A Comparative Analysis of Honda and Amazon's Supply Chain Management

This report provides a comparative analysis of the supply chain management strategies employed by Honda and Amazon. It delves into the various technologies utilized by both companies, including GPRS, social media platforms, robotics, and RFID technology, to enhance their supply chain operations. The report examines how Honda leverages these technologies to track goods, communicate with customers, and automate processes, while Amazon utilizes Ibeacon technology, social networking, and 'no cashier' store technology to optimize its supply chain. A matrix table illustrates the impact of these technologies on key business aspects such as transport management, data analytics, and customer service. The analysis also includes a discussion of sustainable supply chain strategies implemented by Honda. The report concludes with a percentage breakdown showing the extent to which each technology is implemented within the organizations, highlighting the importance of these technologies in achieving efficiency and customer satisfaction. This report is a valuable resource for students studying supply chain management and related fields.

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Running head: MANAGEMENT
Dealing with Various Aspects of Management
Name
Institution
Author’s Note

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Technology being employed for chain supply purposes for Honda and Amazon
organizations
Introduction
Honda has been one of the most reputable companies across the universe where it has
been able to manufacture quite some products over the past years. What is more interesting about
this organization is that it has been able to implement quite some strategies that are geared
towards meeting the needs of all the customers irrespective of the places where they live
(Christopher & Ryals, 2016). The top management officials for Honda Company have been able
to come up with quite some strategies to ensure that this organization becomes a success and
probably this is the reason as to why it has been able to acquire one of the adequate competitive
advantages both at the regional, national and international market.
On the other hand, Amazon Company has also gained popularity across large regions. It
is an organization that has been able to deal with quite some products and services with its
primary market platform existing at the international level. People across borders have been able
to buy various goods and services from Amazon platform without encountering any difficulties
(Krause, Vachon & Klassen, 2016). According to research that was obtained from multiple
customers, most of the techniques being used by Amazon to distribute a wide range of products
in this modern society have made work much more comfortable than before. About the success
of the organizations mentioned above, they are known to have implemented quite some advanced
technologies that have enabled the organizations to obtain various future goals within the
stipulated time frame. These technologies have given them an easy time to reach out to the

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customers and be able to carry out multiple operations adequately and reliably. These
technologies have sufficiently scaled up their supply chain programs across different boundaries.
Technologies employed by Honda
Honda is known to be using quite some techniques to ensure that there is an adequate
performance in its supply chain path. The following are some of the major technologies being
employed by this company;
 Improved GPRS- This is one of the adequate techniques being used by Honda company
to track the movement of their Goods across the globe. Moreover, through this
technology, the top management officials for the organization can know the total number
of goods that have reached a particular destination together with the ones that have
delayed thus making it much easier to keep a clean record of the final results (Waller &
Fawcett, 2013). The GPRS installed in various computers within the organization is able
to adequately track the movement of various goods through the use of transmitted signals
thus minimizing any chances associated with smuggling of goods along the way
(Markman & Krause, 2016).

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 Social media platform-Honda also uses social media to scale up the condition of its
supply chain sector across various market platforms (Roth, Tsay, Pullman & Gray, 2016).
Through the social media platform made by Honda, multiple customers can make
inquiries regarding the type of goods and services that are available together with the
ones that have run out of stock (O'Leary, 2017). Customers can also create their order
through this platform irrespective of the places where they are situated. Various
customers are able to have a diverse view of various products and be able to choose what
they think is right for them. Moreover, social media technology captures the attention of
many individuals across the market platform.
 Robotics- The use of Robots within the Honda Company has made it much easier to carry
out various operations within the supply chain management sector. Robots are being used
to deliver multiple goods and services to various destinations to ensure that they are
received at the right time without any delay being encountered (Lambert, Emmelhainz, &
Gardner, 2016). Moreover, these robots are controlled by are set of computers that are
situated at a central point within the organization (Sodhi, Son & Tang, 2012). It is a
technology that has been implemented to catch up with the current operations being
experienced in the global market platform.

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 RFID technology- Through this technology, the company has been able to involve the use
of various tags that are usually being powered by radio frequency energy. This is
typically the energy that is being transmitted right from the RFID readers (Simatupang, &
Sridharan, 2012). Later on, the reader then sends a particular combination of signals that
are further used to power on the tag thereby keeping track of various products and
services that are attached to the company most so during supply chain management
processes. This form of technology relies on the use of signals in order to provide the
organization with the required information that will easily help them track quite a number
of their goods and services, it is a computer generated kind of technology.

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Sustainable and supply chain strategy for Honda
Sustainable and supply chain for Honda has enabled the entire organization to attain
popularity over a wide area. One of the best sustainable supply chain strategies for Honda is the
ability to fully map their supply chain; this has enabled the entire organization to be aware of
many areas where it should be distributing various types of products and services. Moreover,
Honda has been able to communicate its expectation to various customers as a form of its supply
chain strategy. Through this, all the potential customers are made aware of what is likely to take
place together with what is already going on within the organization as far as the distribution of
various goods and services are concerned. On the other hand, Honda has been able to put much
concentration on its baseline supplier performance. This has been able to provide the entire
organization with an adequate and reliable understanding of its starting point through a perfect
analysis of various types of suppliers together with different compliance standards in relation to
the supply of various goods and services to different locations where all the potential customers
are located. Through these chain supply strategies, Honda has been on the verge of scaling up a
good number of its performances.
Technologies used by Amazon
Amazon has also gone further to come up with quite some techniques that aims towards bringing
one of the best outcomes in the entire supply chain management sector. Some of its methods
include the following;
 Amazon technology of Ibeacon-This is one form of advanced technology with the
capability of allowing various mobile applications to adequately listen for different typs
of signals that are known to be originating from beacons in the physical world thus

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leading to an adequate and reliable form of reaction (Golicic & Smith, 2013). Moreover,
the entire technology also allows various mobile applications to be able to have an
adequate understanding of their respective positions that are available at the micro local
scale thereby delivering high quality content to various users who are known to be
situated in various sectors across the world (Tiwari, Wee & Daryanto, 2018).
 Social networking- This form of technology involves the discovery of a wide range of
individual who are known to be located in various locations, this is carried out through
the use of various computer technologies that are adequately programmed thus enabling
an efficient networking between the organization and various customers who are known
to be situated in different places. The computers through the use of various networking
platform are capable of delivering a wide range of information across different
individuals thus keeping them updated on what is taking place (Leończuk, 2016).
Through this, Amazon has been able to listen to various issues raised by their clients thus
giving the entire organization an adequate time to address the issues at an early stage in
order to ensure that it is capable of fully operating at the required potential. Currently,
social networking is fully gaining potential across large regions thus making it much
easier to carry out certain operations without encountering quite a number of barrier
related issues. Moreover, the performance of Amazon has also been scaled up as a result

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of this technology thus giving it a perfect opportunity to even compete with a variety of
companies across the entire market platform irrespective of the areas where the
companies are located (Beaudoin, LeBel & Frayret, 2016).
No cashier stores technology- This is one of the best forms of technologies being used by
Amazon for various purposes. It majorly involves carrying out of various technologies in
different stores that are attached to amazon without the presence of any cashier but still manages
to serve all the customers according to what is expected of it. No cashier stores technology is
fully being controlled by various computer programs that ensure each and every operation is
carried out in a reasonable and accurate manner thus avoiding any chances that might be related
to confusion as far as the entire organization is concerned.

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Technical part
Matrix table between businesses and technology
1=POOR AND 10=Exellent
Businesses
actions
Transport
management
software
technology
Data
analytics
technology
Improved
GPS
technology
Social
media
technology
Robotics
technology
RFID
technology
Provision
of quality
goods
9 10 9 10 8 9
Delivery of
products
within the
stipulated
time
10 8 10 8 8 10
Good
customer
care
9 9 10 8 8 8
Adequate
services
10 9 8 10 10 9
As far as the table matrix between the business and technology is concerned, it is clear
beyond any reasonable doubt that the techniques have brought about quite some positive
outcomes in most of the operations that are being carried out by the two organizations. This has
further given them one of the best opportunities to dominate the entire market and even outdo a

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good number of their competitors. Implementing these technologies and following what is
required will enable various goals to be attained in real time without any delay (Mason-Jone &
Towill, 2016). Moreover, the matrix table offers appropriate guidance on what is taking place as
far as the implementation of the different forms of technologies between the companies is
concerned. Due to this, proper guidelines can, therefore, be formulated to show some of the steps
that should be taken to maintain a good performance for the companies. Almost all the
businesses appear to be above average in terms of how they are conducted; this is as a result of
the adequate implementation of these forms of technologies that are more advanced and designed
to keep up with the current trends in this modern society.
The table below shows the percentage of how these technologies are being
implemented within the organizations.

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Transport
management
software
technology
Data analytics
technology Improved GPS
technology Social media
technology Robotics
technology RFID
technology
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
The above information is a clear indication that the two companies adequately value nearly all
the forms of technology as a result of the positive outcomes that they have been able to bring to
the entire organization. Moreover, they have made various performances to be much more
efficient and easy to handle compared to the initial situation. From the above data, there is no
doubt that social media technology that is currently at 95% will continue to gain popularity even
in the coming years as a result of technology experiencing quite some advancements almost
daily. Robotics that is presently at 80% has still not developed a potential level of usage, but one
good thing is that various inventions are being carried out daily pertaining this type of
technology to give it a little opportunity to perform better than its current state. Data analytics
technology that is at 94% has greatly helped Amazon to carry out a reliable analysis about most
of their products being distributed in various parts of the world to sustain the needs of multiple
customers. Through the technology, multiple aspects regarding products are being analyzed
thereby minimizing the chances of any error that is likely to occur.

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