Supply Chain Management Strategies for Desklib: A Case Study Analysis

This essay discusses the case study of Nina van Diest, who faced issues regarding effective supply chain management in her start-up. It covers different supply chain theories such as Porter, SCOR, and their impact on the company structure. It also discusses the advantages and disadvantages of supply chain outsourcing, risk management, and the impact of future technologies. The essay concludes with different strategies that could affect the supply of parts from manufacturing to end customer. The suggested supply chain management strategy for Desklib is lean supply chain management.

Elements assignment CW
Essay

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Scenerio Analysis.............................................................................................................................3
Supply Chain Strategies...................................................................................................................4
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13

Introduction
Supply chain management is defined as a system of management of flow of goods and
services which include all processes that transform raw materials into finished goods
(Copacino,2019). There are various stages which include in supply chain management of an
organisation are Planning, Sourcing, Demand/ inventory, Production, Warehouse and
transportation and return of goods. Effective supply chain management improve the financial
position of an organisation. It also increases customer satisfaction by timely delivery of goods to
customer (Craighead and et.al 2020). In this essay, the case study of Nina van Diest will be
taking into consideration, who was earlier used to working in Myscobee corporation. Later she
started her own start-up but faced some issues regarding supply chain management. In this essay,
different things would cover like supply chain theories such Porter, SCOR and it's impact on
company structure. Moreover advantage and disadvantage of supply chain outsourcing , risk
management, and impact of future technologies would also be discuss. In end of essay different
strategies would also be define which could affect the supply of parts from manufacturing to end
customer. At last a detailed conclusion will be made on basis of suitable findings (Hong, Zhang,
and Ding, 2018).
Scenerio Analysis
The present scenario is given on a problem facing by Nina Van Diest in her organisation
regarding effective supply chain management. She was used to work in an organisation namely
Myscobee for about twenty years and later she left it and start her own business. After sometime
her business started showing sales and she finally able to purchase a small scale manufacturing
facility for increase her production capacity. During the filming of German TV series her
chocolate appeared in one of the episodes which increase her sales across Europe and other
countries. After that one of the TV directors has offered a produce of mini video of the product
which can be use to advertise and marketing her product on various social media platform. With
the advertisement done through various social media platform her sales increased and demand
came from all around the world. Different companies have reached her to outsource their
business to them for manufacturing but she scared about the quality of products which can
negatively impact her brand image (Copacino, 2019).
She faced several problems regarding effective supply chain management for her
business. In past her company was used to purchase ingriedents from local whole seller but they

have limited stock and several times some products have been out of stock. This result in
complete stoppage of production line and forced staff to drive miles to find more ingredients.
The management of company would like to change ordering process to ensure that they have
minimum of one week stock in storage but the manufacturing at the times very random and there
is no stock control processes in place. Her company wants to invest in branding of products by
using luxury and high glossy papers for purchasing of product. This kind of paper imported from
Italy which come in six weeks and company needs in four weeks. Hence she has purchased
1,00,00 selves of paper in one order. At present company has only six members including Nina
Van Diest who manage the entire production system. All staff in very friendly and supportive.
The team sometimes get frustrate with large orders and have to work over time for fulfilling
them. With over pressure of work one her staff fell down from ladder and get off from work for
eight weeks. The management of company planning to implement some technologies by which
they can improve the sales of company. Several technologies such as telephone, e-mails and
postal requests are being used (Craighead, Ketchen and Darby, 2020). This result in rise in
order for company from different geographical units but due to lack of effective supply chain
management strategies they have missed so much orders. As a result order came down from
1,00,000 per months to 80,000 per month.
Therefore Nina Van Diest wants to adopt suitable supply chain management strategy for
her business which has zero impact of the environment as currently one of her supplier is using
plastic tray. She is also thinking about using block chain technologies.
Supply Chain Strategies
This is defined as a movement or flow of goods and services from suppliers to
distributors and to final customers. The main objective to supply chain management is to
maximize overall value. Value is directly related to profitability. Profitability refers to the
difference between total revenue generated from the customer and the overall supply chain costs.
The following ways by which a supply chain management of business can become effective:
The theory is SCOR which stand for supply chain resource co-operative, this help business to
address, improve and communicate supply chain management decision within a company with
suppliers and customers of company. The following steps under SCOR theory are:
Plan- In this stage firm make planning about the how to manufacture products for firm
and how they can make supply chain system for providing delivery to clients or customer in less

time. In the context case study, firm have to plan some suitable strategies for implementing
supply chain management in their organisation and how they can deliver products to customer in
less time.
Source- At this stage, firm make strong relation with suppliers by making proper
negotiation with them regarding cost. Moreover firm also contact different distributor to do
proper distribution of goods to customer by different transportation depend upon customer
location. In the context of case study, management of mentioned company will communicate
with suppliers regarding supply of goods and also arrange proper distributor for distribution of
goods to customer depend upon their location (Hong, Zhang and Ding, 2018).
Make- During this stage, an organisation should start making production of goods and
services. Production should be in adequate quantity not less not more. Excess of production than
demand of customer in market led to wastage of resources and Less production than demand of
customer in market led to reduce the profitability of firm and negatively impact goodwill in long
term. In the context of case study, management of an organisation do production as per demand
of customer by analysing market condition and knowing taste and preference of customer.
Deliver- At this stage, an organisation should plan about how they deliver products and
service to customer in market. Firm can contact various transportation agencies for supplying
products to customer in domestic market. In case if firm is globalized which get order from
international clients, then in this situation firm can contact several airlines for delivering goods to
international clients(Schönsleben, 2018). In the context of case study, the management of
organisation make contact with distributor and various transport agencies for supplying products
or goods to customer depend upon their location.
Return- Under this stage, sometimes bad quality or inferior quality of products deliver to
customer so in order to take back those products for either replacement or refund of money
return process is adopted in organisation. This process must be made by keeping consideration
about location of customer and by what source firm can take their goods back from customer
location. In the context of given case study, management of an organisation can adopt suitable
staregy for taking defective or wrong quality of goods from customer and they can change the
product or how they will refund the money to customer in case if client do not want goods to be
replaced.

For making effective supply chain management of business, Nina Van Diest should
consider different techniques. It will not only help in making robust supply chain but also help to
rise customer base and profitability of business. The first techniques should be consider by
management of an organisation are Porter's supply chain model. This model is a strategic
management tool for analysis of company's value chain. This is a customer relationship centric
model used by business to analyse each process for profitability. Under this model, the activities
is divided in two types such as Primary activities and secondary activities (Kot, Goldbach and
Ślusarczyk, 2018).
In primary activities, major processes are- Inbound Logistics- This include warehouse
for storage of raw materials for production. In the terms of mentioned case study, firm can open
its own warehouse or godown for storage of raw materials for use them in production as per
demand of customer. In operations- business turns its raw material into finished goods for sell
them in market. In the context of given study, management of business can make suitable
appropriate process of conversion of raw material into finished goods. In outbound logistics-
Under this process the firm can make proper distribution of goods to customer in market. In the
terms of given case study, firm can make contact with its distributor regarding distribution of
products to customer and can make communication with transport agencies also for delivery
products to customer at their location. Marketing and sales- In this process the major focus of
business in on doing advertising or promotion of business in order to make them visible to target
customer. In the context of given case study, a firm has adopted several social media tools for
promotion of their products in order to increase their visibility among target customer. Services,
this include all sort of help business provide to its customer after purchase has been made. In the
context of given case study, firm provide all sort of customer service to their clients regarding
usage and consumption of products. By this way firm would be able to increase its customer
which would rise in profitability of company (Langley and et. al., 2020).
In secondary activities, major process include- Procurement(purchasing), under this
process an organisation make proper research about market in order to contact best suppliers who
will be ready to supply raw materials at reasonable price and in adequate quality. In the context
of given case study, firm make proper market research to identify best supplier and reasonable
rate who is ready to supply right quality of raw material to firm. Human resource management

, in this process an organisation hire, train and motivate their staff to do best of their capacity. In
the context of given case study, firm need to hire sufficient staff in their organisation as it has
only six members working. Therefore it need to hire best pool of human resource and train them
regarding organisation working and use of SCM for effective and efficient working.
Technological development, this ensures that there should be proper technology available in an
organisation which properly manage and transfer information from one department to another
department for smooth functioning of organisational activities. In the terms of mentioned case
study a firm can implement different technologies in their supply chain management system to
ensure proper transformation of information from one department to another which would help
in easy flow of data and led to completion of task in effective and efficient manner.
Infrastructure, it means that company' support system and functions that allow to do daily
operations such as accounting, legal, administrative and general. In the context of mentioned
case study the firm need to have good infrastructure for doing its other activities related to
accounting, legal and administrative. This would ensure that all the activities of business done
under one roof in proper manner (Lysons, 2020).
Nina Van Diest can imply different technologies in their SCM for making it more
effective and efficient way of working. Different technologies can be use by firm such as
automation technology, by this technology a firm can set supply chain model in automatic
mode by which order of quantity will automatically be place when quantity of products in firm
will automatically runs out from certain level of inventory. This will avoid burden of placing
order to supplier and firm can focus on more important task which are related to administration
and marketing of business. In the context of given case study, the management of an organisation
can apply such technology through which it can focus on other task related to advertising
marketing which are essential part of business operation. Block chain technology will also
enable firm to store large quantity of data into one single database and best part of about this
technology is that data of customer which is already stored cannot be changed by any person. So
by this technology management of business can get to know real data of suppliers made with
supplier. In another way, company can also use automatic truck for delivery of products by this
way firm don't need to depend upon drivers, in case of their absence of driver in any reason the
delivery of goods will not stop. An ERP system can also be used in Supply chain management
of an organisation which will help in integration of all transactions into one singly system like-

manufacturing, transactions, material planning and many more. By this way an organisation can
manage all their work into one single system. Hence, this would reduce cost of firm in
implementing new technologies.
Agile supply chain management is defined as the use of responsiveness, competency
and flexibility to manage how well a supply chain entity operate on daily basis. This technology
uses real time data and updated information related to market. By applying this type of supply
chain management in of an organisation. A firm will get real time demand of customers from the
market so that they can make production accordingly and thus this would avoid wastage of
resources of an organisation. The main disadvantage of this SCM is that firm always have to
update about market so that they sometimes cannot focus on their operational functionality
which would result in loss making situation of firm (Xu and et.al 2020).
Lean supply chain management strategy is defined as a process of promoting
efficiency by removing unwanted or waste components from a process. By applying this supply
chain management strategy in an organisation a firm can remove any backlogs or unwanted
components from their production process, to ensure timely completion of task. The main
disadvantage of this strategy in supply chain of business is that for removing any unwanted
components it takes so much time which sometimes delay the process of supply in business
network.
In hybrid supply chain management strategy, firm use both agile and lean supply
strategy for timely completion of their task. The major advantage of this strategy is that it leads
to timely completion of task in an organisation in less time and with minimum resources. The
main disadvantage of this strategy is that sometimes management of an organisation can get
confuse between agile and lean supply chain strategy which sometimes create confusion and lead
to difficulty in achievement of tasks,
On the basis of above description,a firm which is given in case study should use lean
supply chain management strategy in their organisation because by this strategy firm can remove
any unwanted components from their production process which lead to timely completion of
production process so that supplies can be done to market in proper time.
There are following benefits and disadvantages of outsourcing the production,
supply chain and logistics are-

Benefits firm will get by outsourcing of production are- Main benefit of outsourcing of
production are it lead to develop productivity and efficiency among employees in an
organisation. By distribution of work among employees on the basis of their education and way
of doing work. It leads to timely completion of task and achieve profitability of firm. Another
benefit is that it reduces work load by outsourcing work, firm can decrease its work load by
assigning work to different individual on the basis of their education level and experience. Thus,
it help to reduce work load from management of an organisation(Queiroz, Telles and Bonilla,
2019).
Disadvantages a firm will get by outsourcing of production are- The first disadvantage of
outsourcing of work is that it creates lack of control. Every person does work on the basis of
their own ideas without asking anyone. Hence, manager cannot impose their ideas for doing
work accordingly this would create problem for manager for co-ordinating with employees.
Secondly as every employee do work on their own without discuss anyone this would lead to
loss of communication among departments and without communication work cannot be happen
in effective and efficient manner (Pettit, Croxton and Fiksel, 2019).
Benefits of outsourcing of supply chain and logistics for an organisation are- The main
benefit of outsourcing of supply chain is it leads to focus on core business activities like
marketing, operation and financial management. It allows top level managers of an organisation
to develop suitable idea for manufacturing of product by keeping concern about present level
customer needs and wants. The another advantage of outsourcing supply chain management is
that it reduces cost of firm by avoid investing in warehouse and it also help to manage flexible
cost of business like labour.
Disadvantages for firm by outsourcing of supply chain and logistics are- By outsourcing a
business to another party sometimes quality of products may suffer. Therefore, an organisation
should check the knowledge of another business party regarding quality of product. In the terms
of mentioed case study, management of an organisation should check the knowledge of another
party regarding manufacturing of chocolate.
Suitable supply chain risk management
Each business is in a risk that can have an impact upon the operations and profit of a
business organisation. There are several kinds of risks that can be faced by an organisation.

Specifically, there are two broad categories of risk, namely External supply chain risks and
Internal supply chain risks. The external supply chain risks are associated with demand risks,
supply risks, environmental risks as well as business risks. On the other hand, the internal supply
chain risks are associated with the Manufacturing risks, Business risks, Planning and control
risks along with the mitigation and contingency risks.
It is very essential for the organisation to tackle with the several supply chain management risks.
In order to deal with the risks, there are several risk management strategies that can be adopted
by the organisation. Several risk management strategies that can be adopted by the organisation
have been discussed in the essay below.
Leveraging the PPRR risk model: The risk management model is highly popular in terms of
risk management strategies wherein the acronym PPRR stands for Prevention, Preparedness,
Response and Recovery. Prevention stands for the process of taking precautionary measures for
the supply chain risk mitigation. Further Preparedness stands for developing and implementing
the contingency plan in order to deal with the emergency. Response stands for Executing the
contingency plan so that the impact of the risk can be reduced. Recovery stands for continuation
of the operations while getting the tasks done at the normal capacity at the organisation (Queiroz,
Telles and Bonilla, 2019).
Improvement in cyber supply chain risk management is another risk management strategy
that can be adopted by the organisation. In the digital scenario, several businesses can be
benefited through the internet as well as the digital technologies that tend to play a major role in
the several supply chain operations. In analysis from the case study, it can be analysed that the
start up that will be established by Nina Van Diest tend to have several cyber threats as well. The
business tends to get exposed towards the cyber security threats like ransomware, hacking,
phishing, malware, etc. In order to deal with these kinds of risks, the organisation can implement
several strategies. In order to deal with the supply chain risk management issues, the organisation
can establish the standards while complying with the third party vendors like distributors,
suppliers as well as manufacturers. Further, user roles can be defined in order to implement the
security controls in order to restrict others to access the system along with the level of clearance
that they have been given. Further, user roles along with the implementation of security controls
can be used in order to restrict the people from having access to the system along with the level
of clearance they have given. Also, a proper vendor risk management can be performed before

signing the contracts that can be helpful in avoiding risks within the organisation. Also, the
organisation can focus upon providing comprehensive training regarding the cybersecurity
protocols. Also, the organisation can implement a software solution that tend to provide total
visibility of the supply chain in order to identify the unusual activity in the business. In the
context of given case study, a firm can implement several software for protecting their data in
context of supply chain management of the food startup.
Suitable Forecast and Modelling of sales and impact to downstream suppliers
Sales forecasting is an essential part in every organisation. It has several significances in
the business operations. This is referred as the basis for typing the input data. There are several
kinds of sales forecasting techniques. The several sales forecasting techniques are qualitative
techniques, Time series analysis as well as Causal modes. The qualitative techniques of sales
forecasting help the organisation to use the qualitative data during the time series analysis that
focuses upon the several trends as well as changes in the trend. The causal mode of sales
forecasting is referred to the highly refined and specific information in context to the
relationships between several system elements. The variance in the techniques tends to imply
the similar techniques that cannot be considered suitable for the forecasting of sales. Also, the
time series analysis tends to rely upon the historical data and hence it may not be helpful in
forecasting the future of newly launched product as it has no history regarding its performance in
the market. Hence, qualitative techniques are used when there is limited data available in context
of the products. Market research, Delphi technique are several models that can be considered as a
part of the qualitative technique by firm in context of given case study. Also, Time series
analysis can be used by an organisation when data is available for several years in regard to the
product and its sales in the market. It will help the organisation to study the trends in the data,
cyclical performance patterns, growth rates, etc. The causal sales forecasting tends to consider
the dynamics in the flow system while using predictions of several promotional events as well as
strikes (Russell and Taylor, 2019).
Sales tend to have an impact upon the downstream suppliers as well. At downstream entry, the
upstream of the supplier might lead to decrease in the contract price of the several intermediate
goods. It will help the organisation to have a balance in context of the risk free utility from the
contract channel along with the risk utility. In response to this, the downstream manufactures

might increase the quantities in the contact and hence it may impact the supplier while benefiting
the manufacturer.
Different strategies firm can use to stop negative impact of outsourcing of business are:
Create supply chain emergency plan- This emergency plan help business to reduce
chances the unavailability of supply of goods due to any reason. By this a firm can make proper
supply of goods to customer without any disruption.
Identify backup supplier- Sometimes due to any reason supplier does not agree to
supply adequate goods to manufacture for manufacturing. So for not disturbing the supply chain
of business, a firm can make contact with another supplier in case of existing supplier created
any issue regarding supply of raw materials to firm (Schönsleben, 2018) .
Conclusion
It can be concluded from the study that supply chain management has a significant role to
play in the organisation as it is helpful in having a smooth flow in the business. There are various
strategies a firm could use such as Porters, SCOOR to identify effective of supply chain
management in an organisation. It had also been discussed the advantages and disadvantages of
supply chain outsourcing. Moreover, different technologies can be used in supply chain
management in an organisation such as blockchain, ERP and automation which help firm to do
work in effective and efficient manner.

References
Books and Journals
Copacino, W. C., 2019. Supply chain management: The basics and beyond. Routledge.
Craighead, C. W., Ketchen Jr, D. J. and Darby, J. L., 2020. Pandemics and supply chain
management research: toward a theoretical toolbox. Decision Sciences, 51(4), pp.838-
866.
Hong, J., Zhang, Y. and Ding, M., 2018. Sustainable supply chain management practices, supply
chain dynamic capabilities, and enterprise performance. Journal of cleaner
production, 172, pp.3508-3519.
Kot, S., Goldbach, I. R. and Ślusarczyk, B., 2018. Supply chain management in SMEs-Polish
and Romanian approach. Economics & Sociology, 11(4), p.142.
Langley, C. J. and et. al., 2020. Supply chain management: a logistics perspective. Cengage
Learning.
Lysons, K., 2020. Procurement and supply chain management. Pearson UK.
Pettit, T. J., Croxton, K. L. and Fiksel, J., 2019. The evolution of resilience in supply chain
management: a retrospective on ensuring supply chain resilience. Journal of Business
Logistics, 40(1), pp.56-65.
Queiroz, M. M., Telles, R. and Bonilla, S. H., 2019. Blockchain and supply chain management
integration: a systematic review of the literature. Supply Chain Management: An
International Journal.
Russell, R. S. and Taylor, B. W., 2019. Operations and supply chain management. John Wiley &
Sons.
Schönsleben, P., 2018. Integral logistics management: operations and supply chain management
within and across companies. CRC Press.
Xu, S. and et. al., 2020. Disruption risks in supply chain management: a literature review based
on bibliometric analysis. International Journal of Production Research, 58(11),
pp.3508-3526.