Evolution and Modern Strategies of Supply Chain Management

This essay discusses the evolution of supply chain selection and evaluates the strategies in relation to supply chain strategy. It elaborates on how the emergence of technology has made supply chain vulnerable in the present age.

Running head: SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGY
Supply Chain Strategy
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

1SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGY
Introduction
Supply Chain refers to the system of organization, people and the activities which is
involved for moving a product or a service to customer. The activities relayed to supply chain
can change the natural resources and the raw materials into that of the finished product which
can be delivered to end customer (Childerhouse, Aitken and Towill 2002). Supply Chain
strategy refers to an iterative process that helps in the evaluation of cost-benefit trade off in
relation to operational components. This essay discusses about the evolution of supply chain
selection and evaluates the strategies in relation to supply chain strategy. This essay
elaborates on how the emergence of technology has made supply chain vulnerable in the
present age.
Evolution of Supply Chain
The era of the 1940’s made use of mechanization that involved pallet lifts for
improving labour intensive process in relation to material handling. The concept of “Unit
load” was greatly popular at this stage and the 1950’s gave way to the concept of
transportation management that involved the ships, trains and the trucks. A trend had come
up in the 1960’s that shifted the time-dependent transportation to that of truck instead of rail.
This paved the way for joint consideration pertaining to warehousing, freight transportation
along with material handling (Christopher and Towill 2002). Before the era of 1960, the
transactions along with record keeping were carried out manually. A lot of change was
brought about in 1980 owing to the emergence of the personal computers. This helped in the
aspect of providing better computer access to the planners along with graphical environment
in relation to planning. This gave birth to new technology that included the flexible
spreadsheets along with map-based interface. This paved the path for huge improvement in
relation to logistics planning. Logistics boom had been fuelled in 1990 on account of the

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arrival of the Enterprise Resource Planning systems. This system was motivated owing to the
success of Material Requirements Planning systems owing to the desire for integration of
multiple database (Hbr.org 2018). There were some significant problems in relation to the
ERP systems but by the end of the year 2000 most of the companies had made installation of
ERP systems. The ERP system acted as a great improvement in relation to data availability
along with accuracy. The ERP software increased the need of better planning along with
integration pertaining to the logistics components. This gave birth to the emergence of
“Advanced Planning and Scheduling” software (Godsell et al. 2011). The technology that is
made use of in the current age in relation to supply chain strategy is automated identification
technology.
Modern Supply Chain Strategies
Automated Identification helps in describing direct entry of the data within the
computer system. The technologies that are involved includes Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID) along with Bar Coding. The bar codes act as the items of the information which is in
codified form that is readable with the help of a scanner. RFID system helps in allowing the
aspect of non-contact reading that can prove to be effective in relation to manufacturing
where the bar codes were unable of surviving. Global complexity in relation to supply chain
management has made it difficult for organizations to deliver the quality goods within time.
Reliability pertaining to supply chain can be improved by the increasing of visibility
pertaining to goods scattered within the network. Global Positioning System (GPS) can
provide the managers with the optimal capabilities that can help them in managing the
operations (Godsell et al. 2006). It can be useful in the aspect of route visibility, cargo
tracking and fuel cost tracking. Drone delivery can help in enhancing the customer service in
the present age. The drones can act as a supply chain tool that can go beyond that of
residential delivery. The drones can help in increasing the aspect of supply chain visibility.

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The driverless vehicles have made major advances in the last decade. Driverless system
makes use of short along with longer-range radar which can offer help in relation to supply
chain management (Lee 2002). The driverless trucks will give rise to legal issues that will act
as a barrier in relation to supply chain strategy. Evolution pertaining to supply chain
management has led to the movement towards the system of supplier relations over that of
national boundaries and into the other continents. The firms have achieved economies of
scale in the present age that helps them in internationalising business for finding lowest
source of the inputs. The modern age of technology has given birth to integrated supply chain
that gives competitive advantage to the actors participating within the chain. A switch has
been made from that of firm competition to that of chain competition in the present age (Sindi
and Roe 2017). Functional products refer to the basic products that have predictable demand
along with low profit margin. These products require supply chains that are efficient which
helps in minimizing the aspect of cost. Innovative products on the other hand have have
unpredictable demand along with shorter life cycle. Innovative products can create high profit
margins. The unpredictable demand of innovative products makes the managers consider the
aspect of supply chain.
Technological Developments in Supply Chain and its Challenges
The recent technologies like Bar Coding and RFID possess high cost of capital and it
may not be feasible for a small firm. Lack of the factor of hardware interoperability acts as a
limiting factor in relation to implementation of RFID (Carter, Rogers and Choi 2015). There
are some products like the liquids that interferes with transmission of electromagnetic waves
to that of the terminals that paves the path for “bad read” of the data. Global Positioning
System (GPS) may have problem in transmission of satellite signal. In the event of the signal
being disturbed location of product within the transit will not be known. Accuracy of the
signal can be questioned and this is a drawback of technological developments in relation to

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supply chain strategies. GPS is capable of tracking the location of a product up till a certain
range inspite of the innovations made in the field of GPS technology (Rajeev et al. 2017).
The limitations of information technology poses threat in relation to supply chain strategies.
The technological advancements have made it difficult for the older generations to adjust to
the new standards along with applications. The difficulty posed by information technology is
due to the fact that it requires expertise of the individuals for understanding complexities in
relation to the system. This process involves a lot of time, energy along with money that has a
bad effect on the aspect of supply chain management. Technological development gives rise
to complexity in relation to supply chain strategies because firms have to calculate whether
benefits outweigh costs (Monczka et al. 2015). Privacy is an issue in relation to supply chain
strategy in the present age of technology. The rise of internet can lead to the stealing of
information and this is a real risk in relation to supply chain management.
Conclusion
Supply Chain is indicative of system of the organization and the people that helps in
moving a product to the customer. The activities related to supply chain can transform the
natural resources into the finished product which has to be delivered to end customer. The
age of 1940 took recourse to mechanization that helped in improving the labour intensive
process. The emergence of Enterprise Resource Planning paved the path for logistics boom.
ERP helped in improving the factor of data availability. The software paved the path for
better planning and helped in integrating logistics components. Automated Identification
helps in the aspect of entry of the data in that of the computer system. The bad impact of
technology on supply chain strategies is due to the fact that Bar Coding along with RFID has
high cost of the capital that may not be possible for a small firm. Hardware interoperability
can act as limiting factor pertaining to implementing of RFID. GPS can face problem in

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transmitting the satellite signal. GPS can help to track location only till a certain extent that is
a limitation of technological advancement on the supply chain strategies.

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References
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.
Childerhouse, P., Aitken, J. and Towill, D.R., 2002. Analysis and design of focused demand
chains. Journal of Operations Management, 20(6), pp.675-689.
Christopher, M. and Towill, D.R., 2002. Developing market specific supply chain
strategies. The international journal of logistics management, 13(1), pp.1-14.
Godsell, J., Diefenbach, T., Clemmow, C., Towill, D. and Christopher, M., 2011. Enabling
supply chain segmentation through demand profiling. International Journal of Physical
Distribution & Logistics Management, 41(3), pp.296-314.
Godsell, J., Harrison, A., Emberson, C. and Storey, J., 2006. Customer responsive supply
chain strategy: an unnatural act?. International Journal of Logistics: Research and
Applications, 9(1), pp.47-56.
Hbr.org 2018. What Is the Right Supply Chain for Your Product?. [online] Harvard Business
Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/1997/03/what-is-the-right-supply-chain-for-your-
product [Accessed 11 Oct. 2018].
Lee, H.L., 2002. Aligning supply chain strategies with product uncertainties. California
management review, 44(3), pp.105-119.
Monczka, R.M., Handfield, R.B., Giunipero, L.C. and Patterson, J.L., 2015. Purchasing and
supply chain management. Cengage Learning.
Rajeev, A., Pati, R.K., Padhi, S.S. and Govindan, K., 2017. Evolution of sustainability in
supply chain management: A literature review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 162, pp.299-
314.

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Sindi, S. and Roe, M., 2017. The Evolution of Supply Chains and Logistics. In Strategic
Supply Chain Management (pp. 7-25). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.

8SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGY
Appendix
Author Strategy Effect of technology on
strategy
Childerhouse, P., Aitken, J.
and Towill, D.R., 2002.
Analysis and design of
focused demand
chains. Journal of
Operations
Management, 20(6), pp.675-
689.
Focussed demand Chain There is reduction in terms
of product development
time and manufacturing cost
reduction.
Christopher, M. and Towill,
D.R., 2002. Developing
market specific supply chain
strategies. The international
journal of logistics
management, 13(1), pp.1-14.
Market specific supply
chain strategy
Technology has an effect on
the aspect of product
characteristics along with
demand charcateristics.
Hbr.org 2018. What Is the
Right Supply Chain for Your
Product?. [online] Harvard
Business Review. Available
at:
https://hbr.org/1997/03/what-
Market Responsive Supply
Chain
Strategically placed
inventories can help in the
prevention of risks related to
supply chain disruption

9SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGY
is-the-right-supply-chain-for-
your-product [Accessed 11
Oct. 2018].
Godsell, J., Harrison, A.,
Emberson, C. and Storey, J.,
2006. Customer responsive
supply chain strategy: an
unnatural act?. International
Journal of Logistics:
Research and
Applications, 9(1), pp.47-56.
Customer responsive supply
chain strategy
Technology has led to lack
of the alignment in demand
fulfilment process
Godsell, J., Diefenbach, T.,
Clemmow, C., Towill, D.
and Christopher, M., 2011.
Enabling supply chain
segmentation through
demand
profiling. International
Journal of Physical
Distribution & Logistics
Management, 41(3), pp.296-
314.
Segmented supply chain
strategy
The use of technology in
relation to segmented supply
chain will help everyone in
seeing information

10SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGY
Lee, H.L., 2002. Aligning
supply chain strategies with
product
uncertainties. California
management review, 44(3),
pp.105-119.
Risk-hedging supply chain The company can get real
time information pertaining
to inventory that helps in
transhipment of good from
that of one site to that of
another.