycle brand primarily based in India and Japan,
due to lack of synergy between the manufacturer and the distributor, the brand split in 2013 and
are now separate entities.
All customers are not similar
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