Strategic Supply Chain Management and Logistics

STRATEGIC SUPPLY
CHAIN MANAGEMENT
AND LOGISTICS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY-
This report has given a brief description of the supply chain of Emirates (airline) and where
the supply chain of this company needs improvement, where they are lacking and what
strategies is required which will help the company to improve and expand their operations.
The importance of supply chain has been highlighted in this report. It states that in order to
meet the demand and predict the right measures the company will need to manage the supply
chain with the help of effective measures.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................4
LO 1.............................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Importance of effective supply chain management in achieving organizational
objectives............................................................................................................................4
1.2 Link between supply chain management and business functions in an organisation. .6
1.3 key drivers for achieving an integrated supply chain strategy in an organization.......7
LO 2.............................................................................................................................................8
2.1 Effectiveness of strategies used by an organisation to maintain supplier relationships8
2.2 Information technology to create strategies ................................................................9
2.3 systems to maintain an organization’s relationship with its suppliers.......................10
LO 3...........................................................................................................................................11
3.1 Information Technology Integration Of Different Parts Of Supply Chain................11
3.2 Information Technology has Contributed to Management of Supply Chain.............12
3.3 Effectiveness of Information Technology in Managing Supply Chain......................14
LO 4...........................................................................................................................................14
4.1 Role of Logistics in Supply Chain Management in an Organization.........................14
4.2 Procurement Practices................................................................................................16
4.3 Improvement of logistics and procurement practices.................................................17
LO 5...........................................................................................................................................18
5.1 Strategy to improve an organization's supply chain..................................................18
5.2 supply chain improvement strategy will benefit overall business performance in an
organization......................................................................................................................19
5.3 Overcoming the barriers while implementing the supply chain improvement strategy20
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................21
REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................22

INTRODUCTION
Supply chain management is an overarching concept that links together multiple
operations of a company to achieve competitive advantage. While logistics refers to the
movement, storage, and flow of goods, services and information within its overall process
of supply chain. Emirates is a state-owned airline based in Garhoud, Dubai, United Arab
Emirates. This airline is a subsidiary of The Emirates Group, which is owned by the
government of Dubai's Investment Corporation of Dubai. It is the largest company of airline
dealing in Middle East who facilitates around 3,600 flights per week from the international
airport of Dubai. They have expanded their services in 150 cities that is in 80 countries. This
report describes the importance of effective supply chain management for airline industry and
its role in achievement of business objectives, link between supply chain, drivers for achieving
supply chain, effectiveness of strategy and system of information technology used in the
supply chain, role of logistics in the company, improvement of logistics and overcoming the
barriers while implementing the strategy.
LO 1
1.1 Importance of effective supply chain management in achieving organizational objectives
Supply chain is a network between the suppliers and the company so that the products
can reach to the final buyer or the company in time without any issue.
Organizational objectives-
Objective of the company is to deliver the highest quality of service among their
competitors and the industry of aviation in order to reach the goal of providing satisfaction to
the consumers with the help of using innovative methods.
Boost customer service-
Customers expect the delivery of products in the right quantity and quality so that they
can be assorted in a correct manner. They expect that the product must be delivered to them by
the company at the right location. Apart from this company must never miss the deadline of
the delivery of product so that they can maintain the level of customer satisfaction. After that
they expect that the company must provide them with the facility of proper after sales support
so that the products they have bought can meet the standard of quality check in a timely
manner (Mangan and Lalwani, 2016). Airline industry has to greet people at the time of

checking in and thank them at the time of checking out to choose their company. Apart from
that they need to keep a check over the things which are required by the people during the
flight which is concerned with hospitality.
Reduction in Cost of Operating-
Supply chain helps the company to deliver those products in time which are expensive
so that they can avoid the cost of holding the inventory in store which is sometimes longer
than their expectations. It also helps the people and companies who deal in manufacturing.
The supply chain of management helps the companies such as Emirates to deliver the
materials which are required to make the flight successful. Any shutdown can cost the
company around $10,000 per minute. If the flight is delayed due to not reaching of resources
on time then the company will have to incur huge losses. It helps to decrease the cost of
supply chain by meeting the expected goals of the company. It helps the company to become
more efficient in handling their operations (Schönsleben, 2018). For instance food which is
required during the flight and the resources to prepare the meal other than that requirements
for the safety of people so that airline can provide the people with measures in case of
emergency.
Improves the position of the company related to financial aspects-
It helps the company to increase the level of profit as it reduces the cost of supply
chain. For instance people eat on flights so if the cost of the supply chain for that factor is
decreased just by 1 per cent then it will save the company a lot of money in the long run.
Emirates value their managers of supply chain as it helps to reduce the factor of fixed assets
and the vehicles used for transporting in the chain of supply. For instance if the company has
10 warehouses the experts and managers of supply chain will help them to reduce it to 5 by
redesigning it so that they can meet the demand and increase the overall profit of the company.
It helps companies such as Emirates to increase the flow of cash by selling more of their
services (Grant, Trautrims and Wong, 2017). Supply chain helps the industry to save and
reduce the cost of enabling the operations. It is a major factor as the success of the company
depends on it.

1.2 Link between supply chain management and business functions in an organisation.
In order to maintain the balance between demand and supply Emirates needs to plan
and coordinate with the sales force, segment the base of customers and maintain some stock
for safety.
Demand is increasing on a global level, people before taking travelling from airlines
are expecting better quality of services in low prices. For instance, there are many airlines who
provides their services at low cost but Emirates is a premium class airline which targets only
premium class customers. Other people also want to try the experience of airlines at
reasonable prices but the development and the services offered charges a high amount. This is
where supply chain of management helps the company to reduce the prices of products with
increase in overall profits, as this would help in enhancing customer relationship by reducing
operational cost. The role of global supply chain management compromises with following
functions in aviation industry.
Purchasing-
Every company needs to acquire the raw materials such as fuel, batteries, goods related
with mechanical use for the proper service of flight. All of this is done with maintaining the
coordination of suppliers and ensure the company that the materials bought by them will be
reached to them on time.
Operations-
This department of the company is concerned with the planning and forecasting of
demand. Before making the purchase orders which are required by the company they need to
anticipate and analyse the requirement according to the distance of travel and the seats booked
in the flight so that nothing extra is ordered which would lead to waste for the company. If the
goods ordered are more than company will have to handle the load of excess cost of inventory
and if the order made by them is small in quantity then they will not be able to meet the
demand of customers which will be a loss for the company. This is the reason why this tool is
an effective measure for the company (Das and Nayak, 2017).
Management of Resources-
Every company such as Emirates has to deal with the factor of technology, labour, time
and raw materials as all of them are required. Therefore, management of Emirates airline
mainly concerns on ensuring that all the processes must conduct appropriately.. It includes