International Supply Chain Management: A Speciality Foods Report

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of managing international supply chains, specifically within the speciality food sector. It begins by examining the concept of strategic fit, exploring how companies can align their resources and capabilities with external market opportunities to maintain the uniqueness and superiority of speciality foods. The report then delves into the application of lean principles in the speciality food supply chain, focusing on production and cross-border distribution strategies. Finally, it identifies and discusses the potential barriers to international supply chain collaboration, providing insights into the challenges faced by speciality food producers. The report uses a Norwegian case study to illustrate these concepts, offering practical examples and recommendations for improving supply chain management in the context of the speciality food industry. The report also explores the key characteristics of product, market, production, and distribution related variables.

Managing
International Supply
Chain

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
Main Body .....................................................................................................................................1
Strategic fit involved in the speciality food supply chain...........................................................1
Application of lean principles in the speciality foods supply chain, especially in the
production and cross-border distribution....................................................................................4
Analysis of the potential barriers in international supply chain collaboration in the speciality
foods supply chain......................................................................................................................6
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Managing International Supply Chain is mainly associated with the global distribution
process of products and services to ensures availability of needed stock and raw material in order
to ensure easy and uninterrupted flow of operations (Fahimnia and et. al., 2015). The current
assignment is based on the study and investigation lead out on the five Norwegian speciality
food producer comprises of Seashell supply chain, Cheese supply chain, Meat supply chain,
Potato supply chain and Miscellaneous food supply chain along with analysis of strategic fit
concept involved in speciality food supply chain. Further, it also comprises of an analysis of
supply chain characteristics of speciality food for improving their market assess along with
Application of lean principles in the speciality foods supply chain. At last, a description about
the potential barriers in international supply chain collaboration in the speciality foods supply
chain is also provided.
Main Body
Strategic fit involved in the speciality food supply chain
The strategic fit monitor or express the degree or extent up to which a company or
organisation is capable of matching its resources and competencies with the respect to the
opportunities exists in the external environment (Strategic Fit The Concept, 2016). Thus, the
concept of strategic fit comprises of setting a same gaols and coordination between both
competitive and supply chain strategies through leading a consistency between customers
priorities and supply chain capabilities. Strategic fit provides a better framework for analysing
the speciality food supply chain as it consists of debates whether the supply chain for speciality
food should be flexible, rigid, responsive and very efficient to maintain the exclusiveness and
superiority of speciality food (Ross, 2015). The conception of strategic fit seems to a be relevant
as suitable framework for speciality food supply chain because the present demand along with
the current market requirement significantly influence and lead impact on the way the supply
chain is configured. Apart from this, the supplier of the speciality food items are mainly operates
and exists outside the supply network of conventional food thus, they need to understand and
meet the logistical features and characteristics of the own supply chain network in order to
become able to configure speciality foods item supply chain for the conventional form of supply
network. Thus, application of strategic fit concept provides a building block for setting a
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framework for speciality food supply chain through leading an argument that brining of
speciality food to conventional channel of supply is lead by current configuration of speciality
food supply chain along (Christopher and Holweg, 2017). Further, efforts are also made to
improve the market access of speciality food items through leading better supply chain strategies
according the the capabilities and abilities of suppliers and producer of speciality food items.
The concept of strategic fit mainly comprises of three main elements of supply chain
which are provided and discussed below: Customer needs- The first and foremost emphasis of strategic fit is on the needs and
expectation of customers. The producers of specialist food items must bifurcated and
specialise there products in the basis of needs and desires of all target market. Further, the
product and services provided must have the high level of uniqueness and wide range of
product portfolio to meet and accomplish the customers needs (Modak and Kelle, 2019). Level of uncertainty- The strategic fit provides a suitable framework for speciality food
items supple through emphasis and focusing on the level of uncertainty present in the
supply chain network. Thus, the producer of speciality food items also need to remain
aware about the level of unpredictability and uncertainty which is present in the supply
chain network of speciality food items.
 Supply chain capability- It is also a major element of strategic fit which focuses on the
capability of producer to meet and overcome the demand and uncertainty level in the
supply chain of speciality food item (Qazi and et. al., 2018).
To get a better understanding and develop a thinking about the strategic fit analysis of
key characteristics of supply chain are important and vital which has argued the importance and
essentialism of product, market, production and distribution to get better understanding about the
environment to get describe the distribution of speciality food. The main four key characteristic
which are utilized by the researcher are discussed below in context of strategic fit:
Product related variable- It comprises of product life cycle, variety, range, volume are
some of the common product characteristic. The quality of specialist product are mainly
communicated with the help of labelling and producer mainly charges higher prices for speciality
product as it comprises of higher proportion of fresh products (Busse, Meinlschmidt and Foerstl,
2017). Further, uniqueness and exclusiveness are also the main characteristics of speciality food
products. Beside this, it has been observed from the research taken place that the speciality items
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like Seashell, Cheese, Meat, Potato and other Miscellaneous food have low level of uncertainty
level which comprises of maximum of 10-12 days of supply after packing as it consists of
products with perishable nature thus, require a much quick and efficient supply chain network to
ensure their quick availability in international market and global level.
Market related variables- The main characteristics comprise in the market related
variable consist of order, demand, service level, seasonality, etc. It has been observed in relation
to speciality food items that the speciality food producers are not always the reliable or
consistent suppliers as compared to conventional suppliers which affects the level of transaction
uncertainty in the market. Further, lack of credibility in deliveries from the local producer is also
seen in the markets which affects and considered as a drawback for speciality food supply chain
(Mesa and Galdeano-Gómez, 2015). Thus, in case of speciality foods supply chain which
comprises of Seashell, Cheese, Meat, Potato and other Miscellaneous food the order wining
criteria and service level are taken as the most important and crucial market-related
characteristic.
Production related variables- The production related variables comprise of production
strategy, level of automation, quality of raw material and process of technology in case of
conventional foods but under the speciality food items it comprises of production strategy, order
quantity, supply uncertainty and collaboration of technology at main characteristics. It has been
evaluated from the research undertaken that the production characteristics in case of speciality
food items like Seashell, Cheese, Meat, Potato and other Miscellaneous food comprises of small
order quantity order line, limited production capacity, make to stock based production strategy
along with collaboration with producers and selected stores to ensure effective and uninterrupted
supply of these specialist food items at international or global level.
Distribution related variables- In case of conventional foods the distribution related
variable comprises of transport, terminal operations, physical gird handling and other delivery
services but in the case of speciality food items the main emphasis and key characteristics of
distribution related variables get shifted to volume of speciality items sold in local areas to
evaluate there demand in global radius (Tsang and et. al., 2018). Further, the distribution of
speciality food items also comprises and focus in horizontal and vertical collaborations between
producer and suppler partners to reduce the risk of uncertainty in international market. Further,
transport services, logistical infrastructure, cross do caking operation and inventory services are
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also taken as main key characteristics in case of speciality food items comprises of seashell,
Cheese, Meat, Potato and other Miscellaneous food.
Application of lean principles in the speciality foods supply chain, especially in the production
and cross-border distribution
Lean supply chain is a well designed and planned supply chain which is developed for
making quick supplies to end users within less time and by making sure or minimum wastage.
This is a tool which enable the organisation to become more efficient and lean by making
deliveries of goods and services to the consumers as fast and as efficient as possible. This lean
supply chain assist organisations in rendering better and higher value to consumers pre-
determining the needs of consumers and quickly responding to them as fast as possible. Most
efficient use of Lean supply chain enables the firm to induce their performance standards and
develop an appropriate cycle that ultimately results in higher financial performance for the
company too by adopting a systematic approach (Modak and et. al., 2018). Major impact of
adopting and practising lean supply chain in operations of the entity is to induce and improvise
the competitive advantage and profitability of company. Lean supply chain has four stages which
are as follows:
Illustration 1: Lean Supply Chain Management, 2019
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(Source: Lean Supply Chain Management, 2019)
 Procurement- This is the first stage which involves development of long term strategies
for supplying goods to customers and fulfilling their purchasing needs. This stage
includes factors like market research, suppliers contract and value assessment. At
procurement stage company's purchase raw material for changing them into finished
goods that is for processing them. In case of large firms, they have a purchasing
department at their headquarters which makes efforts to procure all the raw materials
(Pham, Darabi and Wilmot, 2020).
 Lean Manufacturing- This is the stage which made this supply chain popular and
significant in the market. At this stage processing takes place and goods are being
processed for changing them into finished products and making sales to consumers. This
is the phase where major improvement takes place and companies reduces waste from
their operations and manufacturing processes.
 Warehousing- The next step is of warehousing where produced goods and inventory will
be stored in the operational areas for making deliveries to end users. This stage is
examined for searching areas of eliminating waste and those processes which do not add
any value. The organisation also, make sure to reduce the storage of unnecessary
inventory as accumulating inventory requires more money and investment which is do no
offer lean supply chain (Modak and Kelle, 2019).
 Transportation- The last and final stage which arises is of transportation and making
deliveries to the customers who ordered or demanded the produce. This is the effort
which can render better satisfaction to consumers and adds value to their purchase
experiences. Businesses look for all the potential areas in transportation segment for
streamlining them and leading to more leaner supply chain by reducing all the waste of
any kind of resources either, financial, human resource, raw materials and other potential
assets (Ivanov and Dolgui, 2020).
These four stages are looked over and outlined by businesses in order to develop more
leaner and less waste producing supply chain. These stages lead the firm to hold a leaner supply
chain and to reduce their waste by adding more value to customers. This automatically direct the
organisation towards much higher competitive edge and profitability. This lead supply chain is
applicable to speciality food supply chain as well. As in the case study the supply chain diagram
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of speciality food is provided which shows it has three stages and after that goods are transported
to the respective customers.
Illustration 2: Speciality food supply chain, 2016
(Source: Speciality food supply chain, 2016)
The first stage of speciality food supply chain is of growing or farming in which raw
materials are grown by the manufacturer which reduces the time being consumed in purchasing
and procuring raw materials. But the procuring stage of lean supply chain can be applied as the
growing time consumed is saved.
The next stage is of processing which is similar to lean supply chain where the
manufacturer process the raw material and change them into finished goods. At this stage lean
manufacturing can be applied by adopting and practising ways that reduces all extra efforts and
make the processing stage less complexed. The third stage is of packaging and in lean supply
chain it is of warehousing, these are similar as packaging are being done in warehouses only and
good are then stored (Fahimnia and et. al., 2015).
At last deliveries are made to consumers in which leaner supply chain suggest to deliver
the offering to end consumer but according to the case these deliveries are made to retailers and
hotels in bulk. This is the stage where lean supply chain is not applicable in speciality food
supply chain. Therefore, it is conclude that the supply chain is partially applicable as these
speciality goods are expensive and its demand by the end consumer is low (Ross, 2015).
Analysis of the potential barriers in international supply chain collaboration in the speciality
foods supply chain
It has been evaluated that the speciality supply food chain is some how different form
conventional food supply chain as it needs to me more fact and efficient to ensure timely
availability of products at international level. Thus, the potential barriers in international supply
chain collaboration in the speciality foods supply chain comprises of following main points:
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 High level of uncertainties- International supply chain collaboration in case of speciality
goods chain has several barriers involved one of which is uncertainties. As the consumers
trends are fluctuating and it becomes very uncertain to gather knowledge about the
demand and supplies of such goods in international markets (Christopher and Holweg,
2017).
 Transportation failure- International supply chain includes huge factor of exports and
imports. This is a huge risk as the imports and exports involve uncertainties such as
changing taxes and rising legal charged like duties which can affect the transportation
channels and leaner approach of supply chain. As well as, the routes safety is uncertain
too the pathway of transportation have to be safe in order to make sure that goods are
being transported on time to the respective locations by keeping all goods safe and with
no damages as speciality goods (Modak and Kelle, 2019). Price hikes- The prices of speciality goods are already higher in comparison with other
goods and their prices are fluctuating as well. Higher prices results in lower demand and
which automatically affects the supply chain and its efficiency. Thus, it is refers to huge
challenge and barrier for collaboration in international markets. Meeting customers needs- The another potential barrier international supply chain
collaboration in the speciality foods supply chain comprises of meeting customers needs
as the consumer have a dynamic and complex level of needs at global level. Thus, barrier
of meeting the needs and expectation at international level is also a potential barrier
associated with international supply chain collaboration in the speciality foods supply
chain (Qazi and et. al., 2018).
 Geopolitical instability- The another potential drawback faced by the producer of
speciality food items at international level comprises of high level of geopolitical
instability as the different nation have varied political and economical strategy and
policies which makes it more difficult to have and manage a consistent supply chain
stonework at global level. Thus, high level of geopolitical instability at global level is a
also a barrier of international supply chain collaboration in the speciality foods supply
chain.
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CONCLUSION
On the basis of above assignment it can be concluded that strategic fit provides an
effective analytical framework to analysis and specify the speciality food supply chain which set
a balance and coordination between all the set elements of supply chain comprises of customers
needs and level of uncertain. Further, a concussion and analysis about the application of lean
supply chain in the speciality foods supply chain could be also be drawn from above assignment.
At last, a summarisation about potential barriers in international supply chain collaboration in the
speciality foods supply chain can also be made which comprises of high uncertainty level and
risk of price hike.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Busse, C., Meinlschmidt, J. and Foerstl, K., 2017. Managing information processing needs in
global supply chains: A prerequisite to sustainable supply chain management. Journal of
Supply Chain Management. 53(1). pp.87-113.
Christopher, M. and Holweg, M., 2017. Supply chain 2.0 revisited: a framework for managing
volatility-induced risk in the supply chain. International Journal of Physical
Distribution & Logistics Management.
Fahimnia, B. and et. al., 2015. Quantitative models for managing supply chain risks: A
review. European Journal of Operational Research. 247(1). pp.1-15.
Ivanov, D. and Dolgui, A., 2020. A digital supply chain twin for managing the disruption risks
and resilience in the era of Industry 4.0. Production Planning & Control, pp.1-14.
Mesa, J.C.P. and Galdeano-Gómez, E., 2015. Collaborative firms managing perishable products
in a complex supply network: an empirical analysis of performance. Supply Chain
Management: An International Journal.
Modak, N.M. and et. al., 2018. Managing green house gas emission cost and pricing policies in
a two-echelon supply chain. CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and
Technology. 20. pp.1-11.
Modak, N.M. and Kelle, P., 2019. Managing a dual-channel supply chain under price and
delivery-time dependent stochastic demand. European Journal of Operational
Research. 272(1). pp.147-161.
Modak, N.M. and Kelle, P., 2019. Managing a dual-channel supply chain under price and
delivery-time dependent stochastic demand. European Journal of Operational
Research. 272(1). pp.147-161.
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Pham, T.S.H., Darabi, F. and Wilmot, N.V., 2020. International supply chain case study.
In Supply Chain and Logistics Management: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and
Applications (pp. 1183-1204). IGI Global.
Qazi, A. and et. al., 2018. Supply chain risk network management: A Bayesian belief network
and expected utility based approach for managing supply chain risks. International
Journal of Production Economics. 196. pp.24-42.
Ross, D.F., 2015. Distribution Planning and control: managing in the era of supply chain
management. Springer.
Tsang, Y.P. and et. al., 2018. An Internet of Things (IoT)-based risk monitoring system for
managing cold supply chain risks. Industrial Management & Data Systems.
Online
Strategic Fit The Concept. 2016. [Online]. Available through: < http://www.drypen.in/featured-
articles/strategic-fit-the-concept.html>.
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