Supply Chain Management: Contribution, Barriers, and Technology Role

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of supply chain management (SCM) within various organizational contexts. It explores the definition and key characteristics of SCM, emphasizing its role in coordinating information, materials, and finances across the supply chain. The report highlights the contributions of SCM to organizational success, including improved customer satisfaction and competitive differentiation. It also identifies significant barriers that organizations face when leveraging SCM for competitive advantage, such as poor planning, internal conflicts, lack of trust, and incomplete technology. Furthermore, the report examines the role of technology in improving SCM processes, focusing on electronic data interchange and enterprise resource planning. The analysis includes recommendations for overcoming these barriers through strategies like enhanced transparency, collaborative planning, and strategic vision alignment, ultimately aiming to optimize supply chain performance and achieve sustainable competitive advantage.

Running head: SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT
Supply Chain Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Executive Summary
The report has helped in understanding the contribution and characteristics of the supply
chain management in different kind of organizations. The report helped in understanding the
importance of SCM in resolving the dissimilar kind of problems and barriers faced by the
organizations in an effective manner. The main purpose is to understand the diverse issues
and recommendations has to be provided with proper strategies.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Definition and Characteristics of Supply Chain Management...................................................3
Contribution of Supply Chain Management in Organizations...................................................4
Barriers faced by organizations in leveraging SCM for competitive advantage.......................5
Role of technology in improving supply chain management process........................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
The report helps in investigation of different kind of characteristics of the supply
chain management in different organizations. Proper identification of the different
characteristics of the SCM has to be analysed in an effectual manner. Proper examination of
the different kind of barriers that has been faced by different organizations in leveraging the
SCM for gaining competitive advantage will be analysed.
The main motive of the report is to identify the diverse kind of role of technology in
the supply chain will be done as this will help in analysing the importance of the same. The
contribution of the supply chain management has to be discussed as this will help in
enhancing the customer service along with differentiation of the organizations.
The structure of the report includes the contribution of the supply chain management
in the different kind of organizations. The analysis of the different barriers that has been
faced by the organizations has to be analysed in an effectual manner.
Description and Features of Supply Chain Management
Supply chain management is defined as oversight of the different kind of information,
materials and finances when they move in the process from supplier to the manufacturer to
the wholesaler and retailer as well. The SCM helps in involving the different kind of
integration and coordination that helps in flowing between and within the different kind of
companies. The main goal of the supply chain management is to achieve the efficient
fulfilment of the resources to make the inventory available in fulfilling the demands of the
customers (Beske and Seuring 2014).
The different kind of characteristics of the supply chain management are as follows:

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Proper coordination of the workflow is essential in nature as this will help in
increasing the efficiency of the supply chain of the organization. Proper integration is
essential in nature as this will help in developing delivery along with production
mechanisms in an effectual manner
Proper synchronization of the time is essential in the supply chain management in
the organization. It is very essential for the companies to design the supply chain
management in an effectual manner as this will help in balancing the economies of the
different kind of products in terms of the quality, flexibility and delivery of goods and
services
Proper and efficient response from the customers is essential in nature as this helps
in creating a link between the retailer and the manufacturers. This kind of linkage will
help in sending and capturing the point of sale information through the channels of
distribution.
Contribution of Supply Chain Management in Organizations
SCM plays a major role in the organizations as this will benefit in considering the
status of the same in improving the satisfaction provided to the customers. The vision of the
SCM has to be improved with the implementation of proper planning and understanding the
requirements and interest of the customers to meet their expectations effectively (Touboulic
and Walker, 2015).
Furthermore, the effective and efficient supply chain management will help in
contributing towards the success of the entire business (Mangan, Lalwani and Lalwani,
2016). Proper communication and integration is essential in collaborating the different
technologies in effectually. The demand management is essential as the collaboration will
help in making the supply chain management effective and efficient in nature (Khalid et al.
2015). Furthermore, there are different barriers that can be faced by the different

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organizations effectively. The reduction in the costs along with improvement in the working
capital is vital as this will benefitting organizations in solving issues.
Barriers faced by organizations in leveraging SCM for competitive advantage
There are different kind of barriers faced by different kind of organization in
leveraging the supply chain management for gaining competitive advantage. The different
kind of barriers are as follows:
Poor planning of the SCM is one of the blockades of the supply chain management
wherein it has been seen that in many organizations (Chin, Tat and Sulaiman 2015). SCM
fails as there is insufficient amount of forecasting and planning is poor in nature as well. In
order to perform correct forecasting, the process of planning is required to involve
appropriate players and relevant kind of information as well (Brandenburg et al. 2014).
External and Internal turf wars is the other barrier wherein there is conflict within
the organization along with departments are the fundamental kind of barrier to the
collaboration of the supply chain management. It has been seen in many companies wherein
all the departments that includes marketing, operations and finance work independently
(Tatoglu et al. 2016).
However, it has been seen that when the managers make any kind of decisions, they
consider the respective department and not the other departments (Monczka et al. 2015). The
company ignores the impact of the decision on other departments and the same kind of case is
with the supply chain partners wherein the company work for their own interest and they gain
competitive advantage as well. It can be commented that supply chain management is vital in
different organizations as this will helps in gaining competitive advantage and solve different
kind of issues effectively as well (Schorsch, Wallenburg and Wieland 2017).

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Lack of trust in the process of supply chain management is the other issue wherein
the channel partners do not share any kind of information openly. It has been seen that due to
globalization, the integration has become a huge challenge and this is one the major barriers
as the information sharing is not possible without proper and integrated kind of system
(Simpson et al. 2015). The poor understanding of the SCM is the other challenge in different
organizations wherein it has been seen that employees in the different kind of organizations
do not have any kind of understanding relating to the importance of the SCM in their job
along with organization (Wisner, Tan and Leong, 2014).
There is lack of alliance guidelines wherein it has been seen that each of the channel
partners of the supply chain management has different set of activities along with plan and
schedule of the production. The lack of the performance measures can lead and create
conflicting behaviours and this can affect the behaviour of the individuals both externally and
internally as well (Stadtler 2015). The incomplete kind of technology can create huge issues
in the implementation of flexibility in the organization. The entire organizational culture and
structure can get affected and this is one of the crucial barriers to the collaboration of the
supply chain in the company as well (Fernie and Sparks 2014).
It can be seen that there are different kind of barriers that has to be faced by the
different organization and this can create issues in the leveraging the supply chain
management as well. These are the different kind of issues that has affected the organization
in a negative manner and this will create huge issues in the gaining of the entire competitive
advantage as well (Carter, Rogers and Choi 2015). However, the respective company needs
to adopt different kind of strategies in the organization as this will help them in resolving
such issues with proper implementation of the technology in an effectual manner as well
(Wieland, Handfield and Durach, 2016).

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The different kind of bridges that can be adopted by the different organizations in
order to remove the barriers in an effectual manner. Proper examination is done by the
different organizations as this will solve the issues and solve it in an effectual manner.
Proper transparency in the information is vital as this will aid the members in
receiving all the information about other members in the organization. The sharing of the
information will help in improving the performance of the entire system.
Proper and collaborative planning is essential in nature in the organizations as
wherein all the involvement of the parties will be complex in the supply chain management
process. The forecasting of demand along with schedule of the information is essential in
nature to be provided as this will help in being more effective in nature with involvement of
the partners.
Proper adoption of the strategic vision of the SCM is essential as this will benefit the
chain partners in providing clear along with common vision of the entire SCM process.
Proper measurement of the supply chain management performance helps in reducing the cost
and this will help the companies in gaining competitive advantage as well.
Proper supply base reduction is indispensable as this will aid the organizations in
enhancing the excellence of the different products and amenities in an effective manner
wherein this will increase the responsiveness. Proper segmentation of the customers is
essential in the organization as this will collaborate with the different suppliers and this will
generate strategic and supportive culture as well.
Proper and shared investment is important as this will aid the organization in making
the entire SCM successful in nature. The proper sharing of the benefit is essential in nature
wherein there is trustworthiness and this will help in strengthening the relationship effectively

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as well. Proper attention to the different kind of human factors is essential in nature as this
will help the organizations in strengthening the quality in an effectual manner.
The information technology architecture or the internet has to be analysed
effectively in different organizations as this will improve the performance of whole
management of the association. The proper analysis is required to be done in an effectual
manner as this will help in making the entire supply chain management process effectual and
effective in nature.
Role of technology in improving SCM process
The technology or the information technology theatres an essential role in the
improvement of the supply chain management process. Proper enhancement of the different
superiority of the products and services is essential in nature as this understand the various
kind of issues and resolve them in an successful manner. Proper implementation of the
information technology system will help in providing different kind of advantages that
include improvement in the productivity, reduction in the cost and different implementation
of the market or the product strategies.
With the proper and accurate implementation of the electronic data interchange, it can
be seen that the SCM process will become effective. There will be quick process of the entire
information that will help in reducing the paper work and increase the entire productivity of
the organization as well. The implementation of the electronic data interchange will help in
creating cost effectiveness and efficiency that will help in solving such issues and this will
help in improving the expediting and tracing of the different kind of information in an
effectual manner as well.
Similarly, with the help of enterprise resource planning, it will be helpful for the
organizations to improve the entire infrastructure and solve the different kind of uncertainties

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and capturing the data as well. As the expectations of the customers, it is required for the
different organizations to improve the different kind of issues and help the customers in
receiving satisfaction in an overall manner. Proper and strategic planning is required to be
done wherein proper and strategic planning is required to be done as the organizations will
gain knowledge in solving the issues in a successful manner.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that proper and effective supply chain management is
vital in diverse kind of companies as this will help in satisfying the diverse customers and
solving their grievances as well. It has been seen in the report that there are different kind of
barriers that has been faced by the organizations in leveraging the entire SCM. The role of the
technology has been discussed that has helped the organizations in improving the supply
chain management and this will help the companies in gaining competitive advantage as well.
Proper mission and vision of the supply chain management has been analysed effectively as
this helped in solving the beliefs of the retailers, suppliers and customers as well.

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References
Beske, P. and Seuring, S., 2014. Putting sustainability into supply chain management. Supply
Chain Management: an international journal, 19(3), pp.322-331.
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.
Carter, C.R., Rogers, D.S. and Choi, T.Y., 2015. Toward the theory of the supply
chain. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 51(2), pp.89-97.
Chin, T.A., Tat, H.H. and Sulaiman, Z., 2015. Green supply chain management,
environmental collaboration and sustainability performance. Procedia CIRP, 26, pp.695-699.
Fernie, J. and Sparks, L., 2014. Logistics and retail management: emerging issues and new
challenges in the retail supply chain. Kogan page publishers.
Khalid, R.U., Seuring, S., Beske, P., Land, A., Yawar, S.A. and Wagner, R., 2015. Putting
sustainable supply chain management into base of the pyramid research. Supply Chain
Management: An International Journal, 20(6), pp.681-696.
Mangan, J., Lalwani, C. and Lalwani, C.L., 2016. Global logistics and supply chain
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Monczka, R.M., Handfield, R.B., Giunipero, L.C. and Patterson, J.L., 2015. Purchasing and
supply chain management. Cengage Learning.
Schorsch, T., Wallenburg, C.M. and Wieland, A., 2017. The human factor in SCM:
Introducing a meta-theory of behavioral supply chain management. International Journal of
Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 47(4), pp.238-262.

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Simpson, D., Meredith, J., Boyer, K., Dilts, D., Ellram, L.M. and Leong, G.K., 2015.
Professional, research, and publishing trends in operations and supply chain
management. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 51(3), pp.87-100.
Stadtler, H., 2015. Supply chain management: An overview. In Supply chain management
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Stevens, G.C. and Johnson, M., 2016. Integrating the supply chain… 25 years
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Tatoglu, E., Bayraktar, E., Golgeci, I., Koh, S.L., Demirbag, M. and Zaim, S., 2016. How do
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Touboulic, A. and Walker, H., 2015. Theories in sustainable supply chain management: a
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